soooo slow to boot up WinXP - is it NAV???

Discussion in 'Software' started by jpmad4it, Aug 16, 2005.

  1. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2

    hey there

    Im sick of my PC being so slow to boot up windows XP. The system tray seems to load up fairly quickly until is comes to loading the Norton AV / Norton internet security - this is when the system booting process slows dramtically. It takes an age for the little NAV / NIS icon to appear. ANd once it does, i can eventually get started. I have added some bootvis screen shots here of whats going on in my system during boot up, to see if some of you guys can spot anything that looks strange.

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    Another thing is, what is Sophos antivirus v3.91 like? Is it as much as a resource hog as NAV? Does it offer the same functionality as NAV/NIS i.e. in particular ad blocking, internet security, automatic virus updates, popup blocker??? If not, which other internet security and anti virus software is worth looking into (ones that dont hog the start up performance)

    thanks for any help guys/girls!!!

    rgds Jp
     
  2. theefool

    theefool Geekified

    Out of curiosity, when was the last time you defragged? What other applications do you have on startup?
     
  3. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2

    hey there

    i defragged about a week ago. I have selective startup services and startup items - all customised.

    this hijickThis log might be useful??
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 18, 2005
  4. theefool

    theefool Geekified

  5. Hmm... do you use the regular windows defragger or do you use diskeeper. If you arent useing diskeeper you should cause it works better than the windows defrag. They have it right here on good old major geeks. Let me know which you are useing and if your useing the windows defragmenter use diskeeper and come back and let us know if it helps.
    -the new tech guy
     
  6. Also, dont forget that the antivirus is a big program because its gotta launch the core program, the definitions file, then check all of that for updates and install any if found (trust me I use mcafee and it takes that a good minute to come up especially when it has an update). What are the specs of your computer?
    -the new tech guy
     
  7. waltaja

    waltaja Private First Class

    for the AV thing...i'd say go with something like Avast! or AVG and run Sygate Firewall. both are free and work very very well. as for popup blocking, since i've been using Firefox, i have yet to see a popup.

    i had norton once...terrible as far as starting up goes. i wasn't a big fan of it. i'm perfectly happy running AVG and Sygate
     
  8. theefool

    theefool Geekified

    Nice homepage, I'd follow D3M3NT3D's suggestion btw.
     
  9. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2

    hey i use the norton speed disk defrag - ot sure if this is really any good.
     
  10. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2


    hey im running a p4 3.0ghz on a gigabyte ga-8ik1100 motherboard. Radeon 9800 pro, 1gb RAM. So its quite a good machine really.
     
  11. Franklin

    Franklin Corporal

    Try setting all services relating to norton products to disabled and use msconconfig to stop any Nortons trying to start.Then reboot a couple of times to see if things improve.A system restore point would be a good idea if any probs you can reset everything back to normal.
     
  12. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2

    yeah i will do that :)

    im just in the middle of running all the tests for spyware etc - sorry guys i didnt read the 'RULES/READ THIS FIRST POST' - im very bad for that :-(

    My apologies
     
  13. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2

    oh yeah i forgot to add. I did some tweaks a while back, im not entirely sure if they have helped - maybe they have had a negative effect - maybe some of you guys will know:

    - i ran bootvis - this is meant to speed up booting right!?!?!?
    - i placed the swapfile on a hard drive that does not hold the operating system - and i defragmented the pagefile using PageDefrag.
    - i reduced the amount of HD space that system restore uses for all my hard drives to around half of what they were initially.
    - i stopped the performance counters under windows - using the extensible performance counters list utility from windows.
    - i added some registry values to speed up my interenet connection -

    To increase the size of the DNS cache, open REGEDIT and navigate to; 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters'

    Create the following DWORD values:

    CacheHashTableBucketSize = 1
    CacheHashTableSize = 180
    MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit = ff00
    MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit = 12d

    You can prevent Windows XP from caching unsuccessful DNS lookups by creating three new registry values.

    To do this open REGEDIT and navigate to: 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters'

    Create the following DWORD values:

    NegativeCacheTime= 0
    NetFailureCacheTime= 0
    NegativeSOACacheTime= 0

    the above were found in a guide at PCStats

    i also thought i should post my IRQ list, incase something is conflicting - this could cause some boot problems i guess?

    [​IMG]

    my attention was drawn to my video card sharing the IRQ 16 with the USB controller??

    any ideas anyone??
    rgds Jp
     
  14. Franklin

    Franklin Corporal

    P4 3ghz 1gram(paging disabled) and yep,I set those same tweaks from pcstats.No probs here.My pc boots in 40 secs.Winpatrol,Nod32 and Zone Alarm pro are the only startups I have.Actually my startup increased 5 secs owing to the install of ZAP coupla weeks ago.
    Traded it for MS internet firewall(behind a router also) and with all the extra security settings on offer the extra 5 secs startup is worth it.
     
  15. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2


    so you have page filing disabled??? I think i need this for gaming dont i?



    i have completed all the scans in the README - and i have submitted a new thread here as i was told to:

    http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=634602#post634602


    I also disabled all norton/symantec services and startup items, just to see if my startup was affected. I was hoping for an increase in performance - but i actually got a decrease????
     
  16. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2

    i think i might uninstall NAV/NIS/NSW 2005, clean the registry, run bootvis and see how my startup is affected.

    If i get a boost then i know it was Norton hogging my PC. If so, i might buy something like Interent security by Panda Software - this is meant to be a similar to norton, but its not a resource hog - is this a recommended piece of software??

    If i dont get a boost in startup - then its obviously not Norton - ill be mad becasue i have to download all the updates again - and then i need to find out whats causing the startup problems!!!

    does this sound like a good idea?

    or should i wait until someone has viewed my hijackthis log in the other forum first?
     
  17. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2


    could it not be a hardware problem??
     
  18. Still maybe i would try the diskeeper cause that can be setup to defrag while you use your computer and you never need to worry about drive fragmentation again. But there is a good chance that it is norton though cause me and you have the two recource hogs in antivirus. But try cleaning out your registry with something like registry mechanic cause the newest version allows you to clean up errors, and shorten the registry all together for better running. But once your done the idea you have come back and let us know what happens.
    -the new tech guy
     
  19. Doubt its your hardware your system sounds like its in pretty good shape. I just find weird how your device manager is not organized like most pc's have it. Its just thrown in rather than catagorized.
     
  20. theefool

    theefool Geekified

    To make device manager look the same, simply bring up device manager, then click on View, then click on "Resources by Type".
     
  21. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2


    i have the newest version - and i have just done a reg clean - still no different. Its very annoying. Does anyone think its time to uninstall NAV/NIS and swap to another product - i need an all in one kind of program, internet security, pop up blocker, connections management, antivirus.
     
  22. Mybe you should take off NAV/NIS and try useing avast! for antivirus and use Zone Alarm for a firewall. First take off the Norton stuff and see if theres any improvement. That we we will know for sure what is causeing the problem. Also for faster startups you can let your computer run all the time. That way when you log onto the computer your drivers are already loaded which gives more recources to things like NAV/NIV to load which will speed up the startup. But try to take norton off first and see if there is a speedup. If there is try like avast and zone alarm they need like very little recource to run. Come back and tell us if anything improved when you took norton off.
     
  23. Thanks for pointing that out theefool. I never knew that was just a view type.
     
  24. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2

    well, i have just destroyed everything NORTON / SYMANTEC on my PC.

    ran reg mechanic, defrag, all other cleanup tools, defragged. Voila!!! Boot time is now 45 seconds to 1 minute - whereas before it was going on past 2 mintues. WHAT A RESOURCE HOG!!!

    So.........now i need to find some software (price is not an issue) to protect me again..........Panda Software any good - its been recommended to me???
     
  25. Well that depends if you want to spend any money. I know avast! is a very good antivirus and zonealarm is one of the best firewalls on the internet and both are free and neither are recource hogs. Zone alarm also has version that you can pay for but the free one usually does the trick. I would try those two and see how they work out. Cause i know both of those are good. If that dont work out for ya come back and i will look into some other ones. Theres also one called antivir thats a little tiny thing thats also free and pretty good. Compare them and i would rather have avast! though. Thats just my opinion well let me know how a combo of zone alarm and avast! work out for you. If you dont like em come back and i will give you more to try.
    -the new tech guy
     
  26. Franklin

    Franklin Corporal

    Tried Panda a while back but didn't work for me.In fact it wouldn't even install.
    Kaspersky may have the best detection rates but it stuffed around the startup.
    Nod32 seems the best as you hardlly know it's there and constantly receives VBA"s 100%.
    But go by the old saying,if it works for you and your happy with it,use it.
    And if moneys not an issue how about throwing some this way :)
     
  27. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2

    lol i only have enough to buy a decent security package - im trying out zonealarm secuirty suite and AVG pro.
     
  28. 20Valve

    20Valve Sergeant

    Do you have a standalone copy of XP installed? My parents bought an preloaded XP Dell and that thing has all kinds of flotsam and jetsam and hubbub and what-not already on it. Antivirus, help files, spyware blockers, firewalls, etc. And there was no consideratin given to compatibiltiy either. It is like general admission at a Stones concert. That thing took an era to load until I fixed it.

    So - just a thought. If that might offer something great - if not - well...forger I ever responded!

    Good Luck getting things sorted.
     
  29. Mada_Milty

    Mada_Milty MajorGeek

    Don't count on that lasting too long. They've already found ways to deliver what is called "pop-unders" to firefox. You can see examples of these at fastclick.net, doubleclick.net, killfrog.com, and quite a few other sites. They're not quite as annoying as pop-ups, but they're still aggressive marketing, which I am not a fan of.
     
  30. theefool

    theefool Geekified

    Not to hijack this thread, but I didn't see any popunders with firefox with any of those sites you listed. Then again, I'm using build 20050817 of firefox.
     
  31. Mada_Milty

    Mada_Milty MajorGeek

    Ugh, maybe I should stop posting here. I haven't done much good it seems. I provided the wrong URLs for fastclick and doubleclick, I think ...I did visit killfrog.com, and received a popunder AND a new browser window opened. I am using v 1.06, which is previous to the build you're using, perhaps they've corrected this issue. Thank you for that tidbit!
     
  32. Shadow_Puter_Dude

    Shadow_Puter_Dude MG Authorized Malware Fighter

    You're more than welcome to post. None of us have a monoploy on knowledge. I have 1.0.6 and fastclick does indeed get through the pop-up blocker, but they do have an opt out option at their web site.
     
  33. jpmad4it

    jpmad4it Private E-2

    AVG and ZA are working fine for me - problem solved - dont install symantec!!!!!
     
  34. Ok glad to hear your all set now jd. This thread should serve a great purpose to those who want to solve a similar problem. Anyway, just wondering what is AVG? I know the question is stupid but i dont think im sure what it stands for. But anyway glad to hear your up and running again.
    -the new tech guy
     
  35. theefool

    theefool Geekified

    AVG is an antivirus applications

    The acronym AVG = AntiVirus Grisoft
     

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