garry

Hi,

I have a Dell pc about 5 years old with 3.0 ghz processor 160gb hard drive and 512 ram. My problem is that the machine is so slow when I first switch on and remains so for the first half hour approx. I switch on and the windows desktop comes up fairly quickly but when I go to Outlook Express to check my messages it takes at least 5 to 10 minutes to arrive. Similarly if I go straight to mozilla firefox to go on the net that takes 5 to 10 mins too. I usually end up turning off and restarting, but this doesn't seem to work either.

I have a Belkin N+ wireless router (I had a netgear prior to this but same probs) and Avast on-access scanner, Comodo Boclean anti malware and Comodo Firewall (I turned Windows Defender off). All of these were free.

In Outlook Express I have 2368 messages (738 bytes) and in My Documents I have 33.4 Gb of files and folders (maybe this is where the problem lies?). I clean the computer up regularly and defrag too.

Maybe it's the operating system and I should bite the bullet and get a Mac?

I hope someone out there can advise - this problem is driving me mad!

Thanks in anticipation

Best Wishes

Garry

 

Hi Halo,

thanks for this info.

I have Windows XP with service pack 2. I've done everything you said and am about to attach the screenshot of my startup items, I tried in Paint but it wouldn't upload - hope you can read it in Word!.

Thanks again!

Best

Garry

 

Hope it's all right if I stick a note in here and not even sure if it will help but, in the attachment it shows that "C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswctrl.exe" is loading and also that Avast5 is running. Avast5 does not like the "tfswctrl.exe" file which is part of Sonic Solutions' "Record Now" program.

In the attachment "tfswctrl.exe" looks to be loading under local machine, on my system it is loading under current user, that could just be a difference in versions I suppose.

Checked the file at Virus Total, got 1 hit out of 44 so, submitted it to Avast as a FP but don't know results of submission.

Anyway, I had to exclude the file in Avast5.

I'll be quiet now as this may be usless information. My apologies to everyone if that's the case.

 

Hi Plastidust,

thanks for being good enough to try to help. I have only just installed Avast 5 as Halo suggested, I had 4.38 before this, so I don't know whether this could be causing the problem I was having, unless 4.38 also does not like tfswctrl.exe.
Maybe I should just exclude the file in Avast 5 as you did (if I knew how!)?

Best

Garry

 

Nope Avast 4.8 had no problems with it. But, before you try and exclude it in Avast you should probably upload and scan it at Virus Total just to be sure.

At that, instead of excluding it in Avast5, you might first try disabling the "tfswctrl" startup with the Startup CPL program and see if that makes any difference.

It's easier to disable and enable something with Startup CPL than to exclude something in Avast5 and for security reasons safer too. I just excluded it as a temporary work around until hopefully Avast fixes the FP in an update.

Installing Avast5 should, in itself help some, as it uses less resources than Avast 4.8 did.

I couldn't see much in the attachment, even if I could I probably couldn't add much, so there may be other things that someone else sees that are more important to solving your problem. There are many more folks here that know "way more" about these things than I do.

 

I tried to find the rogue file to scan it with virus total, but when I browsed the folders for Avast 5, I couldn't find anything remotely like it. If this sounds stupid, it probably is, because I am pretty basic with these things.

Thanks again.

 

IMO you have way to many emails saved, I have run into this a couple of times. Over loaded Outlook can really slow things down to where I have been told it will cause the system to crash. Make a folder and move most of the old mail to it, I have a hunch you will see marked improvement.

 

I will give it a go, but I'm going to see if anything I've done so far makes a difference when I turn the machine on tomorrow am. Even if things are better, I will still remove my old files as you suggest. Would you keep them in a folder on the computer eg in My Documents, or would it better to put them onto a pen drive (or cd etc)?

Thanks for your input.

 

Thanks again Halo,

These recommendations look interesting - I'm going to see what happens tomorrow a.m. when I first boot up, and even if things are working ok after the few tweeks I've done, I will still carry out your suggestions.

Best Wishes

Garry

 

Have to agree, adding ram would help a lot and it's cheap. If you could add just 1 gig or punch it up to a couple of gig that should be more than enough. Please make sure that what you add matches what you have in type, as many Dells make use of dual channel architecture.

A question or two if I may:

You have a 160gb HDD and 33.4gb is used in "My Documents". How much overall free drive space is there?
It may help to uninstall some things that you've accumulated over the years that you don't use any more.

Do you have multiple programs that do essentially the same thing? I'm terrible of this myself.

Might also help to reduce the amount of space Windows is setting aside for restore points, say from the max of 12% down to say 3%-5%. It would be better to get oher members recommendations for that.

"paininthebuttware"? roflmao

 

Yes with 512 and SP3 you'll not have a speedy machine. Though I do use some machines with only 256M, and they are awful.
The usual recommendation is 1G, but if you lean out your autoruns per Halo's instructions, you'd see even 768M a big improvement.
Then again, the difference in price between that and adding another 512M board isn't enough to skimp on.

 

Oldphil,

thanks for that. I will give it a go. Would you create a folder in My Documents or take it off the pc altogether and put it on a pen drive or disk?

Best

Garry

 

Thanks again Halo

I've done EVERYTHING you suggested and hopefully things will improve - nothing has gone wrong yet. This morning when I first turned on it seemed a lot quicker even though all I'd done was install the new avast scanner. I'll see how things are tomorrow with these extra changes!

Best

Garry

 

Hi Plodr,

I'm going to give this some thought - the machine is about 5 years old so maybe it's near the end of its life anyway. But thanks for the suggestion. (Also this will be a guide when buying a new computer).

Best Wishes

Garry

 

Hi Brandypeppy,

thanks for the suggestion - I need to weigh up the financial viability for this with such an old machine, but as I said to Plodr, this is useful info when buying a new one.

Best Wishes

Garry

 

Hi Plastidust,

I have 85.5 GB free space (seems like a lot to me). I will, however, reduce the allotted space for restore points as you say. I don't know if I have multiple progs doing the same thing - I don't think so, but I don't have lots with the same name for instance.

Thanks again

Best Wishes

Garry

 

Good to see it's a lot quicker.

I asked about the free HDD space as I've read many times that, if the free space gets much below 50% it will have a noticeable impact on system performance. I have a couple of units here I'm working on that seem to bare that philosophy out. You have a little over 53% free so this shouldn't be an issue at the moment. Although you might consider copying some of the stuff(photos, important documents, and the like) in "My Documents" over to a CD or DVD. Verify that the copies are good and then delete from "My Documents" what you've copied.

Multiple apps that do essenially the same thing, like a few photo editors for instance. Since you have over 53% space free this is a moot point.

A note on the ram:

If you decide to add some, make sure and check to see if you have "dual channel" architecture. If you do, then you will need to get a matching set of ram sticks. For instance if you were to add another 512MB you would need to get two identical 256MB sticks, not just one 512MB stick or two mis-matched 256MB sticks. If you need help with that, you know where to go, right? The Hardware Forum

I wouldn't worry to much about any of this for now though. Not until your sure you've completed all of Halo's Recommendations. Run it for a little while see how it goes. There may yet be more cleaning or tweaking that can be done, you can make 'em scream if you keep 'em lean, but a little extra ram never hurts.

Again, I'll be quiet now, you're in way more knowledgeable hands already.

 

Thanks again Plastidust,
I will do as you suggest ang copy all my stored photos and stuff onto a cd - there is a lot.

My computer is a dual channel type so thanks for that advice too.

Best Wishes

Garry

 

Hi again Halo,
as I said everything is MUCH better now after carrying out your suggestions. There is still, however, some delay after booting up for my emails to come through (or to get online) and I've noticed, since installing Avast version 5, that the icon in the tray has an exclamation mark telling me my pc is not fully secured yet - when the exclamation mark goes and it has become safe the emails start to come through. So it seems that the startup of Avast5 needs speeding up somehow - maybe I could turn some of the functions off that are slowing it down?

I would be interested in your thoughts.

Best Wishes

Garry