Diskwipe, then XP reinstall

David · Jun 9, 2010

Thanks, Daave,

1) Do the two images I sent (primary and secondary IDE channels) indicate
to you that I am indeed running DMA? I don't understand them completely.
Why does one of them indicate PIO?

2) At your suggestion, I have been monitoring Total, Peak, and Limit for
several weeks now. Total and Peak have consistently been well below Limit,
so I am understanding from you that RAM should be O.K. Please do correct
me if you still think I need to pursue this further with your dougknox
link.

3) Points well taken re McAfee & Webroot!

On Wed, 9 Jun 2010 10:50:28 -0400, "Daave" <daave@example.com> wrote:

>Assuming you are indeed malware-free and that your hard drive is still
>in the correct mode (DMA), you either need to add more RAM or uninstall
>McAfee and Webroot and go with better replacements. (A Clean Install
>will *not* help you with your performance if you intend to reinstall
>McAfee and Webroot!) I would use Avira AntiVir for your antivirus
>program and MalwareByte's AntiMalware and SUPERAntiSpyware for your
>non-viral anti-malware programs.
>
>But, again, to determine if you are relying too heavily on your pagefile
>(a definite cause of sluggishness!), open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del)
>and click the Performance tab. Then note the three values under Commit
>Charge (K): in the lower left-hand corner: Total, Limit, and Peak. (In
>your screen shot, at the bottom, I was able to see Total and Limit. But
>Peak is important, too!)
>
>The Total figure represents the amount of memory you are using at that
>very moment. The Peak figure represents the highest amount of memory you
>used since last bootup. If both these figures are below the value of
>Physical Memory (K) Total, then you probably have plenty of RAM.
>In case you want to explore this further, you may run Page File Monitor
>for Windows XP:
>
>http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm
>
>
>
>David wrote:
>> For context, my initial OP post, dated 30 May, is at the bottom of
>> this post in case it has been lost from your thread. You folks gave
>> me a lot of homework, and I have only now gotten far enough along
>> with that to make a meaningful response.
>>
>> This post is directed primarily at Jose and Daave, who both
>> encouraged me to try and fix my existing system rather than to
>> "Diskwipe and Reinstall". I don't know whether I am up to this task,
>> but here is an initial thrust:
>>
>> First of all, let me say that I feel quite sure that there is no
>> malware problem with the system. I have had both McAfee and Webroot
>> SpySweeper running for several years now. I know that they are
>> resource hogs, but they have kept me out of trouble so far. I will
>> probably take your advice though and go with "lighter" products when
>> their subscriptions expire. I should note here, however, that the
>> subject system slowdown has happened (albeit gradually) long after
>> these two products were initially installed.
>>
>> Regarding the DMA/PIO issue, I have attempted to describe it in words
>> but finally gave up. There appear to be four combinations of
>> answers, not easily described, so I am just including images: (This
>> is my first attempt to try to use an image hosting service like this
>> with USENET, so I hope it works. If anyone has trouble viewing
>> these, please tell me.)
>>
>> http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/9924/primaryidechannel.jpg
>>
>> http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/8333/secondaryidechannel.jpg
>>
>> If I can presume that I have passed the malware and PIO tests, then
>> here is a text file of my msinfo32 file:
>>
>> msinfo32 Summary 9 June 2010
>>
>> OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
>> Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
>> OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
>> System Name [Snip]
>> System Manufacturer Dell Computer Corporation
>> System Model Dimension 4550
>> System Type X86-based PC
>> Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~2657 Mhz
>> BIOS Version/Date Dell Computer Corporation A03, 11/12/2002
>> SMBIOS Version 2.3
>> Windows Directory C

WINDOWS
>> System Directory C

WINDOWS\system32
>> Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
>> Locale United States
>> Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512
>> (xpsp.080413-2111)"
>> User Name [Snip]
>> Time Zone SE Asia Standard Time
>> Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
>> Available Physical Memory 58.03 MB
>> Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
>> Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
>> Page File Space 1.22 GB
>> Page File C

pagefile.sys
>>
>> And here is a text file of my CCleaner startup file:
>>
>> Yes HKCU:Run ctfmon.exe "C

WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe"
>> Yes HKLM:Run ATIPTA "C

Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI
>> Control Panel\atiptaxx.exe"
>> Yes HKLM:Run Adobe Photo Downloader "C

Program Files\Photoshop
>> Elements\apdproxy.exe"
>> Yes HKLM:Run Microsoft Works Portfolio "C

Program
>> Files\Microsoft Works\WksSb.exe" /AllUsers
>> Yes HKLM:Run nmctxth "C

Program Files\Common Files\Pure
>> Networks Shared\Platform\nmctxth.exe"
>> Yes HKLM:Run nmapp "C

Program Files\Pure Networks\Network
>> Magic\nmapp.exe" -autorun -nosplash
>> Yes HKLM:Run SunJavaUpdateSched "C

Program
>> Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe"
>> Yes HKLM:Run mcui_exe "C

Program
>> Files\McAfee.com\Agent\mcagent.exe" /runkey
>> Yes HKLM:Run WorksFUD "C

Program Files\Microsoft
>> Works\wkfud.exe"
>> Yes HKLM:Run SpySweeper "C

Program
>> Files\Webroot\WebrootSecurity\SpySweeperUI.exe" /startintray
>> Yes Startup Common Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk C

Program
>> Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
>> Yes Startup Common Microsoft Office.lnk C

Program Files\Microsoft
>> Office\Office10\OSA.EXE
>> Yes Startup Common Microsoft Works Calendar Reminders.lnk C

Program
>> Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Works Shared\wkcalrem.exe
>>
>> (If you are wondering what Pure Networks\Network Magic is, it's a
>> "pretty-GUI" network management program for people who aren't very
>> smart about networks. That's me.)
>>
>> And here is an image of my Task Manager's process tab:
>>
>> http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/9181/taskmanagere.jpg
>>
>> Please note that at your suggestion I have already downloaded and ran
>> "Autoruns.exe", and have already disabled a number of items before the
>> above taskmanager snapshot was taken. These already appear to have
>> increased the processing speed noticeably.
>>
>> Also please note that I am not so concerned about the time required
>> for the system startup. I am much more concerned about the
>> processing speed once startup has completed. Anything you can tell
>> me to help to increase that speed will be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> Finally, I am attempting to provide you a lot of information above in
>> ways that I have never done before, so if some of it doesn't work, or
>> doesn't make sense, please tell me and I will try again. Suggestions
>> welcome.
>>
>> Thanks again, guys!
>>
>

David · Jun 9, 2010

Thanks, Mike,

1) Please note my comment above to Daave re RAM. I am sensing a
difference of opinion here, but am not smart enough to understand the
difference. Can you please explain? (Not being critical, just trying to
understand.)

2) I think I'm gettting in over my head with overclocking -- but I will
study your link

3) The video adaptor is 128 DDR ATI Radeon 9700 TX

4) I've just become familiar with Autoruns. Can you please give me a
comparison with the Mike Lin Startup? (Since they are both new to me.)

5) Thank you for ID'ing the startup items below. I will go after them!

On Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:46:55 -0700, Mike S <mscir@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>You can breathe new life into your system, I would consider the following:
>- get at least 2GB of RAM total
>- remove the items below from the startup
>- if you can *overclock it I would research that so you understand how
>to protect your cpu from overheating while getting more performance out
>of it.
>*http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4550/specs.htm#1101572
>Intel® Pentium® 4 microprocessor that runs at 1.80, 1.90, 2.0, or 2.20
>GHz internally and 400 MHz externally; or 2.26, 2.4, 2.53, 2.66, 2.8, or
>3.06 GHz internally and 533 MHz externally
>- tell us what kind of video card you have
>
>You can use Mike Lin Startup cpl if you want a nice gui (it will place a
>new icon "Startup" in the control panel and you can check or uncheck
>startup entries quickly, easily, and reversibly).
>
>ATIPTA "C

Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI
>Control Panel\atiptaxx.exe"
>
>Adobe Photo Downloader "C

Program Files\Photoshop
>Elements\apdproxy.exe"
>
>Microsoft Works Portfolio "C

Program
>Files\Microsoft Works\WksSb.exe" /AllUsers
>
>nmctxth "C

Program Files\Common Files\Pure
>Networks Shared\Platform\nmctxth.exe"
>
>nmapp "C

Program Files\Pure Networks\Network
>Magic\nmapp.exe" -autorun -nosplash
>
>SunJavaUpdateSched "C

Program
>Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe"
>
>WorksFUD "C

Program Files\Microsoft
>Works\wkfud.exe"
>
>Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk C

Program
>Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
>
>Microsoft Office.lnk C

Program Files\Microsoft
>Office\Office10\OSA.EXE
>
>Microsoft Works Calendar Reminders.lnk C

Program
>Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Works Shared\wkcalrem.exe
>
>Mike

Daave · Jun 9, 2010

YW. The rest of my reply is inline.

David wrote:
> Thanks, Daave,
>
> 1) Do the two images I sent (primary and secondary IDE channels)
> indicate to you that I am indeed running DMA? I don't understand
> them completely. Why does one of them indicate PIO?

One is for the hard drive and the other for the optical drive. I am sure
the hard drive is on the primary IDE channel and is using Ultra DMA Mode
5. That is good to know.

> 2) At your suggestion, I have been monitoring Total, Peak, and Limit
> for several weeks now. Total and Peak have consistently been well
> below Limit, so I am understanding from you that RAM should be O.K.

Not necessarily! The Limit includes your pagefile, so that's *not* what
you compare it to! Rather, compare it to the Physical Memory (that is,
the actual RAM). The Commit Charge listed in your screen shot is
dangerously close to the amount of physical RAM (not good!). And that
figure corresponds to Total, that is the amount at the time you took the
screen shot. But there are other times, too! Peak is necessary to know,
too. And I'm sure that that value is significantly higher than 501MB!
And that would explain the phenomenon known as "paging."

There is a portion of your hard drive (which is *much* slower than RAM)
that is devoted to some of your system's memory needs (the pagefile).
Your goal is to utilize your RAM for all your memory needs and *not* the
pagefile (with some exceptions). Once you rely on the pagefile,
performance crawls. It will crawl even if you don't see any warnings
that your pagefile needs to be resized. The point is to have enough
physical RAM so that you do not rely on the pagefile. It's possible you
don't even need to purchase more RAM. As long as you run lean
(memory-wise), 512MB RAM might very well be all you need.

That being said, if you choose not to run lean and keep McAfee and
Webroot on your system, adding more RAM might be all you need to boost
performace, too. But McAfee (and maybe even Webroot?) is still known to
hog CPU cycles, too, so maybe not!

> Please do correct me if you still think I need to pursue this further
> with your dougknox link.

That would give you the most accurate information. It's easy to do; I'd
do it.

> 3) Points well taken re McAfee & Webroot!

Yup. Those are the biggest memory hogs. Unisntalling them and replacing
them with the programs already mentioned might very well be all you need
to boost performance. You have received other suggestions, too, about
unnecessary startup programs. The best way to stop them from loading,
however, is to go into the Preferences or Settings section of each
program and configure them not to run at startup. Using msconfig or
other startup managers might work, too, but in some cases, these tricky
programs (like QuickTime and, I believe, Java) place yet another entry
in the startup cue and it's cat and mouse! When I have more time, I'll
provide suggestions to disable certain startups included in your list.

Also keep in mind that if you never use the program anymore, you might
as well uninstall it.

You might want to replace Adobe Reader with the much leaner Foxit PDF
Reader.

Mike S · Jun 9, 2010

On 6/9/2010 6:15 PM, David wrote:
> Thanks, Mike,
>
> 1) Please note my comment above to Daave re RAM. I am sensing a
> difference of opinion here, but am not smart enough to understand the
> difference. Can you please explain? (Not being critical, just trying to
> understand.)

I think you're in good hands with Daave, if you determine that you don't
need more physical RAM after studying your actual RAM usage then you
should be fine.

> 2) I think I'm gettting in over my head with overclocking -- but I will
> study your link
>
> 3) The video adaptor is 128 DDR ATI Radeon 9700 TX

Nice card! I wouldn't spend any money on a new video card just yet.

> 4) I've just become familiar with Autoruns. Can you please give me a
> comparison with the Mike Lin Startup? (Since they are both new to me.)

Autoruns has far more features than the Mike Lin Startup control panel
applet (is that the right name?), for my own use - when I want to just
add or remove something from Windows startup quickly that's what I use.
It's very easy to understand and use, but Autoruns has a lot more
features and you can learn a lot by using it and studying the various
features and what they deal with in your Windows setup.

> 5) Thank you for ID'ing the startup items below. I will go after them!

Preferably in a way that is reversible. I use a network magic program a
while ago, I can't remember what version, but on my old 2GHz Dell laptop
I remember that it slowed down the boot enough to notice.

My compliments on how thorough you are in your approach to learning
about windows, if you don't watch it you'll be doing maintenance on
parents, friends, neighbors, relatives, and classmates computers if
you're not already.

Mike

> On Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:46:55 -0700, Mike S<mscir@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> You can breathe new life into your system, I would consider the following:
>> - get at least 2GB of RAM total
>> - remove the items below from the startup
>> - if you can *overclock it I would research that so you understand how
>> to protect your cpu from overheating while getting more performance out
>> of it.
>> *http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4550/specs.htm#1101572
>> Intel® Pentium® 4 microprocessor that runs at 1.80, 1.90, 2.0, or 2.20
>> GHz internally and 400 MHz externally; or 2.26, 2.4, 2.53, 2.66, 2.8, or
>> 3.06 GHz internally and 533 MHz externally
>> - tell us what kind of video card you have
>>
>> You can use Mike Lin Startup cpl if you want a nice gui (it will place a
>> new icon "Startup" in the control panel and you can check or uncheck
>> startup entries quickly, easily, and reversibly).
>>
>> ATIPTA "C

Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI
>> Control Panel\atiptaxx.exe"
>>
>> Adobe Photo Downloader "C

Program Files\Photoshop
>> Elements\apdproxy.exe"
>>
>> Microsoft Works Portfolio "C

Program
>> Files\Microsoft Works\WksSb.exe" /AllUsers
>>
>> nmctxth "C

Program Files\Common Files\Pure
>> Networks Shared\Platform\nmctxth.exe"
>>
>> nmapp "C

Program Files\Pure Networks\Network
>> Magic\nmapp.exe" -autorun -nosplash
>>
>> SunJavaUpdateSched "C

Program
>> Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe"
>>
>> WorksFUD "C

Program Files\Microsoft
>> Works\wkfud.exe"
>>
>> Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk C

Program
>> Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
>>
>> Microsoft Office.lnk C

Program Files\Microsoft
>> Office\Office10\OSA.EXE
>>
>> Microsoft Works Calendar Reminders.lnk C

Program
>> Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Works Shared\wkcalrem.exe
>>
>> Mike
>

Jose · Jun 10, 2010

On Jun 9, 9:15 pm, David <inva...@socrates.edu> wrote:
> Thanks, Mike,
>
> 1) Please note my comment above to Daave re RAM. I am sensing a
> difference of opinion here, but am not smart enough to understand the
> difference. Can you please explain? (Not being critical, just trying to
> understand.)
>
> 2) I think I'm gettting in over my head with overclocking -- but I will
> study your link
>
> 3) The video adaptor is 128 DDR ATI Radeon 9700 TX
>
> 4) I've just become familiar with Autoruns. Can you please give me a
> comparison with the Mike Lin Startup? (Since they are both new to me.)
>
> 5) Thank you for ID'ing the startup items below. I will go after them!
>
>
>
> On Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:46:55 -0700, Mike S <ms...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >You can breathe new life into your system, I would consider the following:
> >- get at least 2GB of RAM total
> >- remove the items below from the startup
> >- if you can *overclock it I would research that so you understand how
> >to protect your cpu from overheating while getting more performance out
> >of it.
> >*http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4550/specs.htm#1101572
> >Intel® Pentium® 4 microprocessor that runs at 1.80, 1.90, 2.0, or 2.20
> >GHz internally and 400 MHz externally; or 2.26, 2.4, 2.53, 2.66, 2.8, or
> >3.06 GHz internally and 533 MHz externally
> >- tell us what kind of video card you have
>
> >You can use Mike Lin Startup cpl if you want a nice gui (it will place a
> >new icon "Startup" in the control panel and you can check or uncheck
> >startup entries quickly, easily, and reversibly).
>
> >ATIPTA "C

Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI
> >Control Panel\atiptaxx.exe"
>
> >Adobe Photo Downloader "C

Program Files\Photoshop
> >Elements\apdproxy.exe"
>
> >Microsoft Works Portfolio "C

Program
> >Files\Microsoft Works\WksSb.exe" /AllUsers
>
> >nmctxth "C

Program Files\Common Files\Pure
> >Networks Shared\Platform\nmctxth.exe"
>
> >nmapp "C

Program Files\Pure Networks\Network
> >Magic\nmapp.exe" -autorun -nosplash
>
> >SunJavaUpdateSched "C

Program
> >Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe"
>
> >WorksFUD "C

Program Files\Microsoft
> >Works\wkfud.exe"
>
> >Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk C

Program
> >Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
>
> >Microsoft Office.lnk C

Program Files\Microsoft
> >Office\Office10\OSA.EXE
>
> >Microsoft Works Calendar Reminders.lnk C

Program
> >Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Works Shared\wkcalrem.exe
>
> >Mike

More RAM is not the answer to ever woe.

There are too many solutions:

Add more RAM.

That does not always fix the problem, but may relieve the symptom of
the problem. It depends if you are a problem solver or a symptom
reliever.

I have half as much RAM as you and have learned to manage things to
make what I have work very efficiently.

You can already sense the difference of opinion about your RAM? There
should be no "opinion(s)". You either have a problem that can be
solved by more RAM or you don't. Don't get off in the weeds with
opinions.

Having less RAM can encourage you to learn how things really work and
then come up with solutions to use what you have instead of just
putting in more RAM. Sometimes when a problem is not understood, the
advice is just add more RAM. That means the problem is not
understood.

After you get things ironed out a bit and running the best you can
with what you have, THEN you can add more RAM - if your testing shows
you are RAM bound, but it would be nice to know for sure if you need
to or not. You will not have an opinion, you will have a fact.

Autoruns is fine and useful but "use Autoruns" is insufficient
advice. You need to know HOW to use Autoruns on your system, what
areas you might want to leave alone, where you really need to
concentrate your effort, and it is useful to have advance knowledge
that there is no quit without saving or undo with Autoruns.

Along with the "use autoruns" advice should come what to do with it,
how to do it, how to keep yourself out of trouble and what to do if
you happen to overdo things with Autoruns. It is a fine tool and I
recommend it but when I do, it comes with a bit more advice that just
"use Autoruns".

Daave · Jun 10, 2010

Mike S wrote:
> My compliments on how thorough you are in your approach to learning
> about windows, if you don't watch it you'll be doing maintenance on
> parents, friends, neighbors, relatives, and classmates computers if
> you're not already.

I agree that David is being quite thorough, taking the time to
thoughtfully synthesize all the info offered.

Daave · Jun 10, 2010

Suggestions are inline.

David wrote:

> And here is a text file of my CCleaner startup file:
>
> Yes HKCU:Run ctfmon.exe "C

WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe"

See these pages:

http://www.pchell.com/support/ctfmon.shtml

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/282599

> Yes HKLM:Run SunJavaUpdateSched "C

Program
> Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe"

Start | Control Panel | Java

Click on Update tab. Uncheck the box next to "Check for updates
automatically."

Click on Advanced tab. Expand Java Console. Select "Do not start
console."

Expand JRE Auto-Download. Select "Never Auto-Download."

Expand Miscellaneous. Uncheck those two boxes below.

Reboot.

> Yes HKLM:Run Microsoft Works Portfolio "C

Program
> Files\Microsoft Works\WksSb.exe" /AllUsers
> Yes HKLM:Run WorksFUD "C

Program Files\Microsoft
> Works\wkfud.exe"
> Yes Startup Common Microsoft Office.lnk C

Program Files\Microsoft
> Office\Office10\OSA.EXE
> Yes Startup Common Microsoft Works Calendar Reminders.lnk C

Program
> Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Works Shared\wkcalrem.exe

Do you have Office *and* Works installed?

> Yes Startup Common Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk C

Program
> Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe

As mentioned in another post, you should consider uninstalling Adobe
Reader and replacing with Foxit PDF Reader:

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/

(The Free Reader is on the left.)

But still, the biggest performance boost for you (short of adding RAM)
is to uninstall McAfee and WebRoot and replacing with Avira AntiVir,
MBAM, and SAS. You won't likely need to add RAM at that point.

David · Jun 10, 2010

Thank you for the kind remarks, guys. I'm flattered.

But realize that I would still be nowhere without all the guidance and
recommendations from you experts.

You have given me a lot more homework that I still need to attend to.
And I will. And I will probably have to ask still more questions.

In the meanwhile, thanks again and best regards,

David

On Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:59:06 -0400, "Daave" <daave@example.com> wrote:

>
>Mike S wrote:
>> My compliments on how thorough you are in your approach to learning
>> about windows, if you don't watch it you'll be doing maintenance on
>> parents, friends, neighbors, relatives, and classmates computers if
>> you're not already.
>
>I agree that David is being quite thorough, taking the time to
>thoughtfully synthesize all the info offered.
>

Diskwipe, then XP reinstall

David

Flightless Bird

David

Flightless Bird

Daave

Flightless Bird

Mike S

Flightless Bird

Jose

Flightless Bird

Daave

Flightless Bird

Daave

Flightless Bird

David

Flightless Bird