Computers (off subject but interesting)
Submitted: Saturday, Aug 26, 2006 at 22:22
ThreadID:
37147
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3121
Replies:
5
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angler
Bit off the subject however we all need these things to access our
forum.
How long does your computer take to actually get firefox on the screen from switch on.
I run a 2.8 gig CPU with a gig of ram and a 160gig HDD with XP pro and I wait four minutes and 15 seconds before my favorite
forum comes up. (exploroz of course)
I think I have too much in the startup however I am a bit scared to delete any as I don't know which ones I really need to run the box.
Pooley
Reply By: Member - Doug T (W.A) - Saturday, Aug 26, 2006 at 22:47
Saturday, Aug 26, 2006 at 22:47
No mate I wouldn't really say off subject , or we would not be here on ExplorOz, or have Mapping software for our outback trips ,I'd say your PC is needs a defrag or Disk clean up do you know how to do that.Just in case you don't click these in sequence START/My Computer/right clik C/DRIVE,Properties/DiskCleanup and wait until it finds all the unwanted files and then click OK The other problem could be that it has a worm or virus slowing down the system
Doug
AnswerID:
191203
Reply By: _gmd_pps - Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 00:39
Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 00:39
Just depends how many processes are started when you log in ...
Some machines take a bit longer through the Bios boot up when
your have a bit more hardware in the box, but from what you say
your machine is pretty basic, so no extra controllers or drives to init ...
you have three phases of boot up ..
1. Hardware bios init .. not much you can do here ..
2. Windows init and load ... disc defrag can help and registry cleanup
3. Login .. startup of user processes .. registry cleanup and removal of unwanted
processes
each of the three main phases have their own characteristics .. to keep things
fast it is best practise to have more than one disc and use one as system disc
only ... also the speed of the system disc is a major factor in boot up time ..
If your PC used to be faster than it is a cleanup job ... you can install a startup monitor which can help you control which processes are started on login and you can also install a system monitor which tells you when processes register to run and startup (trojans etc) .. that keeps things in order.
My Pcs run 24/7 but when I start up my main desktop it takes about 3-4 minutes
but thats mainly in phase 1 and 2 because of all the controllers. Once windows is loaded it's only around 10 seconds or so for login despite all the processes but
thats because I run superfast discs and lots of memory ...
Also a firewall or antivirus can eat time at startup...
regards
gmd
AnswerID:
191213
Follow Up By: angler - Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 12:06
Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 12:06
Yes i do have al the anti things like NOD32 antivirus, registry mechanic and spyware doctor plus adaware for spam garbage.
HDD is a WD 7200rpm SATA. There are other drives that I use for video editing and they are of course quite large as each hour of digital video can take up to 30gigs.
I like the idea of the startup monitor, which one do you suggest?
I think it's al the progs that are in the startup list. I certainly don't need all of them to be fast start so maybe some can be deleted from the start up list.
I will do a defrag tonight.
Thanks for the advice
Pooley
FollowupID:
448962
Follow Up By: _gmd_pps - Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 15:44
Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 15:44
This is a startup control panel. It's freeware and I use since years ..
http://www.ozshops.com/StartupCPL.zip
once installed you can call it from Control Panel and check and control
which processes start a boot time and which at login time ...
It also makes some trojans visible ...
this is a monitor which prompts you when a process registers for starting
and boot time or login time ...
http://www.ozshops.com/StartupMonitor.zip
you need to unzip and install the .msi files ... they are save .. as I said I use
them since years ... Most people don't even know that things like this exist ..
especially those computer shops where they sell the computers they hardly know
anything about them ..
good luck
gmd
FollowupID:
449011
Follow Up By: angler - Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 18:44
Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 18:44
Thanks _gmd_pps,
I will download and try them. Incidently how do I know if I am now a exploroz member as I have paid the
membership so "what next?"
Pooley
FollowupID:
449047
Follow Up By: Sand Man (SA) - Monday, Aug 28, 2006 at 09:55
Monday, Aug 28, 2006 at 09:55
Angler,
You will receive your
membership card with your
membership number on it and instructions how to register as a full member.
Welcome to ExplorOz as a member.
FollowupID:
449160
Reply By: Notso - Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 09:07
Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 09:07
Must be something wrong with my Toshiba Notebook. 3.4 Ghz 512kram 60 Gig HD.
I am in and logged on to exploroz in 1 minute 30 seconds??
AnswerID:
191226
Reply By: Member - Toolman (VIC) - Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 15:44
Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 15:44
I used to have the same problem with my desktop PC until I gave up using Norton Anti Virus and their Fiirewall and started using another firewall and virus protection software. Now it takes perhaps 1 minute to start up.
Toolman
AnswerID:
191271
Follow Up By: angler - Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 18:42
Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 18:42
Best thing you could do is get rid of nortons, It was good some years ago however it has changed for the worse.
Best of luck to anyone trying to unload it, not at all easy.
Pooley
FollowupID:
449046
Reply By: Toey - Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 20:30
Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 at 20:30
I agree get rid o Norton anti virus .Run something like Vet or Zone Alarm. You should remove things in your startup menu that you don’t use. Start run type msconfig click on startup and untick everything you don’t use, normally leaving virus software activated.
I’m a computer tech and you PC should run pretty fast going off the spec’s you posted.
Hope this helps..
AnswerID:
191326