very slow system, no immediately obvious reason (to a novice)

[hetixo]

hi. Am on my Dad's computer and i can't believe the sluggish nature of this setup.

I have the following specs;

Windows Vista
Dell inspiron 1501 laptop running on wireless application.
half a gig RAM
mobile amd semprom 1.8 processor

it has just taken me 20 mins to go to system and find those specs.

hijackthis says;

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 17:51:27, on 28/10/2008
Platform: Unknown Windows (WinNT 6.00.1904)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6000.16757)

Running processes:
c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mcagent.exe
C:\Windows\system32\taskeng.exe
C:\Windows\system32\Dwm.exe
C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\jusched.exe
C:\Windows\sttray.exe
C:\Windows\System32\WLTRAY.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\UpdateService\issch.exe
C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD DX\PDVDDXSrv.exe
C:\Program Files\SiteAdvisor\6253\SiteAdv.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmpnscfg.exe
C:\Program Files\Digital Line Detect\DLG.exe
C:\Program Files\Dell\QuickSet\quickset.exe
C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\CLI.EXE
C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\CLI.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\ieuser.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil9b.exe
C:\Windows\system32\wuauclt.exe
C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgrsx.exe
C:\Users\John\Desktop\hijackthis_sfx\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.google.co.uk/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://www.google.co.uk/ig/dell?hl=en&client=dell-usuk&channel=uk&ibd=5070404
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Window Title = Internet Explorer provided by Dell
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
O1 - Hosts: ::1 localhost
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {089FD14D-132B-48FC-8861-0048AE113215} - C:\Program Files\SiteAdvisor\6253\SiteAdv.dll
O2 - BHO: McAfee Phishing Filter - {27B4851A-3207-45A2-B947-BE8AFE6163AB} - c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee\msk\mskapbho.dll
O2 - BHO: WormRadar.com IESiteBlocker.NavFilter - {3CA2F312-6F6E-4B53-A66E-4E65E497C8C0} - C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgssie.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - c:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: scriptproxy - {7DB2D5A0-7241-4E79-B68D-6309F01C5231} - C:\Program Files\McAfee\VirusScan\scriptsn.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Helper - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar1.dll
O2 - BHO: Browser Address Error Redirector - {CA6319C0-31B7-401E-A518-A07C3DB8F777} - C:\Program Files\BAE\BAE.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Google - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar1.dll
O3 - Toolbar: McAfee SiteAdvisor - {0BF43445-2F28-4351-9252-17FE6E806AA0} - C:\Program Files\SiteAdvisor\6253\SiteAdv.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Defender] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe -hide
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SynTPEnh] C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "c:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ATICCC] "C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\CLIStart.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SigmatelSysTrayApp] sttray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Broadcom Wireless Manager UI] C:\Windows\system32\WLTRAY.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Corel Photo Downloader] C:\Program Files\Corel\Corel Snapfire Plus\PhotoDownloader.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ISUSScheduler] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\UpdateService\issch.exe" -start
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RoxWatchTray] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\9.0\SharedCOM\RoxWatchTray9.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PDVDDXSrv] "C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD DX\PDVDDXSrv.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Google Desktop Search] "C:\Program Files\Google\Google Desktop Search\GoogleDesktop.exe" /startup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ECenter] c:\dell\E-Center\EULALauncher.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ISUSPM Startup] C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\INSTAL~1\UPDATE~1\ISUSPM.exe -startup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [diagnostics] "C:\Program Files\Thomson\ST330\diagnostics\diagnostics.exe" /icon -l:en
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [McENUI] C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\MHN\McENUI.exe /hide
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG8_TRAY] C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgtray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SiteAdvisor] C:\Program Files\SiteAdvisor\6253\SiteAdv.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [mcagent_exe] "C:\Program Files\McAfee.com\Agent\mcagent.exe" /runkey
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [WMPNSCFG] C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\WMPNSCFG.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Digital Line Detect.lnk = C:\Program Files\Digital Line Detect\DLG.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\OSA9.EXE
O4 - Global Startup: QuickSet.lnk = ?
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - c:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\npjpi160.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - c:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0\bin\npjpi160.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nlaapi.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\napinsp.dll
O11 - Options group: [INTERNATIONAL] International*
O13 - Gopher Prefix:
O18 - Protocol: linkscanner - {F274614C-63F8-47D5-A4D1-FBDDE494F8D1} - C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgpp.dll
O18 - Protocol: siteadvisor - {3A5DC592-7723-4EAA-9EE6-AF4222BCF879} - C:\Program Files\SiteAdvisor\6253\SiteAdv.dll
O18 - Filter: application/x-internet-signup - {A173B69A-1F9B-4823-9FDA-412F641E65D6} - C:\Program Files\Tiscali\Tiscali Internet\dlls\tiscalifilter.dll
O20 - AppInit_DLLs: C:\PROGRA~1\Google\GOOGLE~1\GOEC62~1.DLL,avgrsstx.dll
O23 - Service: Ati External Event Utility - ATI Technologies Inc. - C:\Windows\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
O23 - Service: AVG Free8 E-mail Scanner (avg8emc) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgemc.exe
O23 - Service: AVG Free8 WatchDog (avg8wd) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgwdsvc.exe
O23 - Service: DSBrokerService - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\DellSupport\brkrsvc.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\1050\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Services (mcmscsvc) - McAfee, Inc. - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\MSC\mcmscsvc.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Network Agent (McNASvc) - McAfee, Inc. - c:\program files\common files\mcafee\mna\mcnasvc.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Scanner (McODS) - McAfee, Inc. - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\VIRUSS~1\mcods.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Proxy Service (McProxy) - McAfee, Inc. - c:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\mcafee\mcproxy\mcproxy.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Real-time Scanner (McShield) - McAfee, Inc. - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\VIRUSS~1\mcshield.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee SystemGuards (McSysmon) - McAfee, Inc. - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\VIRUSS~1\mcsysmon.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Personal Firewall Service (MpfService) - McAfee, Inc. - C:\Program Files\McAfee\MPF\MPFSrv.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Anti-Spam Service (MSK80Service) - McAfee, Inc. - C:\Program Files\McAfee\MSK\MskSrver.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\qwave.dll,-1 (QWAVE) - Unknown owner - %windir%\system32\svchost.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: RoxMediaDB9 - Sonic Solutions - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\9.0\SharedCOM\RoxMediaDB9.exe
O23 - Service: Roxio Hard Drive Watcher 9 (RoxWatch9) - Sonic Solutions - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\9.0\SharedCOM\RoxWatch9.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\seclogon.dll,-7001 (seclogon) - Unknown owner - %windir%\system32\svchost.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: SpeedTouch 330 Manager (st330service) - THOMSON Telecom Belgium - C:\Program Files/Thomson/ST330/service/st330service.exe
O23 - Service: SigmaTel Audio Service (STacSV) - SigmaTel, Inc. - C:\Program Files\SigmaTel\C-Major Audio\WDM\STacSV.exe
O23 - Service: stllssvr - MicroVision Development, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\SureThing Shared\stllssvr.exe
O23 - Service: Dell Wireless WLAN Tray Service (wltrysvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\WLTRYSVC.EXE
O23 - Service: @%ProgramFiles%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - %ProgramFiles%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: XAudioService - Conexant Systems, Inc. - C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\xaudio.exe

I hope that someone can help with this. this post has taken the best part of an hour to complete - that will give you some idea of how slow the machine is.

thanks

hetixo

[OlyComputers]

Well, if it's really taken that long that is ridiculous but...

That system should never have vista on it. It barely meets the minimum requirements and, at least in my opinion, vista isn't usable unless you have AT LEAST the minimum recommended.

The only thing I see wrong is that you seem to have McCafee and AVG installed together. Having two conflicting security applications can cause problems. Also, CTRL+ALT+DEL and bring up your task manager, see if any application is using an excessive amount of CPU or RAM resources.

[jbennet]

yeah you need absoulte minimum 1gb to run vista. 2gb is better
And i dont reccomend any low-end single core CPU with vista.

Your system is not fit for vista. MS's minimum specs for vista are total crap, just like the specs for xp were when it first came out (i think for xp they initially reccomended 64mb RAM lol)

you should really just buy XP. Upgrading to 1 or 2gb of ram will help, but the CPU is a still a bottleneck.

[Dell-Ninja]

I worked for Dell hardware warranty support and am A+ and Dell CBG certified.
The minimum recommended ram should indeed be a gig for halfway decent functionality and 2GB for good to great performance.
.
The system will also run extremely slow with McAfee on it as it in and of itself will use a little over 256MB of ram. Add that into the mix and your system will be crawling.
I have several machines I work with. One of them is the same model and processor. I upgraded the ram to 2GB which is the systems maximum and vista is running great on it. However it does slow down quite a bit when the antivirus runs so I schedule the scans for when the system isn't in use or manually.

If you are indeed to keep vista you will need upgrade the ram. I recommend using Crucial ram as it is lifetime warranty and is currently on sale. If you purchase the upgrade from Dell the ram is over priced. I purchased 2 1GB sticks of ram for my clients Inspiron 1501.
http://crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=32F134EDA5CA7304

Or if you don't want to upgrade or spend the money. You can install XP. However it is almost impossible to downgrade from vista to xp so you would need to format and reinstall.

Regards

[Dell-Ninja]

Also if you plan to go back to XP which I am pretty sure is what shipped with the system. You can use the Operating system disk that originally shipped with the laptop IF you lost your Dell OEM installation disk and you are out of warranty you can call their support line don't enter any information via the phone. But when the rep answers give him service tag info and request them to send you the media. Note: If you are out of warranty tell the agent to referr to the out of warranty support policy and ask his supervisor to approve the shipping of Dell branded media. If that doesn't work ask to speak with his/her supervisor. They can usually get you the missing or lost media next business day at no charge to you.

[hetixo]

hey thanks guys

ok. yeah. this is a really thick question, but how do i replace vista with xp?

could you give a fool some technical advice?

much appreciated. thank you. x

[Dell-Ninja]

You will need to backup data first as following these steps will remove all data from the system.

Insert the disk. Power on the computer tapping F12 Select the cd/dvd device and boot to it. Next You will want create a fresh install so will need to delete the main windows partition and create a new one. And format it.
A walkthrough or guide can be found here: http://www.technophobik.co.uk/vxp_install/001insp_config.asp
Once windows is installed you will need to download and install the drivers for the system. You may need to use a flash drive or usb device or can burn drivers to a cd.
You can find the drivers at Support.dell.com by clicking on drivers and downloads and then entering your systems service tag. There is an order to the driver installation. First install the notebook system software. Then install the chipset drivers. Then I recommend installing the video/graphics driver, Then the networking drivers, Then audio and then the modem drivers. The remaining drivers don't have a specific order of installation.

Best of luck to you :)

[OlyComputers]

As for the minimum requirements for vista, Microsoft isn't really inaccurate with their requirements they're actually to specific. When they say "Minimum" they mean it, When they say "Minimum recommended" they really mean the minimum they'd recommend. Vista has a minimum ram requirement of 512MB, recommending 1GB (It runs pretty well with 2GB).

Dell Ninjas steps for the re-install are good. If you need anymore information just ask here.

[hetixo]

I worked for Dell hardware warranty support and am A+ and Dell CBG certified.
The minimum recommended ram should indeed be a gig for halfway decent functionality and 2GB for good to great performance.
.
The system will also run extremely slow with McAfee on it as it in and of itself will use a little over 256MB of ram. Add that into the mix and your system will be crawling.
I have several machines I work with. One of them is the same model and processor. I upgraded the ram to 2GB which is the systems maximum and vista is running great on it. However it does slow down quite a bit when the antivirus runs so I schedule the scans for when the system isn't in use or manually.

If you are indeed to keep vista you will need upgrade the ram. I recommend using Crucial ram as it is lifetime warranty and is currently on sale. If you purchase the upgrade from Dell the ram is over priced. I purchased 2 1GB sticks of ram for my clients Inspiron 1501.
http://crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=32F134EDA5CA7304

Or if you don't want to upgrade or spend the money. You can install XP. However it is almost impossible to downgrade from vista to xp so you would need to format and reinstall.

Regards

right, i think this is probably the best option. Is the ram as easy to fit on this laptop as it is on my own Dell desktop? If it is then i think that's the way forward. might as well run with Vista than run away from it i guess.

[jbennet]

yeah the RAM is physically smaller, and it slides in at an angle. To get at it, you generally just unscrew a cover on the bottom of the machine.

[caperjack]

i have a dell workstation with 2 ghz ,zeon chip and 512 meg ram and it runs Vista ok ,I'm just using it for surfing righ now .

[Dell-Ninja]

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1501/en/sm_en/memory.htm#wp999869

Guide to how to remove RAM and install new :P

[OlyComputers]

Ram is considered a "user upgradable" part, even on laptops. It's enver more than a couple screws away. But I don't know about "running towards vista" even balmer has accepted that people are better off to wait for windows 7. Besides, even if Vista were the best operating system for this user, it's just not the right OS for this computer, it wasn't designed to run on old hardware and I would NEVER install it on my laptop running similar specs (Celeron M [Dothan with 1mb cache] and 1GB of ram.)

[OlyComputers]

When it comes down to it, this system is running too slow, even for Vista on a slow machine. There must be something wrong, but since this laptop shouldn't have Vista in the first place installing XP will fix everything.

[Dell-Ninja]

Installing XP fixes almost everything :P
LOL

[jbennet]

Re: OlyComputers

windows 7 wont be faster than vista, it still uses the NT 6 kernel

[OlyComputers]

On a kernel level it wont be faster, but according to everything I've read and the demos I've seen (on the web in general, and from Microsoft) it's going to be less "bloated". The problem with vista has nothing to do with the efficiency of it's Kernel, it's the resource requirements of the rest of it's components. It's designed to better utilize resources (which vista was very bad at), it will even run on NETBOOKS!!!

Look at Linux, virtually all versions recent Linux distributions use the 2.6 kernel but some perfrom better than others, or use less resources, depending on what's inclued and how well it performs.

[jbennet]

Thats because they are basing it on server 2008. server 2008 comes by default with hardly anything enabled and you need to add everything as roles/features. But server 2008 + the desktop experience feature = exactly the same in speed as vista.