XP Start Menu Items sloooooooooooooow!!!!!!!!!

[WRX_Rocky 0]

Recently, a lot of programs that I try to start from the XP START menu have become extremely slow, and even lock up my system for almost 1 1/2 minutes now. Sometimes even longer! I mean, if I even click on something as simple as Solitaire, it will take forever for it to pop up on the desktop, and during that wait, even task manager does not update or move (so can't see what is going on!!!!!!). I checked for viruses, checked for spyware, stopped a few un-needed services, ran checkdsk, ran defrag, cleaned up temp files, updated drivers, triesd stopping some startup programs with MSCONFIG, updated the BIOS, just about anything I could think of. And still it is slooooooooow! This is driving me nuts! And I have an ASUS A8N SLI DLX mobo with the AMD 64bit 4000+ (so NO SLOCH CPU!!!), and 3 GIG of Corsair ram in dual mode. So this system should SCREAM. It does on my other partition with XP 64bit, but not on the 32 bit version.

 

Anyone have any ideas??????

[peterh 1]

Its most likely a problem in background using all cpu. I have same problem mostly due to either my Antivirus, Spamkiller or Zone alarm taking ages to load up and process whatever info.

 

[Relic 0]

How many processes do you have running when you bring up the task manager?

[WRX_Rocky 0]

Depending on what else is running, but at just the desktop, I'd say about 47. Using Avast and Zone Alarm alone, they seem to have quite a few things running in the background. Guess that is the price to pay now, to be protected against viruses, popups, browser helpers, mallware, spyware, keystroke loggers, etc. I also notice there are 6 itemts saying svchost.exe running as well, though it don't say what any of them are.

 

And again, my XP 64bit partition is runnig just fine!

[Relic 0]

Man, that's a lot of things to have running at the same time, over-kill I do believe. I take it your system tray is full of icons? That's your reason, you're really taxing your system.

[American Zombie 0]

Originally posted by WRX_Rocky:

Quote:

3 GIG of Corsair ram in dual mode

 

I do not see how you could be running dual channel with what I assume is three 1 GB sticks of ram.

[Relic 0]

I suppose it is possible, but that would slow it down. 2 sticks of 1gig, in dual channel, would probably be faster than 3 sticks of 1gig trying to run in dual channel.

[American Zombie 0]

Ya I agree that three sticks will slow it down as you do not have the same amount per channel.

 

Manual for that board says the following:

 

Quote:

For dual channel configuration, the total size of the memory module(s) installed per channel must be the same for better performance.

 

Would be better to either take one stick out or add another so you have four but some boards do not handle that too well.

[WRX_Rocky 0]

Somehow or other, my reply about the ram did not show up???

 

I have (2) 1 GIG and (2) 512 meg of Corsair XMS memory of the same type, same CAS, and same speed. With each in their respective channels, this works.

 

Now, tonight I *THINK* I found what is the problem - ZONE ALARM!!!!!!!!!! VSMON.EXE which is part of Zone Alarm was always taking just about the most memory and CPU time of all programs running in the background. I disabled it and rebooted, and now everything is peppy again! I tried this because I just remembered all the horror stories I recently read on the ZA web forum about the last few updates being problems for a lot of folks. So right now, I am using just the Windoze built-in firewall until I can figure out what to do, or what OLDER version of ZA was the better one to use. This just absolutely STINKS how we have to have all this stuff running to keep our computers safe from jerks!!!!!!!

[WRX_Rocky 0]

Well, Zone Alarm must have been the problem! Cause the rest of tonight has been just fine. All the programs and start menu items are as fast as they used to be. Just hope that the Windoze firewall and the 2Wire hardware firewall are enough

[peterh 1]

I think ZoneAlarm Pro does not have this problem just the free one. I am thinking of taking off ZA anyway as it takes too long to load up.

 

[Sampson 0]

Vsmon.exe has been criticized in ZA for having a memory leak on some systems. Once you've determined that vsmon.exe has this characteristic, it is best to uninstall ZA and find a different solution. Using a router and its firewall characteristics is recommended even when you have a software firewall. And, there are some who find it preferable to set their machines up as you did WRX_Rocky. I know that the Sygate Personal firewall has been acquired by Microsoft, you may still find a free version floating about on the web: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Sygate_Personal_Firewall_Free_d3356.html if you want to give it a try.

[WRX_Rocky 0]

Thanks Sampson, I think Vsmon was the problem. And I don't have the FREE version of ZA, I own the paid for full suite version.

 

Will try that Sygate you mentioned. Thanks!!!!!!!