Hard Disk Problems?

[Selecta]

Im not sure whether this is a hardware or software problem, anyway.....

Since buying my computer (Dell Dimension 8200 - WIN XP) I've noticed that the speed at which the computer runs has slowed down considerably. My initial guess is that is has something to do with the hard drive as most of the slow down seems to occur when reading or writing to disk. Obviously the speed of any computer will decrease as new programs are installed that are constantly resident in the RAM but i have kept a close eye on what has been installed and my free memory.

The hard disk seems to run about a quarter of the speed it used to even though the amount of free space has not decreased very much. An example of this would be when running virus checker, defrag or Spybot. All of these can take three or four times longer to run than they used to despite always having the same amount of data to check (about 12Gig).

I have always used Defrag, Anti virus (daily + updates), Spybot, windows update, the hard drive is without clutter and files are achived. I have no idea what is causing the problem......can anyone help?

Thanks

[Ranger Bob]

How much Ram do you have and how many processes do you have running after the PC boots up? Was this a clean install of Windows XP or an update of the operating system on the PC?

[Selecta]

The pc came with XP home as standard, and theres 512mb of RAM with 324mb free according to task manager.

I also forgot to mention that saving and loading documents take a long time also.

Here is a list of current processes:
PSFree.exe - 5080k (popup stopper)
Rundll32.exe - 4732k
ctfmon.exe - 2648k
wgp.exe - 2920k (win guard)
avgcc32.exe - 5344k (antivirus)
explorer.exe - 21688k
wowexec.exe - ???
winoldap.mod - ???
transact.exe - ??? (business software)
tvdm.exe - 10704k
iexplore.exe - 8052k
nvsvc32.exe - 2664k
avgserv.exe - 1568k (antivirus)
alg.exe - 4124k
keyserv.exe - 4524k (business software)
spoolsv.exe - 5404k
svchost.exe - 3552k
svchost.exe - 1928k
smc.exe - 9552k
svchost.exe - 17180k
svchost.exe - 3364k
lsass.exe - 5524k
services.exe - 3020k
winlogon.exe - 804k
csrss.exe - 3480k
smss.exe - 440k
taskmgr.exe - 2840k
mcalert - 5904k (mail.com alert)
system -220k

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

[brad]

Do you have two AV's running? AVG and WinGuard? Not sure about what WinGuard does but two AV's isn't good.
We could tell a lot more if you'd:
Download and install . Now Run it and post a copy of the Log File here.

brad

[Selecta]

I already run Hijack this from time to time but cannot find anything wrong with the file but i'll post it anyway in case you can, as for Win guard its a program that stops other user getting into the settings and can encrypt files on your computer. Here is the log file:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.7
Scan saved at 8:31:11 AM, on 5/6/2004
Platform: Windows XP SP1 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Sygate\SPF\smc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG6\avgserv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Grisoft\AVG6\avgcc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\wgp.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\PANICW~1\POP-UP~1\PSFree.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\rundll32.exe
C:\Program Files\mail.com\mcalert.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntvdm.exe
C:\Transact\keyserv.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Stew\Desktop\Spyware and Updates\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = about:blank
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://www.google.com
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.mail.com/
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant = about:blank
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = www.mail.com
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Window Title = Microsoft Internet Explorer provided by Business Anytime
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page_bak = http://www.mail.com/
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Connection Wizard,Shellnext = iexplore
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,SearchAssistant = ,
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,SearchAssistant = ,
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,(Default) = ,
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {02478D38-C3F9-4efb-9B51-7695ECA05670} - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Companion\ycomp5_0_2_7.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\msdxm.ocx
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG_CC] C:\Program Files\Grisoft\AVG6\avgcc32.exe /startup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SmcService] C:\PROGRA~1\Sygate\SPF\smc.exe -startgui
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WinGuard Pro] C:\WINDOWS\System32\wgp.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [PopUpStopperFreeEdition] C:\PROGRA~1\PANICW~1\POP-UP~1\PSFree.exe
O4 - Startup: Mail.com Alert.lnk = ?
O4 - Startup: Microsoft Outlook.lnk = ?
O4 - Startup: Replicator.lnk = C:\Program Files\Replicator\PTReplicator.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions present
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel present
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: Real.com (HKLM)
O9 - Extra button: Messenger (HKLM)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger (HKLM)
O14 - IERESET.INF: START_PAGE_URL=http://www.btopenworld.com/businesshome
O16 - DPF: {9F1C11AA-197B-4942-BA54-47A8489BB47F} (Update Class) - http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/C ... 0099652778
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shoc ... wflash.cab
O16 - DPF: {EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88} - http://us.dl1.yimg.com/download.yahoo.c ... 0_2_10.cab
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{E1225E1C-43A7-4C0B-9D24-C0AD03FF2B27}: NameServer = 212.159.13.49 212.159.13.50

Is it possible the registry has lots of unwanted info in it? I've just run antivirus and it took just 1 hour 10mins! which is a hell of a lot slower than it originally was when i bought the computer a year back and it hasn't got very much more info on it now (maybe a couple of gig)

Thanks!

[brad]

[Selecta]

[brad]

[Un4g1v3n]

If you want a faster startup,

Click Start, and go to RUN.

Once there, type MSCONFIG.

A window will pop-up and look for the tab labeled "Startup."

I suggest going over the processes and applications running. You can disable all, and open them manually when your computer finishes loading on startup.

If this doesnt help anything, post back here.

[Selecta]

I think it probably does check the system restore folder too as it has, on occassions, found viruses that have been removed previously but saved in system restore.

Another thing i have noticed is that the bulk of the time is spent scanning the windows folder (up to 40minutes).

The main problem being that whilst any scanning activities are running i find it difficult to get on with any other work, especially if it takes over an hour to run them. (files take even longer to save and load and windows take ages to open or close)

Stew

[brad]

Set your AV to exclude C:\System Volume Information. Also, have you deleted your Temp and Temporary Internet Files?
brad

[Restek]