System cleanup software?

[Ed Cryer]

Michael, I did this as you suggested but can not see any difference in
the original problem. This may be something that is indexing or
otherwise going through everything on this computer. The computer will
operate very well for a few minutes then stall out like it's busy with
some other function. This stall out may last a few seconds or it may
last several minutes, but eventually the computer will pop back alive
and all is well for a short while before the process repeats.

As to Norton 360...well, I bought and installed Norton 360 in the
hopes that it could find and clear up this problem. That is, the
problem predates the installation of Norton 360 on this computer.

I'm beginning to think a reformat and re-install of the OS and all the
client software may be the only way I can overcome this problem.

Gordon

I've seen many a computer given away because "it had just become too
slow; full of viruses and stuff"!
And then when I look into it I find it's just full of silly crap that's
been installed. I remove all that and there's a good box of tricks.

It sure sounds a simple problem you've got; something or other keep
hogging memory. The thing to do is to identify that.

Try this.
Load task manager, Processes tab, and observe the CPU Usage figure on
the bottom. It'll jump up and down. Observe it for a while and when you
see that it is being occasionally hogged, identify the relevant process
from the CPU column.
Tell us, and we'll guide you further.

You might also like to look at the CPU Time column to see what's been
using most memory. Clicking on any column header sorts the display into
high/low.

Ed

 

[Char Jackson]

I use CCleaner, which disposes of out of date files of all kinds, and
has (safe) registry cleaning tool that eliminates keys for missing
(uninstalled) software and such.

I've hosed a couple of systems with Registry cleaners, so I don't use
them anymore. Before that, I never saw any performance improvement or
issue resolution as a result of 'cleaning' the Registry. My personal
assessment is "potential pain, no gain".

OTOH, slow-downs are also caused by starting unnecessary services and
background quick-start applets for applications.

Definitely agree.

You can use CCleaner's
Startup inspection tool to decide which of those start-up applets you
want, and either disable or delete the ones you don't want. You can also
stop various services. One that takes a lot of time, especially on older
hardware is indexing. You get to this setting (and others) via Control
Panel >> Administrative Tools >> Services. You can always turn services
back on.

It can be dangerous to stop services unless you have a reasonable idea
of what they do. I've gotten reports from clients that they locked up
their system and/or made it unbootable by messing around there.

 

[Nil]

Download and run CCleaner for the registry.

Also, go to start - run- type in Prefetch - delete everything.

Go to start - run - type in %temp% - delete everything.

Download something called Temp File Cleaner v 3.1.1 from here:

http://download.cnet.com/Temp-File-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-11815568.htm
l

check off all boxes and run - it will take 15 minutes or so the
first time. You will be amazed at all the crap it gets rid of.

Your machine will fly.

Also - delete all your IE temp files.

CCleaner includes the ability delete prefetch, temporary, and IE temp
files. It's redundant to delete them separately.

All this will reclaim some disc space, but is unlikely to improve the
speed of the computer.

 

[Char Jackson]

Per Gordon:

My personal choice is an imaging application like TeraByte's
"Image" at the low end cost-wise or StorageCraft's
"ShadowProtect" at the high end.

And I suspect there are dozens in-between.

Plus some excellent free ones. I've installed Macrium Reflect, the
free version, on about two dozen client computers and have taken the
first image to use as a baseline. It's free, very easy to use, and
allows you to browse through the image and extract single files, if
desired.

After several years with "Image", I layed out the big bucks
(about $100 IRRC) for ShadowProtect because of it's ability to
open up an image as if it were another disc drive.

Ouch! We probably could have saved you a Benjamin.

 

[Michael]

"Gordon" wrote in message

"Gordon" wrote in message


Download and run CCleaner for the registry.

Also, go to start - run- type in Prefetch - delete everything.

Go to start - run - type in %temp% - delete everything.

Download something called Temp File Cleaner v 3.1.1 from here:

http://download.cnet.com/Temp-File-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-11815568.html

check off all boxes and run - it will take 15 minutes or so the
first
time. You will be amazed at all the crap it gets rid of.

Your machine will fly.

Also - delete all your IE temp files.

Michael, I did this as you suggested but can not see any difference
in
the original problem.

Run Task Manager when it happens and see what's draining resources.

Reinstalling the OS is a PITA.

 

[Ken Blake]

This computer has Norton 360 installed and it gives no indication of
any problems. It just did a deep scan this morning and found nothing.

Three points:

1. Although Norton is one of the most popular anti-virus programs, it
is also one of the worst, in my view. I recommend NOD32, Kaspersky,
Microsoft Security Essentials, Avast, or Avira.

2. Even the best anti-virus program is not perfect and will miss some
things. And if it were perfect this morning, by this afternoon there
will be new threats that it hasn't yet been updated to detect.

3. An anti-virus program is not sufficient. You should also run an
anti-spyware program. I recommend the free MalwareBytes AntiMalware.

 

[Ken Blake]

I've hosed a couple of systems with Registry cleaners, so I don't use
them anymore. Before that, I never saw any performance improvement or
issue resolution as a result of 'cleaning' the Registry. My personal
assessment is "potential pain, no gain".

A strong ditto (even though the CCleaner registry cleaner is safer
than most)!

Definitely agree.

Yes.


It can be dangerous to stop services unless you have a reasonable idea
of what they do. I've gotten reports from clients that they locked up
their system and/or made it unbootable by messing around there.

Another strong ditto!

 

[Michael]

"Nil" wrote in message

Download and run CCleaner for the registry.

Also, go to start - run- type in Prefetch - delete everything.

Go to start - run - type in %temp% - delete everything.

Download something called Temp File Cleaner v 3.1.1 from here:

http://download.cnet.com/Temp-File-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-11815568.htm
l

check off all boxes and run - it will take 15 minutes or so the
first time. You will be amazed at all the crap it gets rid of.

Your machine will fly.

Also - delete all your IE temp files.

CCleaner includes the ability delete prefetch, temporary, and IE temp
files. It's redundant to delete them separately.

I've noticed that after running CCleaner, there are still a bunch of
files left in the IE temp folder, the Prefetch folder and the Temp
folder. In fact, I just this minute ran it and folders are left in
all three locations.

All this will reclaim some disc space, but is unlikely to improve the
speed of the computer.

I've run those on a bunch of machines that were running slow and most,
but not all, ran a lot better. After running all those I defrag
immediately.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Char Jackson:

Ouch! We probably could have saved you a Benjamin.

"Ouch" indeed.... -)

Well, "Live and learn....".

 

[Nil]

I've run those on a bunch of machines that were running slow and
most, but not all, ran a lot better. After running all those I
defrag immediately.

The default setting for CCleaner is to only delete temp files older
than 24 hours. I don't know about prefetch, but deleting them only
makes bootup and starting up programs slower. The only value of
deleting them is to reclaim disc space.

I would credit any speedup to the defrag, plus the placebo effect.

 

[Michael]

"Nil" wrote in message

I've run those on a bunch of machines that were running slow and
most, but not all, ran a lot better. After running all those I
defrag immediately.

The default setting for CCleaner is to only delete temp files older
than 24 hours. I don't know about prefetch, but deleting them only
makes bootup and starting up programs slower. The only value of
deleting them is to reclaim disc space.

I would credit any speedup to the defrag, plus the placebo effect.

Well, in that case, I must discredit what my eyes have shown me.

 

[Robin Bignall]

Per Char Jackson:


"Ouch" indeed.... -)

Well, "Live and learn....".

I've got Shadowprotect, Pete, and I think it's well worth the money.
Once set up you never have to remember to do anything.

 

[Char Jackson]

I've got Shadowprotect, Pete, and I think it's well worth the money.
Once set up you never have to remember to do anything.

So far, you guys are still talking about things that the free version
of Macrium can do.

 

[Char Jackson]

The computer will
operate very well for a few minutes then stall out like it's busy with
some other function. This stall out may last a few seconds or it may
last several minutes, but eventually the computer will pop back alive
and all is well for a short while before the process repeats.

Is there continuous disk activity during those periods? Is there
anything interesting in the Event Log, especially under the System
area? Do you have Process Monitor available, or at least Win 7's
Resource Monitor, to help you see what's going on?

I'm beginning to think a reformat and re-install of the OS and all the
client software may be the only way I can overcome this problem.

Not the only way, but perhaps the only way that guarantees success.
The bad part is that if the situation was caused by something you did
and you don't identify it, then it's likely to happen again. That's
why it's nice to know why it's happening.

 

[Gordon]

Is there continuous disk activity during those periods? Is there
anything interesting in the Event Log, especially under the System
area? Do you have Process Monitor available, or at least Win 7's
Resource Monitor, to help you see what's going on?

Yes, the hard drive is running constantly during these lockups. All I
can find on this is that svchost.exe is doing something but I can't
figure out means to identify what is going on, other than this.

 

[Wolf K]

Yes, the hard drive is running constantly during these lockups. All I
can find on this is that svchost.exe is doing something but I can't
figure out means to identify what is going on, other than this.

That sounds like it's page swapping, which implies that there's not
enough RAM. You may be able to find out which process(es) is (are) using
so much memory. Quickest fix is to add RAM, for XP 2GB is minimum, I'd
recommend 4GB.

HTH

 

[Paul]

Yes, the hard drive is running constantly during these lockups. All I
can find on this is that svchost.exe is doing something but I can't
figure out means to identify what is going on, other than this.

In a quick scan through this, I don't see a breakout in a svchost,
as to how much disk each element in a svchost uses.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/list-services-running-under-svchostexe-process/

http://www.bleepstatic.com/tutorials/svchost/windows-8/expanded-service-host.jpg

However, there's a way to reduce a svchost that has fifteen things
inside it, to fifteen svchosts with one item inside each one. Back up
your system, before doing this (it may be faster to restore C:, than
to undo the changes).

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/spatdsg/archive/2007/09/17/debugging-services.aspx

"Debugging an instance of svchost with 10 other dependent services in it,
well it’s not always acceptable to put them all on hold

You can split it out into its own service by running:

sc config <service> type= own

And revert it via

sc config <service> type= share
"

Example:

"sc config CertPropSvc type= own

Then you restart the service.. and note that it’s in it’s own instance
"

"When you are done – revert it via:

sc config CertPropSvc type= share
"

So that's one way to force each potential culprit, into their
own svchost. Then, the disk usage for that svchost, is the
disk usage of the culprit.

Note that, it's always the "fat" svchost, that causes the problem,
so you're going to need to type fifteen different instances of one
of these. Then reboot. Then use Task Manager, as in the first
article. It's Murphy's law that the one most hard to debug, is
the one that's doing it.

sc config CertPropSvc type= own

HTH,
Paul

 

[Bob I]

This computer has Norton 360 installed and it gives no indication of
any problems. It just did a deep scan this morning and found nothing.
Gordon

It's been my experience Norton IS the problem, and that's why IT doesn't
find one.

 

[Gordon]

It's been my experience Norton IS the problem, and that's why IT doesn't
find one.

This might be a valid assessment in some or most cases but I can't fit
it in with the problem I'm having. The problem hit before I installed
Norton 360. I bought and installed Norton 360 in the hopes that it
would find and correct the problem. Gordon

 

[Philip Herlihy]

This might be a valid assessment in some or most cases but I can't fit
it in with the problem I'm having. The problem hit before I installed
Norton 360. I bought and installed Norton 360 in the hopes that it
would find and correct the problem. Gordon

See if the machine is significantly faster in Safe Mode. If so, then
something which loads at logon or boot time is slowing the machine down.
You can use autoruns.exe (from sysinternals.com) to change settings.

How much memory have you got? Use process explorer (same stable) to
compare "Commit Charge" (memory demanded) with physical memory. If Peak
Commit Charge is less than Physical Memory after a while running, adding
memory will speed your machine.

Unintall everything you can live without. Revo Uninstaller is good at
cleaning up left-over detritus from Norton and other messy programs.

Defrag your disk. Defraggler from Piriform.com is very good, and has a
setting to defrag system files at boot-time, which can make a
difference.