System cleanup software?

[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.

I've done the disk defrag and error check several times but found
nothing. I don't know what is causing it but when I cold boot this
computer it will begin the startup process then I see a very brief
blink of a blue screen followed by a momentary shutdown and restart.
Then I see the error message, "Windows did not start right the last
time. Start normally?" I selece the normal startup then see another
error screen that asks if I want to run an error check or go ahead
with the normal startup. I've selected the option to run the error
check but it found nothing.

Here are the specifics for this comptuer:

Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1

Processor: AMD A6-3650 APU with \Radeoun HD Graphics 2.50 GHz

Installed memory (RAM): 4.0 GB

System Type: 64-bit Operating System

Pen and Touch: No Pen and Touch

I'm increasingly inclined to think that the OS installation is flawed
some way. I did a re-install but it didn't accomplish anything that
I've been able to tell.

Gordon

 

[Bob I]

On 12/16/2012 5:25 PM, Gordon wrote:

I'm increasingly inclined to think that the OS installation is flawed
some way. I did a re-install but it didn't accomplish anything that
I've been able to tell.

Gordon

The fact you did a re-install and the system is blue-screening at start
up says there is a problem that the system is recovering from did you
actually wipe the drive. Also I'd go into Advanced system settings and
turn OFF "Automatically restart" and turn ON "Write an event to the
system log" That should at least get some info indicating what the OS is
choking on.

 

[Ken Springer]

What would be a good choice in some cleanup software for my old
computer. It is running Windows 7 SP3 and seems to be in pretty good
working order except that it is very slow. This computer will run very
well for a while then it will stall out and the little donut icon will
spin for a minute or two before the computer comes back alive.

I didn't go back and read through the entire thread, but have you run
diagnostics on the HD to make sure it's not starting to fail?


--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 17.0.1
Thunderbird 17.0
LibreOffice 3.6.3.2

 

[BillW50]

I didn't go back and read through the entire thread, but have you run
diagnostics on the HD to make sure it's not starting to fail?

Oh man... I bet you never tried a brand new Dell Latitude ST with an
Atom Z670 processor. Lots of other manufactures used this processor for
their models too. And they all came with Windows 7 installed. And the
processor is running at 100% about half of the time right out of the
box. And it runs just like what Gordon describes. The only thing cool
about them is that they are cool running. No fan required. ;-)

 

[Philip Herlihy]

... I don't know what is causing it but when I cold boot this
computer it will begin the startup process then I see a very brief
blink of a blue screen followed by a momentary shutdown and restart.
Then I see the error message, "Windows did not start right the last
time. Start normally?" I selece the normal startup then see another
error screen that asks if I want to run an error check or go ahead
with the normal startup. I've selected the option to run the error
check but it found nothing.

Here are the specifics for this comptuer:

Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1

Processor: AMD A6-3650 APU with \Radeoun HD Graphics 2.50 GHz

Installed memory (RAM): 4.0 GB

System Type: 64-bit Operating System

Pen and Touch: No Pen and Touch

I'm increasingly inclined to think that the OS installation is flawed
some way. I did a re-install but it didn't accomplish anything that
I've been able to tell.

Gordon

This can sometimes be caused by a bad driver. I use DriverAgent.com to
update drivers (subscription) - there are other services/utilities but
it's a bit of a minefield (spam & scams). Windows Update can sometimes
find newer drivers.

 

[Ken Springer]

Oh man... I bet you never tried a brand new Dell Latitude ST with an
Atom Z670 processor. Lots of other manufactures used this processor for
their models too. And they all came with Windows 7 installed. And the
processor is running at 100% about half of the time right out of the
box. And it runs just like what Gordon describes. The only thing cool
about them is that they are cool running. No fan required. ;-)

LOL! Nope, never tried one. Too many different computers out there to
try them all. I have a hard enough time using just 1!

I was just thinking outside the box. I've learned that just because the
symptoms point in one area is not a guarantee you're headed in the right
direction. Been there, done that, in too many different areas over the
years.


--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 17.0.1
Thunderbird 17.0
LibreOffice 3.6.3.2

 

[Gordon]

On 12/16/2012 5:25 PM, Gordon wrote:



The fact you did a re-install and the system is blue-screening at start
up says there is a problem that the system is recovering from did you
actually wipe the drive. Also I'd go into Advanced system settings and
turn OFF "Automatically restart" and turn ON "Write an event to the
system log" That should at least get some info indicating what the OS is
choking on.

Bob, I'm a bit slow on the uptake, I guess. I can't figure out what
"Advanced System Settings" is or where it is located. I opened Control
Panel and snooped around for it but didn't find anything that seemed
to be what you're talking about. Could you please give me a few more
clues? Gordon

 

[Rene Lamontagne]

Bob, I'm a bit slow on the uptake, I guess. I can't figure out what
"Advanced System Settings" is or where it is located. I opened Control
Panel and snooped around for it but didn't find anything that seemed
to be what you're talking about. Could you please give me a few more
clues? Gordon

Try Control panel>System in the left pane you will find advanced system
settings.

Regards, Rene

 

[Ken Blake]

Try Control panel>System in the left pane you will find advanced system
settings.

Or a faster way to get to that screen is to hold down the Windows key
and press Pause|Break.

 

[Nil]

This can sometimes be caused by a bad driver. I use
DriverAgent.com to update drivers (subscription) - there are other
services/utilities but it's a bit of a minefield (spam & scams).
Windows Update can sometimes find newer drivers.

I don't know how much you pay for that driver update "service", but I
can't imagine that it's a good use of your money. Driver seldom get
updated, and it's not necessarily a good idea to update yours even if
they're available. Unless someone has a specific issue with their
current driver, I never recommend that they update them. Lots of things
get broken during driver updates - this is a case of "if it's not
broken, don't fix it." Once you have good, stable, working device
drivers, you can forget them. Maybe check every few years to see what's
changed, but updating them is rarely warranted.

 

[Char Jackson]

I don't know how much you pay for that driver update "service", but I
can't imagine that it's a good use of your money. Driver seldom get
updated, and it's not necessarily a good idea to update yours even if
they're available. Unless someone has a specific issue with their
current driver, I never recommend that they update them. Lots of things
get broken during driver updates - this is a case of "if it's not
broken, don't fix it." Once you have good, stable, working device
drivers, you can forget them. Maybe check every few years to see what's
changed, but updating them is rarely warranted.

+1

I never proactively suggest a driver update service to my clients, and
if someone should ask about it, I always tell them essentially what
you've said above. The cruel part is that some outfits charge money
for this.

 

[Ken Blake]

Driver seldom get
updated, and it's not necessarily a good idea to update yours even if
they're available. Unless someone has a specific issue with their
current driver, I never recommend that they update them. Lots of things
get broken during driver updates - this is a case of "if it's not
broken, don't fix it." Once you have good, stable, working device
drivers, you can forget them.

Ditto!

 

[Philip Herlihy]

Ditto!

Complacency is all very well, and you're right to suggest that it's
possible to cause or aggravate problems by tinkering with drivers
without specific reason. But I've encountered many situations in which
correcting an inappropriate or corrupt driver has been enough to fix a
"specific issue" just like this. I've worked in the industry for over
30 years. Presumably a different part of it.

Try Googling "Blue Screen" and see how many times the word "driver" is
there.

 

[Philip Herlihy]

Complacency is all very well, and you're right to suggest that it's
possible to cause or aggravate problems by tinkering with drivers
without specific reason. But I've encountered many situations in which
correcting an inappropriate or corrupt driver has been enough to fix a
"specific issue" just like this. I've worked in the industry for over
30 years. Presumably a different part of it.

Try Googling "Blue Screen" and see how many times the word "driver" is
there.

Microsoft think so too: See:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Resolving-stop-blue-screen-
errors-in-Windows-7

The fourth heading is: "Search for drivers on the manufacturer's
website".

The third-party service I use (driveragent.com), while not perfect, is
very useful, especially when I'm dealing with a machine with unknown
hardware installed. I've used it for years, and fixed many machines
with problems traced to driver issues. There are other similar services
(drivergenius, driveridentifier) but I find driveragent the best at
correctly identifying hardware and coming up with a suitable driver.
There are many other supposedly similar services which are just about
useless. Nevertheless, I do agree that updating drivers for the sake of
it (without good reason) is asking for trouble. A blue screen seems to
me to be a good reason.

Of course, the *right* thing to do is to set the machine to log a kernel
dump and use debugging tools for Windows to identify the cause
precisely. And that cause is quite likely to be a driver.

 

[Nil]

Complacency is all very well, and you're right to suggest that
it's possible to cause or aggravate problems by tinkering with
drivers without specific reason. But I've encountered many
situations in which correcting an inappropriate or corrupt driver
has been enough to fix a "specific issue" just like this. I've
worked in the industry for over 30 years. Presumably a different
part of it.

Try Googling "Blue Screen" and see how many times the word
"driver" is there.

OK, so start updating drivers when you are having problems like blue
screens. Using a service to constantly search for updated drivers for
devices that are functioning well seems like a recipe for trouble.

 

[Ken Blake]

Complacency is all very well, and you're right to suggest that it's
possible to cause or aggravate problems by tinkering with drivers
without specific reason. But I've encountered many situations in which
correcting an inappropriate or corrupt driver has been enough to fix a
"specific issue" just like this. I've worked in the industry for over
30 years. Presumably a different part of it.

This has nothing to do with complacency. And neither of us suggested
that a driver should never be updated. Nil's point, with which I
agreed, is that a driver should not be upgraded simply beside a newer
one is available. As he said, "if it's not broken, don't fix it."

And by the way, although I'm retired now, I also worked in the
industry for over 30 years.

 

[Char Jackson]

I have plenty of machines and I do both. Some get updates and some
doesn't. Then I compare the difference. And I can tell you stories about
taking parts of a new video driver and mixing other parts of earlier
drivers just to make it work decently. I first learned this trick with
OS/2 and then later with Windows drivers. I think it is pretty sad to
use end users as beta testers. :-(

The trouble with ignorance is that it picks up confidence as it goes
along.
- Arnold H. Glasow

 

[Ken Blake]

This has nothing to do with complacency. And neither of us suggested
that a driver should never be updated. Nil's point, with which I
agreed, is that a driver should not be upgraded simply beside a newer
one is available. As he said, "if it's not broken, don't fix it."

"Beside"? What a strange typo! I meant "because,
of course.

 

[BillW50]

This has nothing to do with complacency. And neither of us suggested
that a driver should never be updated. Nil's point, with which I
agreed, is that a driver should not be upgraded simply beside a newer
one is available. As he said, "if it's not broken, don't fix it."

And by the way, although I'm retired now, I also worked in the
industry for over 30 years.

I have plenty of machines and I do both. Some get updates and some
doesn't. Then I compare the difference. And I can tell you stories about
taking parts of a new video driver and mixing other parts of earlier
drivers just to make it work decently. I first learned this trick with
OS/2 and then later with Windows drivers. I think it is pretty sad to
use end users as beta testers. :-(

 

[BillW50]

The trouble with ignorance is that it picks up confidence as it goes
along.
- Arnold H. Glasow

I guess you would know. As I abandoned the ignorant way like when I was
3 years old. As I've been using the scientific method ever since then. ;-)