Suddenly slow Vista SP2 Computer

[Medico]

Just to add to the great info Clint just posted, my system saves the images as .png by default, but since the Lounge accepts this format equally as well as .jpg, either format will work for you. Or you can just change the save as format to .jpg, but this is one extra step.

[IreneLinda]

More great information so wonderfully understandably expressed! Thanks to you both. Can't wait to try it out when I get to that point in my methodical progress through Clint's earlier list - and the suggestions from the beginning of this post!

Linda

[IreneLinda]

Okay, Clint (and Ted), here goes my attempt at screen shots of some of the programs I'm not sure about.

In the top shot, unsure re. X and which of 2 coupon printers I should keep, if any.
In middle one, unsure about all of them except the last plugin, which I assume I should keep as it relates to Firefox.
In the bottom one, info re. NET you'd asked about. Also, do I need the Office Live Add In, all the Microsoft ones, from SQL down to Visual Basic C++ updates?

Back to your list ... and thanks again!

Linda

[CLiNT]

The Coupon printer software looks like something you could uninstall.
I would look at the Conexant HD Audio a little closer to ensure it doesn't have an associated hardware device prior to removal.
Look through the device manager's audio section for any reference to it. (RUN: devmgmt.msc)

Is that all the programs you have installed?

[IreneLinda]

There is something called Conexant High Definition SmartAudio 221 in the Device Manager so guess that means I leave that one alone. Think I could always reload a coupon printer when I get to a place that offers a coupon (which is how I got them before, I suspect!).

Is that all the programs I have installed? Yikes, no, There are 85 items listed in the Programs and Files section of Control Panel. That includes the ones in the screen shots. Is this a problem? Lots seem to be MS or HP related.

Thanks for sticking with me through all this!!

Linda

In the Windows run box, copy and paste "msconfig" without quotes. This will bring up the following picture I have attached. There will be a list of programs under "Startup". please post a creenshot for us. This gives us an idea what applications are starting when you turn on your computer.

Wow! Here are the screenshots and I counted 28 programs at start up. No wonder this computer starts so slowly. How do I determine which ones I can remove from the list?

[IreneLinda]

These are the screen shots that accompany my edited post just before it. Somehow I couldn't get them in the right place.

Linda

[Medico]

These are what I would keep:

Synaptics (I think this is for a touchpad. I assume this is a laptop)

Windows Defender

Avast

HP wireless

It's difficult to determine what some of the Microsoft stuff is, although most will not be needed until started manually. I would stop everything else and see what happens. If you use msconfig to stop them, restarting is very easy. I have exactly 4 apps that start at startup, you have 28. No wonder everything seems to have molassas around it.

[CLiNT]

I agree.
The sheer amount of startup items there is frightful.
Consider dumping Adobe reader for Foxit.

Many of the programs listed in the startup section of msconfig could have been prevented by
carefully configuring the individual programs upon installation, or by going into their
advanced properties and looking for startup options to disable.
This can still be done with many or most of them.

The next thing to look into is Services. look over this site:
www.BlackViper.com: Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Service Configurations
But do not do anything right away, read it carefully. Services are far more complicated
and potentially hazardous. If you can get your services down to the low 40s that would be
very good.
Do not use MSCONFIG for this, type and run; eventvwr.msc

[IreneLinda]

Wonderful advice and helpful suggestions - as well as warnings. Yes, it is a laptop. I'll start by cleaning out all the unnecessary startups. I thought I had been careful at time of installation, but obviously missed the check or uncheck needed to NOT have them start at startup. Sheesh!

Will proceed carefully. Can't believe I have about 24 things starting up that are not necessary.When they're needed, I can just go to Programs and open them there.

Will post back after initial clean up before I check out Services via Clint's link. Curious now to see how many services are running, After seeing startups, if 40 is a good number, I suspect I have about 300!!

Thanks again.

Linda

[Medico]

As Clint mentioned, and it's worth repeating, be very careful with services. Many services rely on other services. Viper 's site is a great resource. If you begin stopping services, only do 1 or possibly 2 at a time and monitor the results for a while. This can be time consuming but worth the effort. I would also, after cleaning out all the unneccesary start up apps, make a good Image of your system so that if you kill a neccesary service, you can easily get back to where you were. There are various threads in the Security and Back ups forum on Imaging, and well worth a read.

[IreneLinda]

Okay, here's where things stand now. I've unchecked most of the boxes and have left 13. Some I have questions about and so will leave checked until I hear back:
- NVDIA - it has RUNDLL32.EXE in its command line and I seem to remember something about that RUNDLL that makes me unsure about getting rid of it.
- HP Quick Launch Buttons, Quick Touch On Screen Display and QuickPlay: are they safe to uncheck?
- HpqSRmon Application (digital imagingin command line) and HpwuSchd Application (software update in its command line)

And I hear all the cautions about Services and will take great care. If the startup speeds things up enough, Services can become a research project to be tackled slowly.

Linda

[Medico]

Basically these several items give slightly faster access to these various functions. If you are happy with the way your display looks say good bye to the Nvidia stuff. You can always open this from the Start orb. Same with all the HP stuff. These things just do not need to run in the background. You will find with all this stuff shut down the system will be so much more rersponsive that you will not notice the slightly slower start up of the stuff you have shut down. Plus most of these items get looked at very intermittently.

[jwitalka]

Clint, I think you meant to specify running services.msc at the bottom of your last post not eventvwr.msc .

Jerry

[IreneLinda]

Great, Ted, thanks. I'm going to take them all out!

Another question: I did a Restart to check on speed and didn't notice too much difference. Do I need to shut down to check start up speed? (I did check and all the unchecked items were correctly unchecked).

Linda

[Medico]

In the General tab is yours configured like this:

[attachment=91095:msconfig102.png]

This allows the start up to only start those items you have checked.