Help me please!
Discussion
Sorry mods if this is in the wrong place, but I have posted in the Computer forum but to no avail:
Basically I'm fed up with Vista running very slowly on my laptop. Laptop is an HP dv9000 entertainment laptop with AMD Turion dual core at about 2.2ghz and 2bg RAM with a nice nVidia graphics card.
It always seems to be running very slowly, and using this amount of processing power:
Now the pic shows it at 1% but it's always bouncing up around 5-10% constantly. I cannot figure out why. The process list seems normal too:
I've heard stories about Vista naturally taking up a lot of power, but the constant hard drive usage can't be the indexing service surely?!
I don't think it's virus related is it?
Oh and by the way, I had the laptop for Christmas last year so it's nearly a year old.
Please help! Thanks.
Basically I'm fed up with Vista running very slowly on my laptop. Laptop is an HP dv9000 entertainment laptop with AMD Turion dual core at about 2.2ghz and 2bg RAM with a nice nVidia graphics card.
It always seems to be running very slowly, and using this amount of processing power:
Now the pic shows it at 1% but it's always bouncing up around 5-10% constantly. I cannot figure out why. The process list seems normal too:
I've heard stories about Vista naturally taking up a lot of power, but the constant hard drive usage can't be the indexing service surely?!
I don't think it's virus related is it?
Oh and by the way, I had the laptop for Christmas last year so it's nearly a year old.
Please help! Thanks.
You have a lot of programs running. 72 processes is too much in my opinion. If I get near 35 I start to reducethem. Remove everything from the 'startup' section in the programs menu (start, programs, start up, then right click and select delete). Then sort the list in your second picture into size order so oyu cansee whats using the most memory. Then track the file back to what program it is. So if your first was one update.exe you would go to your search menu (start, search, files or folders then put in update.exe and include hidden files then search for it. Once you find it right click open containing folder and see what it is. Its it not something you sue anymore or regularly consider un installing it. It you don't know what it is don't mess with it.
Thats my suggestion. Use at your own risk.
EDIT - Another thought. on your task bar in the right hand corner you will see lots of your programs that are running. Expand that and see what they are. often programs will 'start up with windows' when they really don't need to. I would right click on them and see if you can find an options menu and uncheck the 'start up with windows/similar' box. Things like adobe reader, tomtom home, audio controllers etc. If you need to use them you can just load them up. Will only take a few seconds longer and overall things should be quicker.
Thats my suggestion. Use at your own risk.
EDIT - Another thought. on your task bar in the right hand corner you will see lots of your programs that are running. Expand that and see what they are. often programs will 'start up with windows' when they really don't need to. I would right click on them and see if you can find an options menu and uncheck the 'start up with windows/similar' box. Things like adobe reader, tomtom home, audio controllers etc. If you need to use them you can just load them up. Will only take a few seconds longer and overall things should be quicker.
Edited by richyb on Wednesday 10th December 17:50
Mafioso said:
Rav said:
Might be worth pasting this into the Computers forum.
Thanks for reading the first line of my post! 
anyway, I have the same problem and no one has ever given me a straight answer as to what fixes this problem. There are programs running that I dont even know what they are.
I did everything there is to do in regards to the tool bar and the start menu, it did no good.
basically, you'll end up having to pay someone to fix it.
LotusACBC said:
Mafioso said:
Rav said:
Might be worth pasting this into the Computers forum.
Thanks for reading the first line of my post! anyway, I have the same problem and no one has ever given me a straight answer as to what fixes this problem. There are programs running that I dont even know what they are.
I did everything there is to do in regards to the tool bar and the start menu, it did no good.
basically, you'll end up having to pay someone to fix it.
.Track the programs back to the folder using the search command then uninstall them if not in use or change the otions so they do not start up with windows. Reduced number of programs running, more ram available so your pc will run quicker and be more responsive. Bobs your uncle.........
Try this as well if your not satisfied.
Start> settings> control panel> system.
Once this box has come up click on the advanced tab.
It should say performance then have a button saying settings. Click it.
In there you should see some options so change it from 'let windows decide' or 'set for best appearence' to 'set for best performance'. This should speed things up a bit. The graphics will be noticable worse though.
Start> settings> control panel> system.
Once this box has come up click on the advanced tab.
It should say performance then have a button saying settings. Click it.
In there you should see some options so change it from 'let windows decide' or 'set for best appearence' to 'set for best performance'. This should speed things up a bit. The graphics will be noticable worse though.
Edited by richyb on Wednesday 10th December 18:11
richyb said:
LotusACBC said:
Mafioso said:
Rav said:
Might be worth pasting this into the Computers forum.
Thanks for reading the first line of my post! anyway, I have the same problem and no one has ever given me a straight answer as to what fixes this problem. There are programs running that I dont even know what they are.
I did everything there is to do in regards to the tool bar and the start menu, it did no good.
basically, you'll end up having to pay someone to fix it.
.Track the programs back to the folder using the search command then uninstall them if not in use or change the otions so they do not start up with windows. Reduced number of programs running, more ram available so your pc will run quicker and be more responsive. Bobs your uncle.........
It's the search indexer. It's an absolute b
d. I have a monster of a machine but when that runs it slows things down massively.
Go to control panel...Indexing options and exclude all but often searched directories from being indexed. It means searches are slower, but the plus side is your system isn't reduced to a crawl.
d. I have a monster of a machine but when that runs it slows things down massively.Go to control panel...Indexing options and exclude all but often searched directories from being indexed. It means searches are slower, but the plus side is your system isn't reduced to a crawl.
Edited by Geronimo on Wednesday 10th December 18:24
richyb said:
Try this as well if your not satisfied.
Start> settings> control panel> system.
Once this box has come up click on the advanced tab.
It should say performance then have a button saying settings. Click it.
In there you should see some options so change it from 'let windows decide' or 'set for best appearence' to 'set for best performance'. This should speed things up a bit. The graphics will be noticable worse though.
That doesn't sound all that great an idea. I agree with your first post, too many processes running. Start> settings> control panel> system.
Once this box has come up click on the advanced tab.
It should say performance then have a button saying settings. Click it.
In there you should see some options so change it from 'let windows decide' or 'set for best appearence' to 'set for best performance'. This should speed things up a bit. The graphics will be noticable worse though.
Edited by richyb on Wednesday 10th December 18:11
run msconfig (does this still work in Vista, i'm currently avoiding it like the plague) turn off all the rubish that runs at start-up and you'll see a huge difference immiedetly.
A reg cleaner might help too... along with making sure you haven't got any viruses or spyware sucking performance.
Go through the list of executables listed in the processes tab of Task Manager, and search for them on www.processlibrary.com (or just Google them). You will probably find all sorts of curiously-named detritus that you don't want. Things like QuickTime, RealPlayer, Nokia Phone Manager and all sorts of st that you simply don't use often enough to have constantly running will be in there. Either uninstall them, set their preferences to not start automatically or remember to exit them each time you start the computer. Mine runs much faster once this is done.
t that you simply don't use often enough to have constantly running will be in there. Either uninstall them, set their preferences to not start automatically or remember to exit them each time you start the computer. Mine runs much faster once this is done. Thanks to everyone for their replies!
Just an update, if you look at my picture in my OP, you'll see that the processes are in order of most memory. Oddly enough after going through the processes, it seems as though most of them are just windows based processes, ie. no crap! I've got rid of most of the icons in the taskbar that come on automatically with windows, which hasn't really made much difference!
However, I came across a process called lsm.exe, which I terminated. I then got a message saying that Windows was going to reboot in 1 minute and to save my work. Naturally it turned off 1 minute later. I'm guessing this is a virus?
Oh and is it natural to have several svchost.exe's running at once? They're the ones that seem to take up the most memory?!
Just an update, if you look at my picture in my OP, you'll see that the processes are in order of most memory. Oddly enough after going through the processes, it seems as though most of them are just windows based processes, ie. no crap! I've got rid of most of the icons in the taskbar that come on automatically with windows, which hasn't really made much difference!
However, I came across a process called lsm.exe, which I terminated. I then got a message saying that Windows was going to reboot in 1 minute and to save my work. Naturally it turned off 1 minute later. I'm guessing this is a virus?
Oh and is it natural to have several svchost.exe's running at once? They're the ones that seem to take up the most memory?!
cyb said:
richyb said:
You have a lot of programs running. 72 processes is too much in my opinion.
. . . and everything else richyb said . . .
That's a huge amount, not the worst I've seen, but close. See if you can upgrade to XP, 21 processes running here . . . and everything else richyb said . . .
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