Very Slow System
 

I have a client with a veerrrrry slooooooowwwww PC. It takes about ten
minutes to boot, about twenty minutes to empty the Temporary Internet
Files Folder, and the maximum download speed her (dial-up) Internet
connection can muster is 0.5 KBps. Also, downloads of large images and
E-mails frequently "quit" about halfway through with no displayed
errors. (Connection isn't dropped -- Download just quits.)

I assure you my client is not using an ENIAC. However, the system is a
seven-year-old custom-built Pentium II with a 4 GB hard drive and 64M
memory. Her OS is Windows 98 (*not* SE!) and has never been reinstalled
since the system was built. It seems like these facts together could
*partially* account for the slowness, but hardly all.

Now, I've already "rounded up the usual suspects": Checked the hard
drive for errors -- No errors. Defragmented the drive -- Made no
difference. (Also worth noting here that the drive is only about 30%
full.) Checked virtual memory -- It's set to "Let Windows handle VM".
Scanned for viruses and spyware -- No viruses, and removing the
spyware/adware made no difference.

I'm stumped at this point -- If any of you can offer any suggestions on
how I should proceed, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Dave

Re: Very Slow System
 

Backup her files, wipe the hard drive and reinstall windows and all the
essential software. I personally wouldn't worry about what is causing
the problem unless the software reinstallation doesn't fix it.

Re: Very Slow System
 

In article <1120834041.645773.229380@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>,
Kronos1962@gmail.com says...
> Backup her files, wipe the hard drive and reinstall windows and all the
> essential software. I personally wouldn't worry about what is causing
> the problem unless the software reinstallation doesn't fix it.

What if she doesn't have her install disks? (A problem I always dread.)

--
Dave

Re: Very Slow System
 

On Fri, 08 Jul 2005 07:51:14 GMT, Dave Hardenbrook
<daveh47@mindspring.com> wrote:

>I have a client with a veerrrrry slooooooowwwww PC. It takes about ten
>minutes to boot, about twenty minutes to empty the Temporary Internet
>Files Folder, and the maximum download speed her (dial-up) Internet
>connection can muster is 0.5 KBps. Also, downloads of large images and
>E-mails frequently "quit" about halfway through with no displayed
>errors. (Connection isn't dropped -- Download just quits.)
>
>I assure you my client is not using an ENIAC. However, the system is a
>seven-year-old custom-built Pentium II with a 4 GB hard drive and 64M
>memory. Her OS is Windows 98 (*not* SE!) and has never been reinstalled
>since the system was built. It seems like these facts together could
>*partially* account for the slowness, but hardly all.
>
>Now, I've already "rounded up the usual suspects": Checked the hard
>drive for errors -- No errors. Defragmented the drive -- Made no
>difference. (Also worth noting here that the drive is only about 30%
>full.) Checked virtual memory -- It's set to "Let Windows handle VM".
>Scanned for viruses and spyware -- No viruses, and removing the
>spyware/adware made no difference.
>
>I'm stumped at this point -- If any of you can offer any suggestions on
>how I should proceed, I would appreciate it.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Dave

How much free space is on the drive? With that little RAM, she is
bound to be using a swapfile a lot. Have you checked her resources?

Tom

Re: Very Slow System
 

Dave Hardenbrook wrote:
> In article <1120834041.645773.229380@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>,
> Kronos1962@gmail.com says...
>
>>Backup her files, wipe the hard drive and reinstall windows and all the
>>essential software. I personally wouldn't worry about what is causing
>>the problem unless the software reinstallation doesn't fix it.
>
>
> What if she doesn't have her install disks? (A problem I always dread.)

Try a regular or OEM Windows 98 CD and enter her serial key. This
doesn't always work because of the different versions of Windows 98
(OEM, service packs, etc.). If she doesn't have 98SE, then this might
be hard.

At that point, I'd tell her it's time to upgrade to a new system.

Re: Very Slow System
 

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Hash: SHA1

Pat wrote:
> Dave Hardenbrook wrote:
>
>> In article <1120834041.645773.229380@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>,
>> Kronos1962@gmail.com says...
>>
>>> Backup her files, wipe the hard drive and reinstall windows and all the
>>> essential software. I personally wouldn't worry about what is causing
>>> the problem unless the software reinstallation doesn't fix it.
>>
>>
>>
>> What if she doesn't have her install disks? (A problem I always dread.)
>
>
> Try a regular or OEM Windows 98 CD and enter her serial key. This
> doesn't always work because of the different versions of Windows 98
> (OEM, service packs, etc.). If she doesn't have 98SE, then this might
> be hard.
>
> At that point, I'd tell her it's time to upgrade to a new system.

One could just install Linux on the same system...

Rainman

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Re: Very Slow System
 

>
> How much free space is on the drive? With that little RAM, she is
> bound to be using a swapfile a lot. Have you checked her resources?
>

....Assuming you've emptied out the startup folder and checked the 'run'
section of the registry for adware/spyware...more resources is what I'd
recommend, too. A 256 MB stick will work wonders, and for $40 a 20 GB HDD
will make a huge diff. 98 SE will run fine on such a machine.

-John O

Re: Very Slow System
 

On Fri, 08 Jul 2005 19:05:34 GMT, "JohnO" <johno@@&%heathkit##.com>
wrote:

>>
>> How much free space is on the drive? With that little RAM, she is
>> bound to be using a swapfile a lot. Have you checked her resources?
>>
>
>...Assuming you've emptied out the startup folder and checked the 'run'
>section of the registry for adware/spyware...more resources is what I'd
>recommend, too. A 256 MB stick will work wonders, and for $40 a 20 GB HDD
>will make a huge diff. 98 SE will run fine on such a machine.
>
>-John O
>

Careful...I have never seen it proven, but have read anecdotal
evidence here and in other newsgroups that adding more RAM than a
board can cache (not support) may make Windows 98 run more slowly, as
Windows loads at least some components from the top of RAM, and
uncached RAM is slow. Like I say, I've never seen it for myself. My
guess is that board is capable of covering 128M with cache, and maybe
only 64M.

That board is likely using SIMMs anyway...did they ever get any bigger
than 32 or 64M? It'll need pairs as well, if I'm not mistaken; singles
won't work.

Tom

Re: Very Slow System
 

On Sat, 9 Jul 2005 12:33:15 +0930, "Spammy Sammy"
<Someone@microsoft.com> wrote:

>
>"Tom MacIntyre" <tom__macintyre@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:2eitc159g3g9ifucn1qv3e2slvpdkfb6a5@4ax.com.. .
>> How much free space is on the drive? With that little RAM, she is
>> bound to be using a swapfile a lot. Have you checked her resources?
>
>OP states 4.3Gb hard drive, approx 30% full plus 64Mb Memory.
>

Darn this having to rush through newsgroups...my son had a baseball
game. :-)

Tom

Re: Very Slow System
 

"Dave Hardenbrook" <daveh47@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1d37d053898efb309896a8@news.west.earthlin k.net...
>I have a client with a veerrrrry slooooooowwwww PC. It takes about ten
> minutes to boot, about twenty minutes to empty the Temporary Internet
> Files Folder, and the maximum download speed her (dial-up) Internet
> connection can muster is 0.5 KBps. Also, downloads of large images and
> E-mails frequently "quit" about halfway through with no displayed
> errors. (Connection isn't dropped -- Download just quits.)
>
> I assure you my client is not using an ENIAC. However, the system is a
> seven-year-old custom-built Pentium II with a 4 GB hard drive and 64M
> memory. Her OS is Windows 98 (*not* SE!) and has never been reinstalled
> since the system was built. It seems like these facts together could
> *partially* account for the slowness, but hardly all.
>
> Now, I've already "rounded up the usual suspects": Checked the hard
> drive for errors -- No errors. Defragmented the drive -- Made no
> difference. (Also worth noting here that the drive is only about 30%
> full.) Checked virtual memory -- It's set to "Let Windows handle VM".
> Scanned for viruses and spyware -- No viruses, and removing the
> spyware/adware made no difference.
>
> I'm stumped at this point -- If any of you can offer any suggestions on
> how I should proceed, I would appreciate it.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave

Sounds like a typical system infected with Spyware to me. You probably also
need to check for viruses and trojans. Run Hijack This on it and look at
what is running at boot in msconfig.
For that system 64 megs is OK it should run fine with that much. I've run
98 with only 32 lots of times.

AG