«

Good afternoon,
I have been having some problems with my computer recently - basically it's
been running very slowly. Windows XP Home, 256meg RAM, 1.7MHz processor,
55Gig HD about 40% free. No programmes recently installed or uninstalled.
I ran the windows task manager and found 'system idle process' using most of
the CPU - almost always over about 80% and frequently over 95%.
At this time OE was taking minutes to load rather than it's usual... well,
smaller number of minutes.
What is 'system idle process' please, is it likely to slow the computer down
and if not, any ideas what could be slowing it down?
I don't normally run task manager so for all I know my computer's 'idle'
most of the time!
Also, is there no scandisk with XP? Anyone know where to download a good
one?
cheers
dan

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 16:48:09 -0000, Dan Welch wrote:

>Good afternoon,
>I have been having some problems with my computer recently - basically it's
>been running very slowly. Windows XP Home, 256meg RAM, 1.7MHz processor,
>55Gig HD about 40% free. No programmes recently installed or uninstalled.
>I ran the windows task manager and found 'system idle process' using most of
>the CPU - almost always over about 80% and frequently over 95%.

System is idle 80-95% of the time.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=idle&db=*
i·dle ( P )
adj. i·dler, i·dlest
1. Not employed or busy: idle carpenters. See Synonyms at
inactive.
2. Avoiding work or employment; lazy: shiftless, idle youth.
See Synonyms at lazy.
3. Not in use or operation: idle hands.

www.google.com
Searched the web for
"system idle process"
Results 1 - 10 of about 3,920. Search took 0.24 seconds.

>At this time OE was taking minutes to load rather than it's usual... well,
>smaller number of minutes.
>What is 'system idle process' please, is it likely to slow the computer down
>and if not, any ideas what could be slowing it down?
<snip>

c/o Mike sigs.
Basic computer maintenance
http://uk.geocities.com/personel44/maintenance.html

Me

"Dan Welch" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Good afternoon,
> I have been having some problems with my computer recently - basically
it's
> been running very slowly. Windows XP Home, 256meg RAM, 1.7MHz processor,
> 55Gig HD about 40% free. No programmes recently installed or uninstalled.
> I ran the windows task manager and found 'system idle process' using most
of
> the CPU - almost always over about 80% and frequently over 95%.
> At this time OE was taking minutes to load rather than it's usual... well,
> smaller number of minutes.
> What is 'system idle process' please, is it likely to slow the computer
down
> and if not, any ideas what could be slowing it down?
> I don't normally run task manager so for all I know my computer's 'idle'
> most of the time!
> Also, is there no scandisk with XP? Anyone know where to download a good
> one?
> cheers
> dan
>
>
oh, for gods sake man, what does 'system idle process' sound like? its the
free processor cycles that have to be accounted for to make the other
reasons accurate.

speeding up an XP system:

1. Start > Run 'sfc /scannow'
2. Defragment it
3. Unisntall Norton, install AVG
4. Run the various spyware removal tools
5. Defragment the hard disk
6. Intall at least another 512Mb of RAM


hamman

Download, update and use *all* of the following:

Spybot Search & Destroy
http://spybot.eon.net.au/
http://www.safer-networking.org/
SpyBot S&D guide
http://www.chem.wisc.edu/~network/spybot/

Ad-Aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Spyware Blaster
http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
http://www.net-integration.net/tools...reblaster.html

CWShredder
http://www.merijn.org/cwschronicles.html
http://www.merijn.org/files/cwshredder.zip

*******************************************

Control your startups:
----------------------
StartupList
http://www.lurkhere.com/~nicefiles/

Startup Monitor
http://www.mlin.net/StartupMonitor.shtml

Startup Control Panel
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

WinPatrol
http://www.winpatrol.com/


Check what's necessary and what isn't
http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Taskl...s/tasklist.htm
http://www.windowsstartup.com/wso/index.php
http://www.3feetunder.com/krick/startup/list.html
http://www.greatis.com/regrun3appdatabase.htm


Services Guide for Windows XP
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm

Windows XP Service Configurations
http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

Windows XP Strange Service Information
http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/strangeservice.htm

Windows 2000 Service Configurations
http://www.blackviper.com/WIN2K/servicecfg.htm


On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 16:48:09 -0000, in
<>
Dan Welch scrawled:

>Good afternoon,
>I have been having some problems with my computer recently - basically it's
>been running very slowly. Windows XP Home, 256meg RAM, 1.7MHz processor,
>55Gig HD about 40% free. No programmes recently installed or uninstalled.
>I ran the windows task manager and found 'system idle process' using most of
>the CPU - almost always over about 80% and frequently over 95%.
>At this time OE was taking minutes to load rather than it's usual... well,
>smaller number of minutes.
>What is 'system idle process' please, is it likely to slow the computer down
>and if not, any ideas what could be slowing it down?
>I don't normally run task manager so for all I know my computer's 'idle'
>most of the time!
>Also, is there no scandisk with XP? Anyone know where to download a good
>one?
>cheers
>dan
>

--
Basic computer maintenance
http://uk.geocities.com/personel44/maintenance.html

"HamMan" <matt**removeme**@hammedia.co.uk@deathtoallspammer s> wrote in
message news:c0o9n0$9cd$...
>
> "Dan Welch" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> >
> oh, for gods sake man, what does 'system idle process' sound like? its the
> free processor cycles that have to be accounted for to make the other
> reasons accurate.

yeah, well, I thought it was probably what it says it was... but the system
was very very slow and that was the only show in town! I wondered if it was
a screen saver trying to activate or something.
cheers
dan


>
> speeding up an XP system:
>
> 1. Start > Run 'sfc /scannow'
> 2. Defragment it
> 3. Unisntall Norton, install AVG
> 4. Run the various spyware removal tools
> 5. Defragment the hard disk
> 6. Intall at least another 512Mb of RAM
>
>
> hamman
>
>

Dan Welch wrote:
> Good afternoon,

[main question snipped]

> Also, is there no scandisk with XP? Anyone know where to download a
> good one?
> cheers
> dan

'Scandisk' has been dropped from XP, it has been replaced by 'chkdsk'
The WinXP interface for 'chkdsk' is; Properties for drive (right-click,
click 'Properties'), select 'Tools' menu, click 'Check Now' button.
Command line interface for 'chkdsk' (help/parameters/switches) type at
command-prompt; chkdsk /?