Computer running slow

[Rex A. Butcher]

Hi there,

My computer with XP Pro seems to be running very slow.

For example, Start/Program/Folder? (one on a number of folders under this Start Menu listing) can pause for 5-10 seconds one the first showing after booting. Speed depends upon the number of item in the folder, but after the first time, everything is fine.

I use Media Player Classic to watch video clips. Sometimes is starts and closes (after hitting the X) immediately; most frequently nowadays, it take 1-2 seconds to start and about 3-5 to shutdown.

I do have a lot of programs but rarely more than a couple running at the same time. I have plenty of HDD space (the OS is on a 30gb partition with about 25% free; 3 gb fo RAM.) I regularly clean with Ccleaner, Ad-Aware and SpyBot; there are no virus on board and only the occasional tracking cookie.

Apart from a clean install, which I do not really want to do, are there any solutions?

Grateful for any suggestions,

Many thanks,

Rex

[SuperSparks]

Have you defragged the hard drive lately?

[Midknyte]

You might as well uninstall Adaware and Spybot. They are past their prime. Malwarebytes or Superantispyware are much more effective.

[Rex A. Butcher]

Yep, I defrg regularly.

Thanks for the info regarding Malwarebytes and Superanitspyware. Will give them a try.

Rex

[Steve R Jones]

"When using the start menu the you will notice a delay between different
tiers of the menu hierarchy. For the fastest computer experience possible I
recommend changing this value to zero. This will allow the different tiers
to appear instantly."

Start Regedit & Navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Select MenuShowDelay from the list on the right.
Right on it and select Modify.
Change the value to 200
Reboot your computer!

[Rex A. Butcher]

Steve,

Thanks for that. Have done a reg hack and will see what happens when I next reboot.

Why not change it to 100, or even less?

Rex

[Train]

You will wish you had not done it. Just like I did.

[Rex A. Butcher]

Having rebooted followign the above reg hack, the menus are certainly faster.

Train, 'You will wish you had not done it. Just like I did.' What do you mean?

It is strange but when I started this thread, Classic Media Player was slow to start and very slow to close down. Yesterday, it was back to normal without any interference from me. Now it is running slow again.

Any suggestions?

Rex

[Train]

"Why not change it to 100, or even less?"

200 is fine 100 will probably drive you nuts. It is fast.

[Rex A. Butcher]

Thanks for the explanation. I'll keep it at 200 as I will not know what to do with the extra micro milli-second of time.

Rex

[SuperSparks]

I used to have mine set at 50 when I ran XP. You just have to try it and see what you like.

How much RAM do you have installed, Rex?

[DeP]

One of the first things I do with a fresh install of Windows is to set MenuShowDelay to 0. But that's a personal preference, I guess.

Depending on how much ram is installed, you could increase the icon cache as well.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer
The value 'Max Cached Icons' is probably set to 2048, change it to 4096.
Possible values for 'Max Cached Icons' are 1024, 2048, 4096 or 8192.

Maybe it is time to reinstall Media Player Classic?
Is it the only application acting up?

[Steve R Jones]

It is strange but when I started this thread, Classic Media Player was slow to start and very slow to close down. Yesterday, it was back to normal without any interference from me. Now it is running slow again.

Me thinks we're resolved

[Rex A. Butcher]

Not totally resolved as the flaky Media Player Classic issue comes and goes.

I have 3gb of RAM but also know (I think) that XP cannot use it all.

As for the Max Cached Icons hack, I do not seem to have that key. Should I create one?

Rex

[DeP]

Yes, you should create the key.
Name is: Max Cached Icons (with spaces in between and capitals (the registry is case sensitive))
Type is: REG_SZ
Value should be at least 2048

Alternativly download attached file and rename it to IconCache.reg and run it.
It will give you an option to control the icon cache from Explorer >Tools > folder options > tab View.
More info here

Did you try to reinstall Media Player Classic. This could be a broken or incorrect installed codec.
First uninstall the program completely, before reinstalling it again.