mlibkind Posted January 13, 2011 Report Share Posted January 13, 2011 I've have an older XP-based computer system that "was" meeting my needs (it has 1 GB of memory). The speed was fine.I decided to add an external backup drive. After trying three, I ended up with a Segate GoFlex with Replica. It seemed to work fine except sometimes my typing would get ahead of WORD. I assumed that this was caused by the Replica software continually backing up work. But it was not a problem.Then things changed. Now, many operations cause the machine to hang up for several minutes. This may or may not have anything to do with Replica, but I wanted to mention that.When it does hang up I would look at what processes were going on. Most of the time it is explorer.exe taking 50-60% of the CPU. Another symptom is that simply right clicking on a file to look at the properties always causes the hang up. Do you have any idea of what my problem(s) are?I do plan on buying a new computer with lots of memory (8 GB) in the near future, but I would like to keep this machine working so that we have two in the family.Thank you for any help you can give. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANEMAN Posted January 14, 2011 Report Share Posted January 14, 2011 Hi Marcus. :) Download and install: *Malwarebytes* (Free Version)Run this first to make sure that you detect and clear any "Nasties" in the operating system.Run CCleaner: Direct download here:- http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standardRun CHKDSK: - You can run this from the graphical interface as show in *This* article.Run Defrag: See * Here * Once you have done that come back and tell us how things are then. If you are still in trouble we will help you again, all for FREE! :) .=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=. Archeon Said: You may want to run through a "tune up" of your pc, as it could be a whole range of things.Well we've started him off ok so far do you think Archeon ? If Marcus should have to come back, perhaps you could give of yourself freely to offer him further extensive written advice without having to download anything from you ?Archeon Said: As much as I don't want to be seen as directly marketing Fair enough comment. Remove the links in your signature for starters then Archeon. ? :)This will save you having to apologise in the future and warm you a lot more towards other forum members in your future posts. Thanks. John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANEMAN Posted January 14, 2011 Report Share Posted January 14, 2011 Apologies for any misunderstanding. I am sure your book would be most welcome in our * Essential Guides * here on the forum. Perhaps you would consider posting it there where all forums readers might benefit, at the same time acheiving your sole intention ?"Make sure that when you do run chkdsk you run it with the /f arg, to actually fix any errors it finds (you will almost certainly have to restart to do this)."This is done automatically when done from the graphical interface. (Far easier than command line if the poster is a newbie to computing and has no concept of commands, or of the /f command relating to Chkdsk)John. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludgard Posted January 14, 2011 Report Share Posted January 14, 2011 Do you have any idea of what my problem(s) are?Hello,mlibkind.Have you tried disconnecting the new Seagate Drive to compare performance?There may be a memory issue as if you have backups running in the background as well.No way to add a little more?Navigate to Processes>Memory within Task Manager.Click on the Mem Usage tab until the highest values are shown at the top.(See pic below)If you could post a screen shot of Task Manager it may offer some clues in a non-invasive way.If it turns out to be more complex than that,well....I would suggest holding off on installing anything else until you have done the basics to try to resolve this issue.One Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludgard Posted January 14, 2011 Report Share Posted January 14, 2011 EDIT:Malwarebytes and CCleaner are good tools in my opinion.Make sure you don't install anything you don't want durring the installation or download.CCleaner is a powerful tool that can cure or kill.As with all cleaners or optimizers.Know the hammer you swing.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlibkind Posted January 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 Thank you for your help so far. I went through all the steps you listed. There was no noticable change in performance. One observation is that if I(1) Open the task manager and view the processes, and then(2) Left click on a file, e.g. Word file, then explorer.exe will take 40-50% of the CPU capacity.(3) If I right click on the file, it will never give me the menu in which I can select "properties".I have then shut down my computer and disconnected the backup drive (Segate). Upon restarting the computer, I can successfully right click on a file and get the properties. So it appears that at least part of my problem is the backup drive. Ugh. This is the third one I have purchased and it was working fine when I first got it though I could sometimes type fast enough that Word would stop to allow the drive to catch up (or at least that's what I think was happening). But I think I still have problems. For example, I go to www.tradewindssailing.com, to newsletters and then click to download the current one. It opens IE, but the pdf will not open. I tried this with a laptop that I own and it downloads fine and opens in IE.I guess I can keep the backup drive disconnected and once in a while connect it. I think that it will then backup past work. Of course this is not a desirable method, but I need to make sure that the volunteer work I do for a nonprofit is not lost.But I still need to solve the pdf download problem. Note, I can open large pdf files on my hard drive but they open in Acrobat Reader.Do you have any additional suggestions?Thank you for all your past and future help.MarcusHi Marcus. :) Download and install: *Malwarebytes* (Free Version)Run this first to make sure that you detect and clear any "Nasties" in the operating system.Run CCleaner: Direct download here:- http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standardRun CHKDSK: - You can run this from the graphical interface as show in *This* article.Run Defrag: See * Here * Once you have done that come back and tell us how things are then. If you are still in trouble we will help you again, all for FREE! :) .=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=. Archeon Said: You may want to run through a "tune up" of your pc, as it could be a whole range of things.Well we've started him off ok so far do you think Archeon ? If Marcus should have to come back, perhaps you could give of yourself freely to offer him further extensive written advice without having to download anything from you ?Archeon Said: As much as I don't want to be seen as directly marketing Fair enough comment. Remove the links in your signature for starters then Archeon. ? :)This will save you having to apologise in the future and warm you a lot more towards other forum members in your future posts. Thanks. John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlibkind Posted January 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 More info on problem.While disconnecting the backup drive allowed me to right click and look at a file's properties, this morning I discovered that my computer still came to a standstill with explorer.exe taking more than 50% of CPU time when I did some tasks. Maybe I need to shut down the backup software. Of course this will mean that changes to my hard drive will not be backed up when I do plug in the drive because the changed information is not be recorded. At least that is how I see it.Marcus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANEMAN Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 Sorry for late reply. Somehow I missed your previous post. It is always difficult trying to fix someone else's computer by "Remote" as there are so many variables that can cause problems.I recently repaired a sluggish Sony Vaio laptop with XP. After covering all bases it turned out to be the Hard Drive that was causing the slowness. Replacing the old IDE Hitachi 80GB HDD with a new 160GB Samsung drive brought the computer right back to the speed it was at purchase.Even new RAM can go faulty. * MemTest * will help you diagnose any faults with memory.There is a good article * HERE * That covers some of the things extra to the ones we have already covered.When all is covered, and if there is still no improvement Marcus, you should consider doing a re-install of the operating system.John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jouvernile Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 I tried these steps, however when I try to run CHKDSK it does not work, a window pops up and states windows cannot do this..Apologies for any misunderstanding. I am sure your book would be most welcome in our * Essential Guides * here on the forum. Perhaps you would consider posting it there where all forums readers might benefit, at the same time acheiving your sole intention ?"Make sure that when you do run chkdsk you run it with the /f arg, to actually fix any errors it finds (you will almost certainly have to restart to do this)."This is done automatically when done from the graphical interface. (Far easier than command line if the poster is a newbie to computing and has no concept of commands, or of the /f command relating to Chkdsk)John. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bludgard Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 I tried these steps, however when I try to run CHKDSK it does not work, a window pops up and states windows cannot do this..CHKDSK must be run under administrate rights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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