For context, my initial OP post, dated 30 May, is at the bottom of this
post in case it has been lost from your thread. You folks gave me a lot of
homework, and I have only now gotten far enough along with that to make a
meaningful response.
This post is directed primarily at Jose and Daave, who both encouraged me
to try and fix my existing system rather than to "Diskwipe and Reinstall".
I don't know whether I am up to this task, but here is an initial thrust:
First of all, let me say that I feel quite sure that there is no malware
problem with the system. I have had both McAfee and Webroot SpySweeper
running for several years now. I know that they are resource hogs, but
they have kept me out of trouble so far. I will probably take your advice
though and go with "lighter" products when their subscriptions expire. I
should note here, however, that the subject system slowdown has happened
(albeit gradually) long after these two products were initially installed.
Regarding the DMA/PIO issue, I have attempted to describe it in words but
finally gave up. There appear to be four combinations of answers, not
easily described, so I am just including images: (This is my first attempt
to try to use an image hosting service like this with USENET, so I hope it
works. If anyone has trouble viewing these, please tell me.)
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/9924/primaryidechannel.jpg
http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/8333/secondaryidechannel.jpg
If I can presume that I have passed the malware and PIO tests, then here is
a text file of my msinfo32 file:
msinfo32 Summary 9 June 2010
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name [Snip]
System Manufacturer Dell Computer Corporation
System Model Dimension 4550
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~2657 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Dell Computer Corporation A03, 11/12/2002
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.5512
(xpsp.080413-2111)"
User Name [Snip]
Time Zone SE Asia Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 58.03 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 1.22 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
And here is a text file of my CCleaner startup file:
Yes HKCU:Run ctfmon.exe "C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run ATIPTA "C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI
Control Panel\atiptaxx.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run Adobe Photo Downloader "C:\Program Files\Photoshop
Elements\apdproxy.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run Microsoft Works Portfolio "C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Works\WksSb.exe" /AllUsers
Yes HKLM:Run nmctxth "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Pure
Networks Shared\Platform\nmctxth.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run nmapp "C:\Program Files\Pure Networks\Network
Magic\nmapp.exe" -autorun -nosplash
Yes HKLM:Run SunJavaUpdateSched "C:\Program
Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run mcui_exe "C:\Program
Files\McAfee.com\Agent\mcagent.exe" /runkey
Yes HKLM:Run WorksFUD "C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Works\wkfud.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run SpySweeper "C:\Program
Files\Webroot\WebrootSecurity\SpySweeperUI.exe" /startintray
Yes Startup Common Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk C:\Program
Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
Yes Startup Common Microsoft Office.lnk C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Office\Office10\OSA.EXE
Yes Startup Common Microsoft Works Calendar Reminders.lnk C:\Program
Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Works Shared\wkcalrem.exe
(If you are wondering what Pure Networks\Network Magic is, it's a
"pretty-GUI" network management program for people who aren't very smart
about networks. That's me.)
And here is an image of my Task Manager's process tab:
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/9181/taskmanagere.jpg
Please note that at your suggestion I have already downloaded and ran
"Autoruns.exe", and have already disabled a number of items before the
above taskmanager snapshot was taken. These already appear to have
increased the processing speed noticeably.
Also please note that I am not so concerned about the time required for the
system startup. I am much more concerned about the processing speed once
startup has completed. Anything you can tell me to help to increase that
speed will be greatly appreciated.
Finally, I am attempting to provide you a lot of information above in ways
that I have never done before, so if some of it doesn't work, or doesn't
make sense, please tell me and I will try again. Suggestions welcome.
Thanks again, guys!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Sun, 30 May 2010 11:41:24 +0700, David wrote:
>This question has probably been asked before, but I can't figure out how to
>search for it. Apologies. If you can point me to a thread I will be happy
>to go there.
>
>I have an old Dell PC,( vintage 2003), with XP Home Edition. It has been
>updated regularly, so the XP version is current. But the machine is so
>burdened with junk software that it can barely crawl anymore. I need to
>wipe the disk and re-install XP.
>
>I have the original SP-1 reinstallation disk that was provided by Dell with
>the purchase.
>
>My question: What is the best way to bring the re-install up to the current
>release version?
>
>Thank you very much, in advance.
