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Slow Computer

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by jknox

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I have a user with a computer which works normally, and then about once to twice a day, it slows way down (can take about 20 seconds to bring down a menu), and sometimes locks up. Resources are usually around 65% at the time. She has plenty of hard drive space (around 300-400 MB). Windows is managing swap file. Ran scandisk/defrag. Put Norton Utilities 2000 on it, ran diagnostics - no problems found.

It is an IBM Pentium with 64MB RAM, Novell 5 network.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

17 replies

by angelmorenojr

We too have the same problem at our company. Seems to be Novell, in our area. When the user does not log into the Novell side of our PC's, they work fine. We are also using NT. Try running the PC without loging into Novell. If using NT, try deleting the profile and log on so that the profiles get recreated. 80% fix (for testing) has been not logging into Novell. 20% has been deleting the profiles. Hope this gives you somewhere to start. We use novell 4

by jknox

Thanks for the suggestion, but all our other computers are also running Novell without this problem, and she needs to be logged into the Novell server. We couldn't keep her off the network for a day to see if it keeps the problem from happening.

by grantcom

You don't mention what version of Windows you are running. If this machine is accessing the Internet at all I wouldn't consider 300-400 megs of disk space "plenty"
If this machine is Win98 have you done a disk cleanup...delete all temps and temporary internet files? Try cleaning up the drive and see if that helps. Remember after cleaning it up to do a defrag.

by jknox

Actually, the 300-400 MB was on the C: drive. The swap file is on the D: drive which has 1.8GB free. Scandisk and defrag are done weekly, and do not seem to affect this problem.

by cajundon

Hi I agree with answer #2. 300 - 400 MB of virtual memory is not very much. That is one reason why the system is so slow, it has to read the file each time you click it on, and it is not in virtual memory.

You need to run Norton Utilities File duplication (or what ever it is called to check if there are more than on file with the same name and file size), and delete them. You can also Zip files that are used very little, and when it is needed it will unzip itself. Uninstall all programs thatare no longer being used anymore, Then do a defrag.

Don Thibodaux, Independent Computer Technology Consultant.

by s0y1

this probably sounds stupid, but do you have the latest table on your virus scanner.. you may have a virus, and is there any bad sectors on your HD?? and is your application memory intensive.. *maybe* you need to add more rams..

by jknox

Doesn't sound stupid at all, but we do have the latest virus definitions. HD checks out OK. We have already ordered more RAM, but this seems to be slower than just not enough RAM.

by roger.e.mcclung

We sometimes have users with the same trouble. After cleaning off temp files, etc., check to make sure that the wkstn is running current video and NIC drivers. Also check for any non-windows screen savers, in particular, a particularly insidious piece of software called "Webshots". Might also consider upgrading the H.D. to something a little larger. Good luck!!

by paulp

If the user is running Microsoft Office I have found that removing "Fast Find" improves the system speed dramatically. Run Office setup and deselect Fast Find. (I think it's in Word Options) Also, in Outlook, I turn off "Journaling". Tools - options - journal options - uncheck all applications.
Hope this helps.

p

by jknox

Great suggestion. However, we routinely do not install FindFast, and it isn't running, and we are not using Outlook. Good thinking, though.

by rick_b

We had the same problem and here is what we did. We made sure the Client was 95/98.
In Windows,control panel,network, we looked at the properties of the Novell Client.
Click on Advanced and drill down to opportunistic locking and turn it on. This help local performance. We also turned off packet burst.Which is the next option down.
The helped all of our IBM's and Compaqs as well. I hope this is somewhat helpful. Email me if you need further.

by jknox

Thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately it didn't make a difference. She said the computer is still slowing way down about every 10 minutes.

by lizzy

1.)Make sure the role of the computer is set to be a desktop, not server or mobile\docking system. It's in Control Panel, System, Performance tab, File System.
2.)Make sure that the PC is not being used as a backup Browser as it will become slow when requests are made for addressing information. Check your NT DNS server settings.
Good luck!

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