System Performance Problem

I have a performance problem with my Win 98 system. It is a Dell with a P
III / 550 MHz and 128 MB memory with 700 MB of free disk space.

The symptom often seems to be certain web sites that hang for no reason. I
believe I finally traced it to another problem today. On occasions after
the system has run for some time, I see huge delays (~2 minutes) when I add,
delete or rename a file on the disk. I suspect these web sites are trying
to write a file (such as a cookie) to the disk, and being delayed because
they are encountering the same problem.

Virus scan is not finding any problems and I run Ad Aware frequently. I
recently put Zone Alarm on this system, which has slowed the entire system
down, but didn't seem to affect this problem. I have also checked PATH and
removed no longer available drives and directories. (I haven't been able to
run a defrag since I loaded Zone Alarm, even when I unload it, because the
system doesn't have enough resources.)

Does anyone have any other suggestions for possible sources of this problem?
Thanks!

(replace XXX with q to reply)

empty tif
defrag in safe mode
virus check with a different online scanner just in case
check what loads at boot, win98 shouldnt be below resource limit to run defrag
without there being major hogs loaded, generally they dont have to be. try
spybot as well as adaware as they work differently

--
Adaware http://www.lavasoft.de
spybot http://security.kolla.de
AVG free antivirus http://www.grisoft.com
Panda online AntiVirus scan http://www.pandasoftware.com/ActiveScan/
Catalog of removal tools http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/utilities/
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts file
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
links provided as a courtesy, read all instructions on the pages before use
Grateful thanks to the authors/webmasters


"Ellis Hillinger" wrote in message
...
| I have a performance problem with my Win 98 system. It is a Dell with a P
| III / 550 MHz and 128 MB memory with 700 MB of free disk space.
|
| The symptom often seems to be certain web sites that hang for no reason. I
| believe I finally traced it to another problem today. On occasions after
| the system has run for some time, I see huge delays (~2 minutes) when I add,
| delete or rename a file on the disk. I suspect these web sites are trying
| to write a file (such as a cookie) to the disk, and being delayed because
| they are encountering the same problem.
|
| Virus scan is not finding any problems and I run Ad Aware frequently. I
| recently put Zone Alarm on this system, which has slowed the entire system
| down, but didn't seem to affect this problem. I have also checked PATH and
| removed no longer available drives and directories. (I haven't been able to
| run a defrag since I loaded Zone Alarm, even when I unload it, because the
| system doesn't have enough resources.)
|
| Does anyone have any other suggestions for possible sources of this problem?
| Thanks!
|
| (replace XXX with q to reply)
|
|

What are you referring to by "tif"? Do you mean TIFF image files?

I was planning on trying defrag in safe mode, and will give that a shot
later today.

Thanks!

--
(replace XXX with q to reply)

"AlmostBob" wrote in message
...
empty tif
defrag in safe mode
virus check with a different online scanner just in case
check what loads at boot, win98 shouldnt be below resource limit to run
defrag
without there being major hogs loaded, generally they dont have to be. try
spybot as well as adaware as they work differently

--
Adaware http://www.lavasoft.de
spybot http://security.kolla.de
AVG free antivirus http://www.grisoft.com
Panda online AntiVirus scan http://www.pandasoftware.com/ActiveScan/
Catalog of removal tools http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/utilities/
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts file
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
links provided as a courtesy, read all instructions on the pages before
use
Grateful thanks to the authors/webmasters


"Ellis Hillinger" wrote in message
...
| I have a performance problem with my Win 98 system. It is a Dell with a
P
| III / 550 MHz and 128 MB memory with 700 MB of free disk space.
|
| The symptom often seems to be certain web sites that hang for no reason.
I
| believe I finally traced it to another problem today. On occasions
after
| the system has run for some time, I see huge delays (~2 minutes) when I
add,
| delete or rename a file on the disk. I suspect these web sites are
trying
| to write a file (such as a cookie) to the disk, and being delayed
because
| they are encountering the same problem.
|
| Virus scan is not finding any problems and I run Ad Aware frequently. I
| recently put Zone Alarm on this system, which has slowed the entire
system
| down, but didn't seem to affect this problem. I have also checked PATH
and
| removed no longer available drives and directories. (I haven't been
able to
| run a defrag since I loaded Zone Alarm, even when I unload it, because
the
| system doesn't have enough resources.)
|
| Does anyone have any other suggestions for possible sources of this
problem?
| Thanks!
|
| (replace XXX with q to reply)
|
|

tif, temporary internet files, the cache held by IE(Internet explorer) of
recent sites visited
start
settings
control panel
internet options
general
delete files
--
Adaware http://www.lavasoft.de
spybot http://security.kolla.de
AVG free antivirus http://www.grisoft.com
Panda online AntiVirus scan http://www.pandasoftware.com/ActiveScan/
Catalog of removal tools http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/utilities/
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts file
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
links provided as a courtesy, read all instructions on the pages before use
Grateful thanks to the authors/webmasters

"Ellis Hillinger" wrote in message
...
| What are you referring to by "tif"? Do you mean TIFF image files?
|
| I was planning on trying defrag in safe mode, and will give that a shot
| later today.
|
| Thanks!
|
| --
| (replace XXX with q to reply)
|
| "AlmostBob" wrote in message
| ...
| empty tif
| defrag in safe mode
| virus check with a different online scanner just in case
| check what loads at boot, win98 shouldnt be below resource limit to run
| defrag
| without there being major hogs loaded, generally they dont have to be. try
| spybot as well as adaware as they work differently
|
| --
| Adaware http://www.lavasoft.de
| spybot http://security.kolla.de
| AVG free antivirus http://www.grisoft.com
| Panda online AntiVirus scan http://www.pandasoftware.com/ActiveScan/
| Catalog of removal tools http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/utilities/
| Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts file
| http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
| links provided as a courtesy, read all instructions on the pages before
| use
| Grateful thanks to the authors/webmasters
|
|
| "Ellis Hillinger" wrote in message
| ...
| | I have a performance problem with my Win 98 system. It is a Dell with a
| P
| | III / 550 MHz and 128 MB memory with 700 MB of free disk space.
| |
| | The symptom often seems to be certain web sites that hang for no reason.
| I
| | believe I finally traced it to another problem today. On occasions
| after
| | the system has run for some time, I see huge delays (~2 minutes) when I
| add,
| | delete or rename a file on the disk. I suspect these web sites are
| trying
| | to write a file (such as a cookie) to the disk, and being delayed
| because
| | they are encountering the same problem.
| |
| | Virus scan is not finding any problems and I run Ad Aware frequently. I
| | recently put Zone Alarm on this system, which has slowed the entire
| system
| | down, but didn't seem to affect this problem. I have also checked PATH
| and
| | removed no longer available drives and directories. (I haven't been
| able to
| | run a defrag since I loaded Zone Alarm, even when I unload it, because
| the
| | system doesn't have enough resources.)
| |
| | Does anyone have any other suggestions for possible sources of this
| problem?
| | Thanks!
| |
| | (replace XXX with q to reply)
| |
| |
|
|
|
|

I won't describe the difficulties I encountered trying to follow AlmostBob's
advice, but I stumbled across a much more likely source of the problem along
the way. I have one folder tree on this volume with almost 85,000 files
(all with long file names), and it appears the maximum number of files
within a folder on a FAT32 volume is 65, 534. I am zipping many of these up
right now and we will see if that resolves things.

--
(replace XXX with q to reply)

"AlmostBob" wrote in message
...
tif, temporary internet files, the cache held by IE(Internet explorer) of
recent sites visited
start
settings
control panel
internet options
general
delete files
--
Adaware http://www.lavasoft.de
spybot http://security.kolla.de
AVG free antivirus http://www.grisoft.com
Panda online AntiVirus scan http://www.pandasoftware.com/ActiveScan/
Catalog of removal tools http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/utilities/
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts file
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
links provided as a courtesy, read all instructions on the pages before
use
Grateful thanks to the authors/webmasters

"Ellis Hillinger" wrote in message
...
| What are you referring to by "tif"? Do you mean TIFF image files?
|
| I was planning on trying defrag in safe mode, and will give that a shot
| later today.
|
| Thanks!
|
| --
| (replace XXX with q to reply)
|
| "AlmostBob" wrote in message
| ...
| empty tif
| defrag in safe mode
| virus check with a different online scanner just in case
| check what loads at boot, win98 shouldnt be below resource limit to
run
| defrag
| without there being major hogs loaded, generally they dont have to be.
try
| spybot as well as adaware as they work differently
|
| --
| Adaware http://www.lavasoft.de
| spybot http://security.kolla.de
| AVG free antivirus http://www.grisoft.com
| Panda online AntiVirus scan http://www.pandasoftware.com/ActiveScan/
| Catalog of removal tools
http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/utilities/
| Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts file
| http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
| links provided as a courtesy, read all instructions on the pages
before
| use
| Grateful thanks to the authors/webmasters
|
|
| "Ellis Hillinger" wrote in message
| ...
| | I have a performance problem with my Win 98 system. It is a Dell
with a
| P
| | III / 550 MHz and 128 MB memory with 700 MB of free disk space.
| |
| | The symptom often seems to be certain web sites that hang for no
reason.
| I
| | believe I finally traced it to another problem today. On occasions
| after
| | the system has run for some time, I see huge delays (~2 minutes)
when I
| add,
| | delete or rename a file on the disk. I suspect these web sites are
| trying
| | to write a file (such as a cookie) to the disk, and being delayed
| because
| | they are encountering the same problem.
| |
| | Virus scan is not finding any problems and I run Ad Aware
frequently. I
| | recently put Zone Alarm on this system, which has slowed the entire
| system
| | down, but didn't seem to affect this problem. I have also checked
PATH
| and
| | removed no longer available drives and directories. (I haven't been
| able to
| | run a defrag since I loaded Zone Alarm, even when I unload it,
because
| the
| | system doesn't have enough resources.)
| |
| | Does anyone have any other suggestions for possible sources of this
| problem?
| | Thanks!
| |
| | (replace XXX with q to reply)
| |
| |
|
|
|
|

Click StartRun, type MSINFO32 and click OK.
In the left pane of the System Information window, click the + sign to expand the
"Software Environment" category.
In the left pane, click to select "Startup Programs"....they will appear in a list
on the right.
Press Ctrl-A on the keyboard, which will highlight everything in the list on the
right.
Press Ctrl-C to copy the list to the 'clipboard'.
Open a reply to this message, click in the body of the message and press Ctrl-V to
paste the list from the clipboard to the message, and post back to this thread.

Also, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up the Task Manager and post back with what is
listed there when the slowness is evident.

Update your anti-virus app and then run a full-system virus scan.

Use CWShredder, the CoolWeb removal tool, available he
http://computercops.biz/downloads-cat-14.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html
http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads...CWShredder.exe
http://www.zerosrealm.com/downloads/CWShredder.zip
http://aumha.org/downloads/cwshredder.zip

In addition, install Ad-Aware 6 free edition, start it, click its 'Check for
Updates' link in the app to install updates, then use it to scan your system, and
remove what it finds.
Ad-Awa
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

Install, update and run SpyBot Search & Destroy, scan your system, and then remove
the items in RED only.
SpyBot S&D:
http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download

Please reply to the newsgroup/forum only.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"Ellis Hillinger" wrote in message
...
I have a performance problem with my Win 98 system. It is a Dell with a P
III / 550 MHz and 128 MB memory with 700 MB of free disk space.

The symptom often seems to be certain web sites that hang for no reason. I
believe I finally traced it to another problem today. On occasions after
the system has run for some time, I see huge delays (~2 minutes) when I add,
delete or rename a file on the disk. I suspect these web sites are trying
to write a file (such as a cookie) to the disk, and being delayed because
they are encountering the same problem.

Virus scan is not finding any problems and I run Ad Aware frequently. I
recently put Zone Alarm on this system, which has slowed the entire system
down, but didn't seem to affect this problem. I have also checked PATH and
removed no longer available drives and directories. (I haven't been able to
run a defrag since I loaded Zone Alarm, even when I unload it, because the
system doesn't have enough resources.)

Does anyone have any other suggestions for possible sources of this problem?
Thanks!

(replace XXX with q to reply)

An update on this problem, in case someone else is experiencing similar
symptoms.

The problem appears to be in the temporary Internet files. I am using IE
6.0 (recently upgraded from 5.5) and have used Tools/Options to clear out
these files. I just discovered that many of these temporary files
(~300,000!) were still out there in /Windows/Local Settings/Temporary
Internet Files, and purging these seems to help a lot. Is this because of
the upgrade from 5.5 to 6.0, or does the Delete Files button just not work?

--
(replace XXX with q to reply)

"Ellis Hillinger" wrote in message
...

I won't describe the difficulties I encountered trying to follow
AlmostBob's
advice, but I stumbled across a much more likely source of the problem
along
the way. I have one folder tree on this volume with almost 85,000 files
(all with long file names), and it appears the maximum number of files
within a folder on a FAT32 volume is 65, 534. I am zipping many of these
up
right now and we will see if that resolves things.

--
(replace XXX with q to reply)

"AlmostBob" wrote in message
...
tif, temporary internet files, the cache held by IE(Internet explorer)
of
recent sites visited
start
settings
control panel
internet options
general
delete files
--
Adaware http://www.lavasoft.de
spybot http://security.kolla.de
AVG free antivirus http://www.grisoft.com
Panda online AntiVirus scan http://www.pandasoftware.com/ActiveScan/
Catalog of removal tools
http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/utilities/
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts file
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
links provided as a courtesy, read all instructions on the pages before
use
Grateful thanks to the authors/webmasters

In Tools Internet Options General tab, click the Settings button.
What does it show as the current location of the Temporary Internet Files folder?
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

"Ellis Hillinger" wrote in message
...
An update on this problem, in case someone else is experiencing similar
symptoms.

The problem appears to be in the temporary Internet files. I am using IE
6.0 (recently upgraded from 5.5) and have used Tools/Options to clear out
these files. I just discovered that many of these temporary files
(~300,000!) were still out there in /Windows/Local Settings/Temporary
Internet Files, and purging these seems to help a lot. Is this because of
the upgrade from 5.5 to 6.0, or does the Delete Files button just not work?

--
(replace XXX with q to reply)

"Ellis Hillinger" wrote in message
...

I won't describe the difficulties I encountered trying to follow
AlmostBob's
advice, but I stumbled across a much more likely source of the problem
along
the way. I have one folder tree on this volume with almost 85,000 files
(all with long file names), and it appears the maximum number of files
within a folder on a FAT32 volume is 65, 534. I am zipping many of these
up
right now and we will see if that resolves things.

--
(replace XXX with q to reply)

"AlmostBob" wrote in message
...
tif, temporary internet files, the cache held by IE(Internet explorer)
of
recent sites visited
start
settings
control panel
internet options
general
delete files
--
Adaware http://www.lavasoft.de
spybot http://security.kolla.de
AVG free antivirus http://www.grisoft.com
Panda online AntiVirus scan http://www.pandasoftware.com/ActiveScan/
Catalog of removal tools
http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/utilities/
Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts file
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
links provided as a courtesy, read all instructions on the pages before
use
Grateful thanks to the authors/webmasters

C:\Windows\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\

I have since tested the Delete Files button and it seems to empty those
folders just fine.

--
(replace XXX with q to reply)

"glee" wrote in message
...

In Tools Internet Options General tab, click the Settings button.
What does it show as the current location of the Temporary Internet Files
folder?
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

"Ellis Hillinger" wrote in message
...
An update on this problem, in case someone else is experiencing similar
symptoms.

The problem appears to be in the temporary Internet files. I am using
IE
6.0 (recently upgraded from 5.5) and have used Tools/Options to clear
out
these files. I just discovered that many of these temporary files
(~300,000!) were still out there in /Windows/Local Settings/Temporary
Internet Files, and purging these seems to help a lot. Is this because
of
the upgrade from 5.5 to 6.0, or does the Delete Files button just not
work?

--