[Lowtechie]

I use AVG free version 7.5. When I run a scan it scans 140000 objects, and takes 1.5 hours, and virtually kills everything else on my pc.
Is this normal? Anyone know whether I can configure things to improve performance.
For info:-
Windows XP Home 2002 SP2; HP intel celeron 1.30 GHz processor; 224MB ram

Would it help if I removed some of the "Sytem Restore" backups, and if so how??

 

[DFW]

224mb RAM is less than I would call the minimum for winXP. increase your ram

 

[redoak]

512 is considered the smallest for decent functioning of "XP".

 

[Noyb]

I suspect that your Stored Data is more than twice the size of your system files and you're just scanning your data ... over n over n over ....
FYI ... It takes longer to scan a bunch of small data files than it takes to scan on large file...
And a shortage of ram doesn't help.

Try this ...
Click on ... My Computer > C: Drive > select the Program Files and the Windows Folder only >
Right click on the selection > Choose Properties.
How many gigs and number of files does it report ???

While here ...
Right click on the selections ... and choose > Scan w AVG.
How long does it take now ????

 

[Lowtechie]

Thanks Noyb and others

I've done a bit of tidying up including reducing the max amount of disk space for system restore, running disc cleanup, and defragmenting.

With nothing else running a full scan gives the following:

134442 objects scanned
1 hr 5 min 40 sec

Results of tests suggested

C:/Windows
2.49 GB
13199 Files
1170 Folders
19205 objects scanned
14 mins 47 sec

Observation - it appeared to be spending a lot of time scanning the 100
$NtUninstallKB999999$ folders I seem to have accumulated "999999" being various numbers

C:/Program files

2.49 GB
18912 Files
1555 folders
114138 objects scanned
19 min 25 sec

Observation - it spent a lot of time in the c:/program files/java folder which I re-scanned:-

367 MB
3312 files
180 folders
92233 objects scanned
7 mins 39 sec

subfolders in there are
j2re1.4.2_05
jre1.5._05
jre1.5._06
jre1.5._08
jre1.5._09
jre1.5._10

 

[Noyb]

Can't find HP specs on your computer ??? Processor Type/speed .. etc ...
Looks like you spend about 30 mins on your system files ...

Now ... How about "Documents n Settings" ???
I'm assuming this is where you have your data stored.

 

[Lowtechie]

I use AVG free version 7.5. When I run a scan it scans 140000 objects, and takes 1.5 hours, and virtually kills everything else on my pc.
Is this normal? Anyone know whether I can configure things to improve performance.
For info:-
Windows XP Home 2002 SP2; HP intel celeron 1.30 GHz processor; 224MB ram

It's an HP Pavillion ze2000, and I have had trouble finding any details about it as well

As mentioned in another post http://forums.techguy.org/all-other-software/532656-swsetup-folder.html I also have a large amount of stuff in the SWSETUP and this may be another culprit.

This takes about 20 mins to scan (I turned my back on it just as it finished), 19186 0bjects, 5531 files 2.39 GB

I'll do the "My Documents" one later.

 

[Noyb]

Just some more thoughts ..
I don’t know anything about the time consuming folders you mentioned ..
Could do some looking .. Or better yet – Summon a real Computer Wizard.

SIW will tell you all you need about your computer … http://www.gtopala.com/

Till you’ve completed my last home work assignment .. more questions …
assuming you’ve defragged lately.

1: Do you have .. and have used .. some cleanup utilities to get rid of all the garbage ???
I use CCleaner … http://www.ccleaner.com/

2: Have you investigated Msconfig … to turn off all the unnecessary programs from stating and running in the background and consuming RAM and speed ???
WinPatrol is good program to assist you in looking to see what’s running…
http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html

3: Is this Laptop your only computer ??
4: Do you have all your Data, Email, Favorites ..etc .. Backed up ??
5: Have you made your Recovery CD/DVDs yet ??
6: Do you have a USB External Hard Drive ???

 

[redoak]

Could obtain specs by using "Belarc Adviser"- http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Install to your Desktop and then run it. A report will appear on the screen in not much time. It could be saved or printed. I would only do the first 3-4 pages, because the minutia is of no particular value.

{redoak}

 

[redoak]

Specs can be obtained by using "Belarc Adviser- http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Download to your Desktop and run (double click on icon.) A report will appear quite quickly. The report can be saved to a file and/or printed. I would retain only the first 3-4 pages, as the minutia is of no particular value.

 

[TOGG]

You don't need all the old versions of the Java JRE and it could even be dangerous to keep them because many of the latest updates to the 1.5 series were for security reasons (see this from another forum);http://www.webuser.co.uk/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/283462/an/0/page/0

You should probably be thinking about getting 1.6 by using the link provided in the above article.

 

[Lowtechie]

Just some more thoughts ..
I don't know anything about the time consuming folders you mentioned ..
Could do some looking .. Or better yet - Summon a real Computer Wizard.

SIW will tell you all you need about your computer … http://www.gtopala.com/

Till you've completed my last home work assignment .. more questions …
assuming you've defragged lately.

1: Do you have .. and have used .. some cleanup utilities to get rid of all the garbage ???
I use CCleaner … http://www.ccleaner.com/

2: Have you investigated Msconfig … to turn off all the unnecessary programs from stating and running in the background and consuming RAM and speed ???
WinPatrol is good program to assist you in looking to see what's running…
http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html

3: Is this Laptop your only computer ??
4: Do you have all your Data, Email, Favorites ..etc .. Backed up ??
5: Have you made your Recovery CD/DVDs yet ??
6: Do you have a USB External Hard Drive ???

Many thanks again - food for thought there

0: Defrag - yes, did that last night
1: Cleanup - I used the Microsoft XP Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe) before the defrag. Do you know if ccleaner.com gets shot of things like the old Java stuff mentioned above? [The website doesn't mention these, though it does mention Uninstall registry entries. See the post from Togg which recommends I should ditch it. ]

[ Trouble is so many updates don't clean up after themselves, or tell you what you can / should remove - I suspect the same goes for a lot of the stuff in C:/WINDOWS mentioned earlier. I'm sufficiently computer literate to know that this goes on - they're known unknowns - what chance has "Joe Public" got? Rant over ]

2: No - that would be useful to know just what is going on in the background. When we just had DOS it was easy wasn't it!!
3: I have an old Packard Bell machine, but not networked, very slow, and would really need upgrading to be useful - disc drive is very tight.
4: I back it up to CDrom if I'm doing anything "risky" (including zapping apparent junk), but perhaps not as often as I should
5: Now that's a good question which will send be scuttling up to the back bedroom where I keep all such stuff including the PB Desktop to make sure!! It was 18 months ago, and I think I did but I've killed a few grey cells since then.
6: No. On board DVD RW drive, external USB diskette drive and a 1/4 gig memory stick

 

[Noyb]

1: does ccleaner.com get shot of things like the old java stuff mentioned above?
??? Maybe ??? … It cleans a lot .. See attached.

2: no - that would be useful to know just what is going on in the background.
And WinPatrol stops things from being added to the startup list .. It asks you if the changes are OK first.

5: now that's a good question.
Nothing beats a full system restore for a good tune up ... Are you Backed up and Ready ??

6: no
If you had one (and some $30 software) .. After you do a full restore and spend about 8 hours doing it ….
You will be able to do it again in about 15 minutes with the computer doing all the work.

 

[Lowtechie]

And WinPatrol stops things from being added to the startup list .. It asks you if the changes are OK first..

Oooooh Yummy!!! you'll be telling me next that it stops applications assigning themselves as the default for every file extension type that they can handle without so much as a by your leave [ sorry - ranting again ]

5: now that's a good question.
Nothing beats a full system restore for a good tune up ... Are you Backed up and Ready ??

errrr - that sounds like "taking a glass of epsom salts every now and then is good for the soul". (no insult intended here)

Or am I mis-reading you??

As I see it restoring from scrat means then reinstalling all of the software I do want (MSoffice &c), and doing all of the upgrades, and getting shot of all the preinstalled tacky stuff (MSworks , Symantec stuff, iTunes &c) that I don't want. 8 hours is probably a bit of an underestimate, and might at my standard hourly rate persuade me to bin the laptop and buy a new one!!!

6: no
If you had one (and some $30 software) .. After you do a full restore and spend about 8 hours doing it ….
You will be able to do it again in about 15 minutes with the computer doing all the work.

Might be worth separating "my" stuff onto an external drive perhaps??? Or creating a partition?

Anyhow, it's 2:15 a.m. GMT. Time for sleep - back again "tomorrow".

 

[Noyb]

Your last home work assignment earned an A+

WinPatrol will not stop extension reassignments … but it will stop programs, and their sub routines, from being added to you startup list... and maybe programs that you didn't ask for.
Extension reassignments don't seem to bother me once the system is setup.

… restoring from scratch means then reinstalling all of the software I do want … all of the upgrades, … 8 hours is probably a bit of an underestimate ….

No Missread … As I see it - you can spend 8 hours doing it right .. or maybe 10 trying to fix it .. (hopefully)
IMO .. The most fragile item in your computer is Windows operating system.
It seems to need the Epsom treatment often.
I've completely restored my W-XP - 2 times in my new 4 month old computer because of acquired problems.
But it only takes me about 15 minutes to do this.
This starts with recovery planning … from a fresh build up .. or a nice working system.

Might be worth separating "my" stuff onto an external drive perhaps??? … Or creating a partition?
Many options here … but you're a little limited in that you have a Laptop … a different HD.

it irritates me no end that there is a load of HP preloaded junk.
Me Too … OEM trash removal is built into my 8 hours estimate … that's another reason I plan ahead on a quick recovery of my system, the way I like it, using my external HD.

Hope I haven't steered this post off track … If you can get it fixed (tuned up) .. that would also be a good time to make an OS system and data backup.

 

[Bob Cerelli]

That doesn't seem that unusual, especially with a 1.3 ghz process and that much memory.

 

[Byteman]

Hi, I use Custom Scans when scanning, saves time, but you do stand the chance of missing something.

You absolutely must scan the entire hard disk once in a while.

You are getting good help here...may take a while to put it all in place but you'll get it right.

Should we close your other thread about this? It's not a problem if you don't want to yet.

http://forums.techguy.org/all-other-software/532656-swsetup-folder.html

_ _ _ _ _
Here is a page at HP site for your model family of ze2000, note though that there are 66 submodels, so you will have to use the "How do I find my model number" link at the right side of the page, and find the other digits/letters that tell you exactly which one it is, then follow the steps to get to the information specific to your exact model, the specs or Product Information listed there will be for the system as it came to you from HP or wherever.

http://h20180.www2.hp.com/apps/Look...h_query=Pavilion+ze2000&submit.x=8&submit.y=9

Leads to this page: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...8&product=18073&lc=en&dest_page=product&cc=us

Let's say you have this one> http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...us&dlc=en&submit.y=9&submit.x=8&lang=en&cc=us

Next> if you had that one> you would go to Product Information link

and read about things like> "

Cleaning & maintaining

» Using Windows Update

Product specifications

» Locating the Product Number and Support Information for the Notebook PC

» Product Specifications

» Purchasing Additional Memory

Warranty & service

» Limited Warranty and Technical Support Statement

» How Do I Identify my Notebook PC for Service?

» Using a Certified HP Service Center to Repair a Notebook PC

» Ordering an HP Certified Replacement Part

» About Your Notebook PC and Tablet PC Warranty

» View all FAQs for this product "

The list on the left has other areas to check.

• Solve a problem
• » Software & Driver downloads
• » Setup and install
• » How to
• » Product information
• » Manuals
• » FAQs

Try it out! Just make sure you find the correct submodel and go to that area's information.

 

[Lowtechie]

Hi Byteman,
I agree that I've probably started twin rabbits running here. The SWSETUP folder is just one part of the whole problem, viz stuff on my computer which I have not knowingly put there, have no idea what it is for (and little enough knowledge on how to find out) therefore a total terror of screwing up my pc by getting shot of it.
This thread may perhaps have gone a little off my original track, but seems to be leading me in the right direction, although it's perhaps a bit worrying that it should be advisable, if not perhaps totally necessary, to spend more time on keeping the machine working properly than I would normally expect to spend using it.

Regards

C

 

[TOGG]

I hesitate to add to the confusion that you may be feeling but, as regards the question of getting rid of unnecessary stuff, I was not suggesting that you get rid of Sun Java (it's too useful), but that you should get rid of all the old versions and install the latest one, 1.6.

As far as I know, CCleaner will not remove such things, you will need to find the various versions in Add/Remove.

 

[Lowtechie]

C:/Documents and settings
3.79 GB
121735 files
1519 folders
10076 objects scanned
9 mins 50 secs.

3 mins 40 of that was scanning the 5068 objects in the self extracting zip file MSO2003P.exe - MS office programs intaller

Surprisingly enough 6 years accumulation of email in Outlook Express took about 10 seconds, and my entire collection of holiday snaps less than 20 secs

Whilst prodding around I've noticed a number of temp folders which the XP disc cleanup utility leaves intact, so perhaps as you say a different cleanup utiliy is called for.