I would have posted this at the CS forum, but didn't want to be jumped on for posting a non-homesteading question. So here goes. Hopefully someone can help me.

DH and I are in charge of the school's computers. The secretary's computer is running very slow, sometimes spiking up to 99% CPU usage. Ran Norton DiskDoctor and WinDoctor and fixed those errors. Uninstalled some unnecessary stuff. However, when you hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete, we find a bunch of stuff (I mean A LOT) of stuff running in the background. I recall reading somewhere that you should only need or have three or so programs running. But there's a list of over 20some apps running.

So my questions are - What must absolutely be running in the background and how do you permanently get rid of the rest of the stuff so that it doesn't come back upon rebooting?

Thanks - I hope I made this clear enough!

-- Lisa in WI (llehman16@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002

Answers

Ok, Lets start with the basics. What OS are you using. 95,98,nt,2000,xp. In any case your going to be running a lot more than 3 processes even on an idle system.

What is the system configuration, disk and memory size.

Does the CPU spikes happen all the time or when specific programs are run? Has any patches or new programs been added recently. Does this program have email access? Internet access?

What are some of the names of running processes.

-- Gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), March 19, 2002.

I am not an expert but I find that mine doubles speed or better after running the defragmentation program. Just click on help and look for defrag... It takes mine 3 to 4 hours to run it, there may be a faster way to defrag all hard drives. Also empty your temporary files, your email deletes, and recycle bin.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), March 19, 2002.

This could be several things, including bad hardware. Windows itself running idle will have at least a dozen processes running at all times and likely several more depending on the config or if it's on a network. If you have adequate ram installed then I'd check the software issues first.

Nothing but the o/s processes must be running in the background. You likely have stuff running in the taskbar and in the start/programs/start-up folder.

You could try running without those. I've never found a need to run any programs in the task bar at idle and none in the start-up menu. All that does is slow your system and boot-up down and fill your registry up. If all else fails, save whatever data you need, reformat the hdd and install the o/s clean. Doing that can save alot of time and headaches so I'd try it if you don't have alot of data to backup on there. You could also do a re-insall but it won't be as clean as reformatting and might not solve the problem.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.

the more often you defrag, the less time it'll take. I defrag once a week, it takes about 10 minutes on a 20gig hdd and 5 minutes on a 4gig.

-- Dave (multipliex9@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.

Lisa, are you sure the secretary didn't manage to shove a couple candy bars somewhere in the computer? (Silly smarty-pants comment from Lisa's Mom who knows the secretary!)

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.

Mom - Shame on you! LOL!

As far as the rest of the questions, I should have been more detailed. So here goes. The computer was bought last year from Gateway, so its pretty new and the specs will be pretty up-to-date. She's running Windows 98 on it, with no internet/email access and no new patches or programs. As far as I know, she just runs really basic programs like Word or Works, and maybe some sort of spreadsheet software. She's not computer literate so I know she hasn't gone and done anything major. She turns the computer, does very little work, and turns it back off. We did a disk defrag too...we keep that up for her.

She really doesn't need much to run this computer which is why I'd like to get rid of the stuff in the background. I checked the start up menu and there's only one program in it, so that's not the problem. The spikes happen when she's doing her Word/Works or whatever little she does.

-- (llehman16@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.

hardware problems aside, I'd first get it connected to the net and go to Windows update site and get all the latest updates. If it's never been done since it was new, there should be a few. There's updates for Office also. At the same time, there might be a Gateway bios update program that connects through the modem. I've never messed with GTW but I know IBM and Dell computers have that.

A reformat and clean install would be the first thing I'd do if it's not a chore to save whatever data you need on it. Sometimes that's the end result anyway after hours of frustration, especially with win9x. Better yet, if you can get a copy of Windows2000, itstall it. It's much more stable.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.

Dave, Time for a reality check. First, Your Win 2k install will cost over $200 for software, Will more than likley require more ram costing even more money.. As for getting on the internet and installing updates. If all they are doing is running word on a machine thats not internet connected there is no reason to upgrade anythign. It was working a few months ago, it should work. If the bios is was working a year ago when the machine was bought and no hardware changes have been made then there is no reason to even consider a bios upgrade. As for rebooting and doing a re-install being the first thing you would do ok, But it would be a dumb thing to do. First your going to install the orginal software you got from the vendor the orginal applications you need and you STILL DONT know the problem was. I know this is the solution the MS and many vendor try to push on the public, but its not the answer. For a personal machine it might temporaryly solve the problem but doenst fix it. I help support over 10K windows machines and its almost never a solution to a problem.

Also, For the other folks. I know you want to help solve the problems but you have to know the problem and the enviornment. People say run degrag, Well thats great but degfrag was inclucded in 95 or NT unless you added a 3rd party package, it wasnt in 98 till 2nd edition. It is in win2k and xp but you didnt know what OS lisa was running. Depending on the OS some of your commands are even wrong. On other questons you telling them to click here and click there for a web problem and have no idea what browser they are using. You cant answer the question till you know the problem and enviornment.

-- Gary in Ohio (gws@columbus.rr.com), March 20, 2002.

Lisa, Thanks for the additional info. One thing you didnt give was amount of memory? How much memory. Also what version of word? That helps to direct us a little more. On 98 there is a fair amount of background stuff that you cant get rid of. Now back to the issue of running slow, What is running slow? You mentioned word, When running word, what indications do you have that something is running slow, The mouse is lagging, the keyboard input is lagging behind your typing? reading or writing documents is slow? You mentioned spikes when doing her work. Are you using the task manager to monitor performance? If so, keep in mind that when starting an app, both disk and CPU utilization goes up.

-- Gary in Ohio (gws@columbus.rr.com), March 20, 2002.

well I'm no expert but I had a computer doing the same exact thing and an update solved the problem, so I suggested it. It surely won't make things worse but keeping up with the latest patches. I didn't suggest to go out and buy Win2k, I said if she had a copy. I've never had a problem using one copy for many computers. Win2k is a vast improvement over win9x. I assumed she had enough ram since it's a fairly new system. My experiences with o/s has been that Win2k will run just as fast if not faster than win98 regardless of how much ram there is. I just installed it on a 166mhz notebook for kicks with only 32meg ram and it ran fine as far as internet browsing and Office. It was only a tad bit slower booting than the win95JP that's on the other partition. I realize that's pushing the envelope but it's not impossible. Of course with ram costing $50 for 256mb for desktops now, I'd go ahead and run as much as possible.

I suggested the reinstall because I've seen win9x corrupt files beyond repair, at least for the average person. That's the easiet solution for people who aren't techinically inclined in these matters. That's probably why Microsoft and vendors recommend it. Refreshing your o/s from time to time can be very helpful to people who don't know their way around a computer.

As for browsers, I use Netscape myself but it's a safe assumption that 95% of everyone else is using MSIE.

From what Lisa described, I assumed she had at least 64mb, if not 128 ram and was running Word97 or Works.

None of the suggestions I gave her would make the problem worse and there is a fair possibility one of them would solve the problem. I was not trying to come off as an expert but rather just be helpful and save her some time with this instead of doing it the over-technical way.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), March 20, 2002.

Have you run a virus check?

-- mg (mg@juno.com), March 20, 2002.

Dave, Sure patches will make it worse. Now you have to deal with adding patches over a problem. Fix the problem and if your a patchaholic add the patches. Most patches comming out MS are security related anyway. If your not on the internet then MOST if not all wouldnt make a differance. " I've never had a problem using one copy for many computers." Maybe you dont, but Its a copyright violation and illegal. While the chances of you personally getting audit are rare, unless everyone in the fourm calls SPA on you. The computers are being used in a business, A school in this case and spa is going in and auditing school and businesses. You mentioned $50 is not much money. Once again, for you personally it may not but getting money allocated in a school or even a business is not just a GIVEME enviornment. Money would have needed to be justified early in the year. As for reinstalling fixing the problem. You cant say that in this case, because you havnt isolated the problem yet. "RUNNING SLOW" is not enough info to fix a problem. I could have a perfectly operating machine and still have apps run slow. This is the whole point of my followup post. Find out the problem before you try to solve it. As for browsers, No you cant make that decision that they are running IE, You will be wrong 40-%50 of the time. . I use netscape or opera myself. "assumed she had at least 64mb, if not 128 ram and was running Word97 or Works. " Again none of this helps you solve the problem yet. The problem is a slow machine and has nothing to do with ram yet. Find out as I have ask lisa, What does slow mean? Starting programs, boot the machine, mouse lagging behind movment, keyboard slow to respond. Again find out the problem before the solution. I have dealt with many folks on help desk trying to solve problems. You need to fully understand the problem. I talked with someone with a "SLOW computer" Said it was so slow it was almost unusable. The problem turned out to be an old printer. The computer wouldnt print faster so it was a slow computer.

-- Gary in Ohio (gws@columbus.rr.com), March 20, 2002.

Makes you wish for a good old fashioned electric typewriter doesn't it??? gives me a headache to even start to read all of this techno mumbo jumbo! I am glad that someone likes to deal with it though. Be nice boys!!!!!!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), March 20, 2002.

Gary, this really isn't the place to debate or whatever you're doing. I was just trying to be helpful with what I know. I'm just a lowly high school drop out but I have managed to help a few people with their computer problems. I don't recall ever making more problems for them. I didn't think this was a contest or something. Let me defend myself though. I never said $50 isn't alot of money, in fact it is for me right now. I was just making a comment, not a suggestion that she run out and buy any. No need to twist my words around, especially here in this place where everyone is really nice to one another and I try to respect the rules.

It's not a copyright violation to use copies for your own personal use on multiple machines as far as I know or care. There's no way I could afford to buy Office2k or an o/s everytime I want to install it, so I use a copy. I could care less what the SPA thinks about it and would advise everyone else to ignore their aggessive tactics. They're free to contact me if they wish. Sorry, I don't submit willingly to laws made by corporate entities.

The latest polls as of March 16, 2002 show browser use at over 90% MSIE here in the US. I would say my assumption would have much better odds than what you claimed.

That's all I have to say on this topic because I'm sure anything I say will be disputed. I hope Lisa gets it fixed, that was all I cared about.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), March 20, 2002.

No debate at all. Just try to inform people who want to help that they need to know the problem first. YES!!! Use of most commerical software on more than one machine is a copyright violation. Some software will allow use one copy at work and one at home, but no version of windows can legally be used on more than one machine without payment to microsoft. Regardless if you can afford it or not. Its not legal to do. Your additude is why XP is a pain in the butt to install and register now. You have to contact MS and register. You CANT!!!! with XP and I bet any new OS that comes out you WILL NOT load more than one copy on a machine without paying. I am sure that the March 16th MS poll has IE at 90%. Who's poll you quoting, What web site? try another web site, Your value will vary. The web figure for the large bank I work for shows much differnt numbers in our users. No where near 90% MS will quote.

-- Gary in Ohio (gws@columbus.rr.com), March 20, 2002.

OY vey! I had another smarty-pants comment and it wouldn't send!

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), March 20, 2002.

Dave, I sent you an e-mail to your Hotmail address, I don't know if you check it often, so I just wanted you to know so you could check it out.

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), March 21, 2002.

Wow! When I posted this Q, I didn't mean to start the great computer debate but I certainly have learned a few things.

Thank you for your replies! You guys gave us some new things to try! The secretary fell last week and is out of commission so we have some extra time to play with her computer. I'll keep you updated!

-- Lisa in WI (llehman16@hotmail.com), March 21, 2002.

And, you can bet she will use that fall for everything it is worth. Major pity-party coming up! Can anyone tell that I can't tolerate the secretary??

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), March 21, 2002.

I know this post is WWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY late... but i just stumpled upon this and skimed this. If you wanted to permenantly get rid of some apps running on startup, you can run MSCONFIG. On the right side should be a tab labeled STARTUP. There will be a list of apps that you can check off. Hope this helps.

-- rj (fritz1@toosexyforyou.com), September 22, 2002.