My new T61 is kind of slow

Hello, and I would like to start off by thanking anyone that is reading this post and would like to comment on it.

I have just bought my T61 and i am very impressed by lenovo so far, but one thing that is concerning me, is it sometimes takes a lil while to boot up, i know some people on the forum were saying to freshly install Windows XP, but i really hate to do so due to my minimum knowledge of rebooting,reformatting OS and computers.

Lil about the system,
its a T61, 2.5GHz processor, 3 GB ram, Windows XP OS, 160 GB @ 7200 rpm.


So there is a way of making it boot faster and not having all the stuff running inthe background off teh start? i tried to disable some programs form msconfig and tried going through services.msf or osmething, but didn;t wanna mess it up so woudl like to hear some of the experties on it.

Thanks,

 

"its a T61, 2.5GHz processor, 3 GB ram, Windows XP OS, 160 GB @ 7200 rpm."

This shouldn't be happening...

You should really use msconfig (I do myself)

The token rule is to not disable anything you are unsure of, and to follow the instructions here:
http://www.netsquirrel.com/msconfig/

If you follow the instructions from that website, it will tell you to hide microsoft services, so no serious problems can occur. This will clean up all of those unnecessary services and programs that hog cpu power that you don't use all of the time.

 

I would assume that you have too many installed program running all at once. Follow ARom's advice and disable some unnecessary startup programs.

I think that you should be able to bring it up to about 40-50 processes. I was able to do that for my parent's laptop by just running whatever is necessary for them (which is by saying not much).

 

I'm not sure how much bloatware comes preloaded on Thinkpads, but you might want to uninstall the stuff you don't plan on using.

 

i know someone with the same lenovo problem. it had over 70 processes running! it was slow as hell. i turned off practically everything in msconfig, and uninstalled most of the lenovo programs from the control panel. runs much faster now... just make a restore point before you start, and you will be able to go back to your settings before screwing with everything. if you want to be safe, just use msconfig. i would stick with unchecking stuff from msconfig if you are paranoid about uninstalling programs.


to create a restore point:
start>all programs>accessories>system tools>system restore>create restore point

 

I think step 1 would be to uninstall programs/trials you don't use or want.

next you should simply check the lower right corner for your 'quick programs', settings, then uncheck the usual 'run at startup'.

finally, you should use msconfig for those services, and sneaky programs.

It's really not a big deal, use msconfig, you won't break anything!

 

Great advice.

 

No need to go that far & waste all of that time if you don't have it.

gl

 

Defragmenting/optimizing your files will speed up the boot process a bit. I highly recommend JKDefrag (no installation necessary). So, download that.

You'll also need Microsoft's Tweak UI so you can disable "optimize hard disk when idle" under its 'General' menu. So, go ahead and download, install, and uncheck that option in Tweak UI. Apply and OK.

Once JKdefrag has been downloaded and extracted, press Windows Key+R to bring up the Run prompt. Browse for the JKDefrag executable file. You should have something like this in the Run prompt now (depends on where you extracted the files),

"C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Desktop\JkDefrag-3.34\JkDefrag.exe"

From there, just add "-a 7" (no quotes) so you end up with this,

"C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name\Desktop\JkDefrag-3.34\JkDefrag.exe" -a 7

Then hit enter. Let that defragmentation finish (will probably take awhile). After that, open up the Run prompt again and remove the "-a 7" and just hit enter to run JKDefrag in default mode. From now on, you can run it in this default mode. Use JKDefrag in place of Windows' built-in defragmenter because JKDefrag defragments+optimizes; Windows' only defragments.

For the Services, I recommend you go through each of your services with this guide and if your service is not in that guide, look it up on Google. Then determine which is necessary and which isn't. You can post it here as well.

Your MSCONFIG settings will also help with boot time. You can look up each item on Google for more information on that item or you can post it here so we can help you out.

Good luck!

 

Of course, delete bloatwares or do a clean install. Then run like a registry cleaner. Windows Live OneCare has free registry cleaner online if you don't want to buy one. I had Sony SZ before and it came with about 90 processors.. lol.. I find it funny that these companies advertise their computer to be very fast, yet they load programs that makes the computer slower.

http://onecare.live.com

 

WOW i didn;t think i could get this much help within seconds, I really apprecitiate ur comments guys, u have been great so far. thanks

well, i haven;t really installed anything on teh computer yet except for a small game and it snot even running at the starup. however, here is a screen dump of my startup and its showing me an item that doesn;t have a name, is that normal? could it be a virus? because i unstalled Norton (since its 2 slow) and in the process of installing Mcafee.

Arom, iam going to go through that website that u gave me an dlet u know how i do.

Thanksm guys.
D

 

and btw one of the things that i have on system';s tray is "thinkpad password manager" do u think i need it to be running all the time? i mean i only use the fingerprint reader when i login to the computer and stuff. so!

oh and another point, when first created my accounts when i first got the computer , i created another account and called it" guest" but it seems like it gave it adminstrative privledges, i tried to make it lkimited through start>control panel> user aco****s but it didn;t give me that option, so anythoughts on that?
Thanks,

 

when i looked at the startup on another lenovo it had a nameless entry as well. don't know what it was, but you can bet i unchecked it!

i think the general opinion is that mcafee/norton are pretty big resource hogs. i would suggest avast for anti-virus. it's free, you register once and it's good for 14 months. doesn't bug you with popups about buying the pro version like AVG does now.

 

that's wierd, wonder what it is. i will uncheck it as well.
i just created a restoring point as well in case i mess up somewhere down the line.

btw that thinkvantage feature is really nice, i came from Dell laptops and lenovo so far is been the best.

 

Yeah I suggest you get rid of norton/mcafee if you didn't pay for it and go with

Avira Antivirus( )

or AVG

@ www.download.com

 

i get a one year free supscription with mcafee so iam going to go withit for now and see how it is, but i research avira tho.
iam in the process of goin through these startup menues and checking wic ones i need an ddon;t. i will let u know how it goes.
thanks,

 

Every machine I've seen regardless of manufacturer has has had 1 or 2 blank entries in start up. Although there is risk of virus I think it is small. If I check the registry for one of the blank entries it simply lists (default) and the other seems assosiated with a modem driver. I've heard it can be caused by a malformed entry, but probably benign.

Norton was one of the first apps I uninstalled and saw a performance improvement. For pay product consider NOD, otherwise look at AVG, AVAST or Avira (I settled on Avira)

What's behind the TOOLS tab on your MSCONFIG? None of the XP machines I have, including the T61 show that when I run the tool. EDIT ** I found the answer via Google

 

I didn;t really pay much attention to that tool tab but i will get u a screen shot here in a min , as i just finished form unchecking a heck load of softwares that i don;t to start at starup such as Adobe (3 files), thinkpad away mgr stuff, software updates retriever, sonic CD/DVD burner..etc
i will be back in a min with some results.
Thanks,

 

Rec630,
here is a snap shot of the "tools" tab on msconfig. when u highliht one of the items and hit launch , it just basicaly lauches the program for ya.

 

here is some of the numbers that i got:

**** down time, from the min i hit "shutdown" till it completely shuts off, it takes about 48 secs.

start up, from the min i hit th epower button and the "log in" screen comes up , it takes 42-46 secs

the min i enter my password or scan my finger print, it takes about 55 secs till i get a usable desktop where everything is loaded by then.

now this result is after i took off a bunch of programs form the msconfig and unstalled Norton. but i also installed McAfee.

Anthoughts on my numbers? are u guys getting similiar numbers?
Thanks,

 

If you are willing to pay for a good antivirus, go with Kaspersky Internet Security 2009.

 

same here

Avira is the best.

 

Strange, try calling the lenovo tech when you get a chance. I thought this was a long wait from the login to the desktop. 40+seconds for a boot into login? I think something is wrong.

 

how much do u guys usually wait for?

 

anythoughts?

 

The shutdown time should be fairly quick, like 10 seconds. The Hive Cleanup Service may help with that.

Startup time should be around 30-40.

 

i just downloaded it, and ran it, but is it a program that i need to run from time to time, or does it run in the background for me?
thanks,

 

The clean up service runs automatically and you can the it´s installation in Control Panel->Software.