Extremely slow/delayed cursor response while typing

Question

I have a new Inspiron 6400 with WinXP Pro. I've got an Intel Core 2 Duo with 2gig of ram. A couple of weeks ago I noticed an extremely frustrating behavior. While typing in any program (Word, Outlook, Notepad, IE Explorer, even right now while I'm trying to type this) the cursor (not the mouse cursor, the text cursor) starts to slow down and even stop every few seconds or so. Then suddenly it will print out everything I've been typing all at once. It's like the cursor gets constipated every few seconds. It's extremely frustrating to type anything now on this computer. I contacted Dell support. They suggested doing a system restore back a couple of weeks. I did that, and it seemed like it was behaving regularly again. Then after McAfee and Windows Update finished re-loading their updates (that had happened during those 2 weeks) the problem was right back. I then tried disabling every feature in McAfee except the firewall, thinking all the realtime AV stuff was bogging it down. No difference. I looked at Windows Task Manager to see if any background processes were monopolizing CPU resources. Nothing stood out, except the large number of processes (about 60) going on. Not knowing what most of them are for, I didn't dare disable any. I have a sneaking suspicion that a recent Windows Update is to blame, but I don't know if anyone else is seeing this. I have an older Inspiron 6000 at work using WinXP Pro that is not behaving this way at all, and it's 'up to date'. I bought this computer with the hope of having a very capable system that would perform fast. Right now I want to chuck it out the window. Anyone out there seeing something similar?

Delierious · Answer

It looks like something is eating your memory.

Before disabling anything, go to Windows Explorer and click Search. Do the search on the C drive and the search terms are

*.tmp; *.old; *.gid; *.bak; ~.*;

(cut and paste the above line into the search box.)

When the results arrive, delete everything more than 2 days old.

Do a search for Cookies and delete all cookies.

If you have Firefox, go to
Tools | Options | Privacy and fix the setting for “Accept cookies from sites” to “until I close Firefox”

If you have IE6 or 7, go to
Tools| Options | General and under “Browsing History” press Delete. This will take you to another window; delete everything (your choice whether you choose to delete saved passwords or not.)

Reboot.

Has this made any difference?

If not

http://www.adaware-antispyware.com/uk_ad_aware/
For Ad-Aware personal, download and update this. Now run this as a full-system scan and thereafter at least 3 times a week (twice as a smart scan, once as a full-system scan) and keep it up to date.

Did that get rid of unwanted entries (particularly files and registry entries)?

Any improvement yet?

Go to http://www.snapfiles.com/get/coolwebshredder.html
For Coolweb Shredder. Keep it up-to-date and run this once a week and particularly if you are getting too many pop-ups.

If you feel up to it, try this:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/RootkitRevealer.mspx
Rootkit Revealer – a good piece of anti-malware but read and understand the page thoroughly before you do anything. Also visit the Rootkit forum and use the search facility for anything the program throws up. When you run it, be prepared for a longish wait; close everything down that you can including disabling any screen-savers or “close hard drive/ screen, shut down computer after x minutes, suspend or hibernate” and other power saving options. (If you have a laptop, ensure that it’s on mains power.) Run it and wait. Do not disturb it! It can take up to an hour or more to run through and sometimes it looks like it stuck, but it will eventually continue. (If you do use the computer whilst it is running, it won’t hurt the computer but it will not give you the correct answers.) It is remarkably good at sniffing out nasties. Run it if you suspect there is malware on your computer and run it 3 or 4 times a year anyway.

If you did that, did it show anything?

If not and finally,

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php

For Hijack This download. Create a folder called Hijack and save the program to that folder. (don't save it to the desktop) This is a powerful tool; do not use it without knowing what you are doing!

Run it by all means but do not click any boxes (you’ll see what I mean when you run a scan.) Ask it to save a log and post that log on the Hijack This forum on this site if you are still suffering. Once you are satisfied that you have a clean log, keep a copy of it so you can see what has altered from one scan to the next.

If nothing else, the above will show that your HDD is clean.

powertek · Answer

I wanted to post and let everyone know I found the culprit for the system slowdown problem I was having. I isolated it to be caused by the most recent Dell update for MediaDirect3. This update was supposed to fix some memory leak problem, but whatever it did it slowed my computer down to a halt. It seemed to be causing hardware conflicts, one of the results being freezing the text cursor every few seconds. Anyway, hopefully Dell will fix whatever it was that was causing the problem with the MediaDirect update. Hope this helps someone else out there. Cheers, powertek

Ceiteag · Answer

Thanks for that. Uninstalling MediaDirect just fixed the problem for me too.

quaggy · Answer

I also removed MediaDirect and it stopped my delayed typing as well. Thanks for the information.

federsk · Answer

Hi, all, just purchased a brand new Vostro, and it was doing the same thing... stopping, printing all characters at once.  Deleted MediaDirect and it seems to have fixed the problem.  Thanks for your help all.  karen.

Nigg · Answer

Thank you very much for this fix. It has been driving me mad for months as Dell could not identify the problem. Their solution was a complete reset and XP re-installation. I prefered your fix!!

Ceiteag · Answer

What I want to know is why, having paid good money for our machines, we are having to fix them ourselves. The fact that Dell still don't seem to be aware of this issue, and that their technical people apparently don't have enough knowledge to advise customers on the appropriate way to deal with it, does not fill me with confidence.

wavking · Answer

Ahhhh!!! Thanks. I was having the same problem with a 640M/E1405. Going on 6 months now and driving me batty. Now maybe I can play Halo online again

DELL-Chris B · Answer

wavking:

Thanks for posting to the Dell Community Forums.

Try disabling PCMService.exe. Refer to the following.

1. Click on Start -> Run.
2. Type in "msconfig".
3. Go to Startup Tab (last Tab).
4. Uncheck "PCMService.exe"
5. Click on OK.
6. This will prompt you to restart your computer. Restart your computer.

This should eliminate the lag you are seeing.

Regards,

wavking · Answer

I already tried all this and it didn't work: ---------- 11/25/2007 04:24:31PM Agent (Ranjan_136179): 'The steps to perform are has following:' 11/25/2007 04:25:08PM Agent (Ranjan_136179): 'First, Increase the size of virtual memory' 11/25/2007 04:25:16PM Agent (Ranjan_136179): 'Click Start and then Control Panel Double-click the System icon Click on the Advanced tab Click the Settings button under Performance option Click Advanced tab Click on the Change button under Virtual Memory Now, in the box below,' increase the number. This will increase the size of virtual memory (low=RAMx3, max=RAMx6) Click on Set button. Click Okay your way out of it. 11/25/2007 04:25:28PM Agent (Ranjan_136179): 'The second step to perform is has following:' 11/25/2007 04:25:50PM Agent (Ranjan_136179): 'Delete Temporary Files Start - > Run '%temp%' Click 'OK' Delete all the files in the Temp Folder. Start - > Run 'prefetch' Click 'OK' Delete all the files in the prefetch Folder.' 11/25/2007 04:26:09PM Agent (Ranjan_136179): 'The third step is has following:' 11/25/2007 04:26:11PM Agent (Ranjan_136179): 'Start - > Run 'Regedit' HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout' Change the Value from 20000 to 200' 11/25/2007 04:26:23PM Agent (Ranjan_136179): 'The last step to perform is has following:' 11/25/2007 04:26:52PM Agent (Ranjan_136179): 'To clear the startup environment in the Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system, perform the following steps: 1. Click the Start button, and then click Run. The Run window appears. 2. Type msconfig in the Open: field, and then click the OK button. The S' ystem Configuration Utility window appears 3. Click the radio button for Selective Startup. 4. Click to deselect Process SYSTEM.INI File. 5. Click to deselect Process WIN.INI File. 6. Click to deselect Load Startup Items. 7. Click the Services tab. T he Services pane appears. 8. Click to select Hide All Microsoft Services. 9. Click the Disable All button. 10. Click the OK button. A restart request window appears. 11. Click the Yes button to restart the computer. ------------- UNinstalling Media Direct WORKED

Nigg · Answer

My keyboard now responds correctly having removed Mediadirect3, unfortunately I now have no DVD /CD play function other than record/copy. I believe that the reinstallation of Mediadirect3 requires removal of all data and a complete XP reinstall. Anybody have a better idea?

LatourEiffel · Answer

Holy cow!  I just realized that this posting is from 2007.  This is 2017.  This must be a different issue.  Let me know your thoughts...

LatourEiffel · Answer

I am having the exact same problem.  I tried everything with no improvement.  I see below that the culprit may be MediaDirect.  Should I uninstall this?  I have a Dell laptop that the software automatically updates, which I hate.  This problem has rendered my laptop unusable.

LatourEiffel · Answer

How do I uninstall MediaDirect with Windows 10?

rping54 · Answer

Saw your post and I am having the same issue. My issues started when I updated to the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. Even though Dell states that my Dell Inspiron 3541 is fully compatible with Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and IT IS NOT! This update slowed my system down to a crawl! Mouse jumps and skips across the screen when used and ALL programs are very very slow to open and use. And start up is a full 10 MINUTE deal now. I have updated windows and all dell drivers as needed at dell website. The Fall Creators Update also caused my Onedrive to ask me each time I booted which files I wanted to sync. Excel and Word would not open some files at all. I uninstalled my paid subscription Office 365 and reinstalled, not solving the problem. I reverted back to my previous Windows 10 version and still had all of the same problems. I did get Office to open all my Onedrive files work by uninstalling and reinstalling Office again. But the Laptop is still very very slow and frustrating.

i have not found anything on the web that relates to this. I am currently doing a clean install of Windows, deleting all else on the laptop, in hopes it solves my issue. If not I have the original factory back up and will install it and go from there.

Have you had any luck in finding a resolution?

Windows General

Extremely slow/delayed cursor response while typing

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