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2 Intern
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381 Posts
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2416
May 16th, 2005 18:00
Programs S L O W to open after rebooting...
Dimension 4400- purchased 3 years ago- nearly to the day.
384 MB RAM
Win XP
Reformatted and reinstalled Windows XP 1 month ago.
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I reformatted and reinstalled WinXP because I was receiving numerous error messages- different every time- and the system was running slow. Prior to reformatting, I had tried all the fixes shown here and elsewhere.
Well, just about a week ago, it started doing something weird. Different from what it was doing before I reformatted, and even weirder. Right after I reboot, I usually open my journal up first. This is a Word document and the size is about 4 MB. And it opens just fine. And then I'll get online. That goes fine. And then I go to open my browser, Firefox, and it will not open. The hourglass is there for a moment and then disappears, leaving the plain cursor.
Any other program, be it Firefox or Internet Explorer or even Solitaire, will not open either. Same scenario; hourglass for a few seconds, then just the cursor again. After about 5 minutes(!), they open. If in my frustration I've clicked a number of programs, they'll all come up at once!
After that, things seem to go normally (until the next reboot), but I haven't the foggiest idea what could cause that! I've checked- of course- for viruses and spyware and anything in my start menu that doesn't belong and come up negative. I wish I knew what it was; it's incredibly annoying! The other thing about this weird
behavior is that it does not always do it… sometimes it's just fine right after I reboot... but it does seem to be happening more and more often.
It appears to be getting worse and happening more often, though. I've been timing exactly how long it takes to open something after I get online... The last time I rebooted I opened my journal… then got online… then tried to open Firefox. Once again the hourglass showed up briefly, then disappeared… It took 9 minutes by the clock for Firefox to open! One time it took 13 minutes. Could it be bad memory- or
could I maybe need more memory? I wish I knew. I am stumped.
It does this no matter what I open after rebooting. I mentioned my journal because I always open it first, but if I open anything else first, I can get online after that and then... the wait.
I don't *think* I did anything wrong with the reformat, and I think all the stuff they say to do to speed up your computer I've already done! I'm worried that something major bad is going wrong.
Does anyone have any ideas? Thank you in advance.
384 MB RAM
Win XP
Reformatted and reinstalled Windows XP 1 month ago.
--------------------------------------
I reformatted and reinstalled WinXP because I was receiving numerous error messages- different every time- and the system was running slow. Prior to reformatting, I had tried all the fixes shown here and elsewhere.
Well, just about a week ago, it started doing something weird. Different from what it was doing before I reformatted, and even weirder. Right after I reboot, I usually open my journal up first. This is a Word document and the size is about 4 MB. And it opens just fine. And then I'll get online. That goes fine. And then I go to open my browser, Firefox, and it will not open. The hourglass is there for a moment and then disappears, leaving the plain cursor.
Any other program, be it Firefox or Internet Explorer or even Solitaire, will not open either. Same scenario; hourglass for a few seconds, then just the cursor again. After about 5 minutes(!), they open. If in my frustration I've clicked a number of programs, they'll all come up at once!
After that, things seem to go normally (until the next reboot), but I haven't the foggiest idea what could cause that! I've checked- of course- for viruses and spyware and anything in my start menu that doesn't belong and come up negative. I wish I knew what it was; it's incredibly annoying! The other thing about this weird
behavior is that it does not always do it… sometimes it's just fine right after I reboot... but it does seem to be happening more and more often.
It appears to be getting worse and happening more often, though. I've been timing exactly how long it takes to open something after I get online... The last time I rebooted I opened my journal… then got online… then tried to open Firefox. Once again the hourglass showed up briefly, then disappeared… It took 9 minutes by the clock for Firefox to open! One time it took 13 minutes. Could it be bad memory- or
could I maybe need more memory? I wish I knew. I am stumped.
It does this no matter what I open after rebooting. I mentioned my journal because I always open it first, but if I open anything else first, I can get online after that and then... the wait.
I don't *think* I did anything wrong with the reformat, and I think all the stuff they say to do to speed up your computer I've already done! I'm worried that something major bad is going wrong.
Does anyone have any ideas? Thank you in advance.
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Julzie
2 Intern
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381 Posts
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May 17th, 2005 06:00
I am still wondering and looking all over for help! It's like there is no help to be found anyplace! And it's getting worse.
I've even thought of reformatting again… but then I wondered if there could be something wrong with my copy of WinXP that I got from Dell and used when I reformatted. My husband suggested that I reformat and go back to Win98 but I *really* don't want to do that. I LIKE WinXP and don't want to go back to 98! Then he said I should call Dell. Well, this computer is three years old. Dell won't give me the time of day!
osprey4
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34.2K Posts
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May 17th, 2005 10:00
Julzie
2 Intern
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381 Posts
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May 17th, 2005 12:00
Something else rather weird happened... I thought that it might- MIGHT- have something to do with my getting online. It always seems to happen- the delay- after I have gotten online. I got online again right after I rebooted, and then tried to open Firefox, and nothing happened again. I tried with a couple other things- solitaire and I think Paint Shop Pro… same thing. They would not open. And just to see, I disconnected from the internet... and then the programs popped up simultaneously!
And so I downloaded and installed a new V92 modem driver from the Dell website to replace the V90 driver that was part of Win XP and just installed after I reformatted. I doubted if that would make any difference, but at least I felt like I was doing something!
I did that at 5:27 this morning. And ever since I installed that new driver, I have NOT had that delay problem. I keep testing it and testing it.
I'll keep on doing so, of course, and I will probably need to reformat and all that again. It's much too early- not too mention entirely too optimistic- to think that the new modem driver may have fixed the problem, but I am starting to feel a teeny tiny glimmer of hope, like maybe if I just work on it long enough something will help.
Again, thanks!
Sorry so wordy here!
osprey4
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34.2K Posts
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May 17th, 2005 13:00