Slow start and buggy performance with Windows Vista Ultimate 32 bit

Hello,

Well I did quite a few things last night with attempting to diagnose what is going on...

I started with a clean boot which resulted in an hour of waiting for the logon screen...then a bluescreen, restart and logon. 

Next, I did the sfc /scannow. It started and told me it would take awhile and then quickly said it couldn't continue b/c a repair was in process and to restart and try again. I did this 3 times with no success.

Finally, I started in safe mode today to remove a few programs (hopefully) and received an error that my installer is not correctly installed. I'm not sure when/how that could have happened. I guess it explains why nothing has downloaded/updated in the past few weeks.

I am patiently working with someone in support as well but don't get a response from him for 36hrs or so with each string...I have send him my msinfo32 info and am awaiting his reply.

I am tabling the SP1 install 1. because my installer doesn't work and 2. b/c if I installed it my original vista disc wouldn't work to do a repair install since it doesn't have the sp1.  That way, if a reinstall turns out to be only option - I still can.

Thanks for your ideas and help.

Hi,

I understand the issue was present when you installed AVG however AVG is likely to make the issue

worse as it is known to cause the same type of issues. If you remove the AVG try installing SP1 before

you add the Avast back.

Try downloading the updates and re-download SP1 and make sure its the correct version for your

system.

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Use the methods in the previous troubleshooters to try to correct the system issues.

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If needed try a InPlace Upgrade/Repair Installation which allows you to keep the programs and data

though redundant backups are always a good idea.

You can use another's DVD as they are not copy protected however you will need you own

Product Key. It has to be the same 32 or 64 BIT OEM version of Vista. Also the System

maker will usually sell the disk cheap since you already own Windows. Be sure to do a

good backup or 3 (safety in redundancy).

In-Place Upgrade

http://vistasupport.mvps.org/repair\_a\_vista\_installation\_using\_the\_upgrade\_option\_of\_the\_vista\_dvd.htm

This tells you how to access the System Recovery Options and/or from a Vista DVD

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/What-happened-to-the-Recovery-Console

How To Perform a Repair Installation For Vista

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html

Hope this helps.

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Rob Brown - Microsoft MVP - Windows Expert - Consumer : Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.

Thank you Rob.

Correct - AVG wasn't installed until well after my issues began. AVAST is no longer on my machine. AVAST was the only program installed when everything went south. I honestly don't believe it's the AV. I think my problem is with Vista. I don't get any of the buggy issues that viruses bring - this is strictly performance of Windows.

Thank you for the SP1 links. I have reviewed most of them before. I noticed that it stated SP1 would appear in my automatic updatesonly ifI had every necessary update it needed installed prior to it's release. I am wondering if there is a random update I still need before I can even install SP1. Considering my machine was custom made only about a month or two before SP1's release in March 08, I find it hard to believe my PC wasn't ready for it.

I looked back into my update history and noticed a few failed automatic updates - should I try to download these manually and attempt to reinstall? I am in a bit of a catch-22 b/c my standalone installer doesn't work either.

I will review many, if not all, of the links you provided tonight. I appreciate the information.

I am very tempted to reinstall windows and start over. This mystery/puzzle has been exhausting.

Christina

Hi,

These should help with the Service Pack 1 issues.

Service Pack Center

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/service-packs

How to obtain the latest Windows Vista service pack

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935791

How to troubleshoot Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 service pack installation issues

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947366

Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) frequently asked questions

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/959064/EN-US

What you should know before you install Service Pack 1

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936330

Hope this helps.

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Rob Brown - Microsoft MVP - Windows Expert - Consumer : Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.

Hi,

Keep Avast and ditch the AVG.

You are only running one antivirus right? More than one will interfere with each other and cause

strange issues. Added AVG has been causing a lot of issues lately so I would uninstall it and run

the AVG Removal Tool to prevent remnants which can also cause strange issues. If you have or

had others on the computer, even if uninstalled, check their makers' sites for Removal Tools or

for special instructions. Below are recommendations to use while testing, even better permanently.

AVG Removal Tools

http://www.avg.com/us-en/download-tools

List of anti-malware program cleanup/uninstall tools <- check this list and any makers's sites

for those you have ever had on the machine.

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/msestart/thread/407bf6da-c05d-4546-8788-0aa4c25a1f91/

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Here is what I use and recommend : (These are all Free versions and very effective.) 

Avast and Prevx have proven extremely reliable and compatible with everything I have

thrown at them. Microsoft Security Essentials and Prevx have also proven to be very

reliable and compatible. Use MSE and Prevx or Avast and Prevx however not all 3.

Avast Home Free - stop any shields you do not need except leave Standard, Web, and

Network running.

Prevx - Home - Free

Windows Firewall

Windows Defender (not needed if using MSE)

IE - Protected Mode

IE 8 - SmartScreen Filter ON  (IE 7 Phishing Filter)

I also have IE to always start with InPrivate Filter active if IE 8.

(You occasionally have to turn it temporarily off with the little Icon on LEFT of the + bottom

right of IE)

Two versions of Avast are available 5.x and 4.8x

Avast 5.x - Home - Free - Stop the Shields you do not use (except File, Web, Network, &

Behavior) - double click the Orange Icon in Notification Area - Real Time Shields - click the

Shield you want to stop - STOP. To stop the Orange Icon from showing an error indicator -

click the Orange Icon - Upper Right - Settings - click Status Bar - uncheck the Shields you

disabled - click OK

http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download

Avast 4.8x - Home - Free - stop any shields you do not need except leave Standard, Web,

and Network running. (Double Click Blue icon - details next to OK. - upper left Shields -

Terminate those you do not use.)

http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download#tab4

Or use Microsoft Security Essentials - Free

http://www.microsoft.com/Security\_Essentials/

Prevx works well along side Avast or MSE

Prevx - Home - Free small, fast, exceptional CLOUD protection, works with other security

programs. This is a scanner only, VERY EFFECTIVE, if it finds something come back here

or use Google to see how to remove. 

http://www.prevx.com/   <-- information

http://info.prevx.com/downloadcsi.asp  <-- download

PCmag - Prevx - Editor'a Choice

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346862,00.asp

Also get Malwarebytes - free - use as scanner only. If you ever suspect malware, and that

would be unsual with Avast and Prevx running except for an occasional low level cookie

(no big deal), UPDATE it and then run it as a scanner. I have many scanners and they

never find anything of note since I started using this setup.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

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Possibly checking the causes of the BlueScreens "might" help.

Check this thread for information using BlueScreenView, MyEventViewer and other methods

to troubleshoot BlueScreens - top 3 replies (+1 other).

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistarepair/thread/3deab2fa-4000-4136-8c78-a3d22b1db009

We can analyze the minidumps if you make them available from the SkyDrive or other file

sharing sites.

Zip or upload the contents of C:\Windows\minidump

Use SkyDrive to upload collected files

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproui/thread/4fc10639-02db-4665-993a-08d865088d65

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**Do these :**Start - type this in Search Box ->  COMMAND   find at top and RIGHT CLICK  -  RUN AS ADMIN

Enter this at the prompt - sfc /scannow

How to analyze the log file entries that the Microsoft Windows Resource Checker (SFC.exe) program

generates in Windows Vista cbs.log

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928228

Also run CheckDisk so we can rule out corruption as much as possible.

How to Run Check Disk at Startup in Vista

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67612-check-disk-chkdsk.html

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After the above :

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

How to troubleshoot performance issues in Windows Vista

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950685

Optimizing Microsoft Windows Vista Performance

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/959062

To see all that is loading bootup - wait a few minutes without doing anything - then Right Click

TaskBar - Task Manager - take a look at Appplications - Processes - Services - this is a quick

reference (if you have a little box on Lower Left - Show for All Users then check that).

How to Check and Change the Startup Programs in Vista

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/79612-startup-programs-enable-disable.html

A quick check to see which are loading is Method 2 there - using MSCONFIG then post a list of

those here.

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Tools that should help :

Process Explorer - Free - Find out what files, registry keys and other objects processes have open,

which DLLs they have loaded, and more. This uniquely powerful utility will even show you who owns

each process.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

Autoruns - Free - See what programs are configured to startup automatically when your system boots

and you login. Autoruns also shows you the full list of Registry and file locations where applications can

configure auto-start settings.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Process Monitor - Free - Monitor file system, Registry, process, thread and DLL activity in real-time.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

There are many excellent free tools at Sysinternals

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx

WhatsInStartUP - Free - This utility displays the list of all applications that are loaded automatically

when Windows starts up. For each application, the following information is displayed: Startup Type (Registry/Startup Folder), Command -Line String, Product Name, File Version, Company Name,

Location in the Registry or file system, and more. It allows you to easily disable or delete unwanted

programs that runs in your Windows startup.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/what\_run\_in\_startup.html

There are many excellent free tools at NirSoft

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/index.html

Window Watcher - Free - Do you know what's running on your computer? Maybe not. The Window

Watcher tells all, reporting every window created by every running program, whether the window

is visible or not.

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptwinwatch.asp

Many excellent free tools and an excellent newsletter at Karenware

http://www.karenware.com/

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Vista and Windows 7 love updated drivers so here is how to update the major ones.

This is my generic how to for proper driver updates :

This utility makes it easy to see which versions are loaded :

DriverView - Free - utility displays the list of all device drivers currently loaded on your system.

For each driver in the list, additional useful information is displayed: load address of the driver,

description, version, product name, company that created the driver, and more.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/driverview.html

For Drivers check System Maker as fallbacks and Device Maker's which are the most current.

Control Panel - Device Manager - Display Adapter - write down the make and complete model

of your video adapter - double click - Driver's tab - write down the version info. Now click UPdate

Driver (this may not do anything as MS is far behind certifying drivers) - then Right Click -

Uninstall - REBOOT this will refresh the driver stack.

Repeat that for Network - Network Card (NIC), Wifi, Sound, Mouse and Keyboard if 3rd party

with their own software and drivers and any other major device drivers you have.

Now go to System Maker's site (Dell, HP, Toshiba as examples) (as rollback) and then Device

Maker's site (Realtek, Intel, Nvidia, ATI as examples) and get their latest versions. (Look for

BIOS, Chipset and software updates at System Maker's site while there.)

Download - SAVE - go to where you put them - Right Click - RUN AD ADMIN - REBOOT after

each installation.

Always check in Device Manager - Drivers tab to be sure the version you are installing actually

shows up. This is because some drivers rollback before the latest is installed (sound drivers

particularly do this) so install a driver - reboot - check to be sure it is installed and repeat as

needed.

Repeat at Device Makers - BTW at Device Makers DO NOT RUN THEIR SCANNER - check

manually by model.

Manually look at manufacturer's sites for drivers - and Device Maker's sites.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/driverssupport/ht/driverdlmfgr.htm

How to Install a Device Driver in Vista Device Manager

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/193584-device-manager-install-driver.html

If you update drivers manually then it is a good idea to disable Driver Installations in Windows

Updates, this leaves Windows Updates ON however it will not install drivers which will usually be

older and cause issues. If Updates suggests a new driver then HIDE it (Right Click on it) and then

go look for new ones manually if you wish.

How To Disable Automatic Driver Installation In Windows Vista - Drivers

http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/how-to-disable-automatic-driver-installation-in-windows-vista/

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc730606(WS.10).aspx

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Refer to these threads for many more excellent tips however be sure to check your antivirus

programs, update major drivers and BIOS, and also troubleshoot with the cleanboot method

first.

Problems with overall system speed and performance

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/slow\_windows\_performance/en-us

Performance and Maintenance tips

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7performance/thread/19e5d6c3-bf07-49ac-a2fa-6718c988f125

Windows Explorer has stopped working

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7performance/thread/6ab02526-5071-4dcc-895f-d90202bad8b3

Hope these help.

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Rob Brown - Microsoft MVP - Windows Expert - Consumer : Bicycle - Mark Twain said it right.