Computer is slooooowing down.....

Jumpshot724 · Post by **Jumpshot724** » 12 Jun 2009, 04:51

Ok so, my computer is a Laptop (Dell XPS M1710) and I've noticed it sloooowing dooooown pretty dramatically. Like, in MSFS I used to have the display/etc sliders all the way to max, no problem, now it's starting to get worse and worse slideshow wise, even after lowering them a bunch.

I haven't added anything MSFS wise, and even cleaned up my harddrive and un-installed some stuff, defragged etc.

Any tips for getting my speed back?? Or is this just age related....????

MIKE JG · Post by **MIKE JG** » 12 Jun 2009, 05:00

Shouldn't be too much age related once you are in game. My 2002 model Gateway is showing its age but not really in game, only when I try to open large folders, etc during normal use.

Is there something running in the background that you don't know about? Check your Windows Task Manager and see what's hogging the most resources (other than FS9).

Are you running real time weather by chance, I know that will slow things down every time it updates.

Jumpshot724 · Post by **Jumpshot724** » 12 Jun 2009, 05:04

Yes I run real time weather, like I said I haven't done ANYTHING different from when it was working fine....except now I've lowered the sliders in an attempt to get better performance.

I'll try the task manager thing and report back

msm8378 · Post by **msm8378** » 12 Jun 2009, 14:12

Joe...

When you cleaned up the Hard Drive, did you use just the programs that Microsoft Windows gives you or do you have 3d party software?

I use the free versions of Auslogics Disk Defrag and Registry Cleaner to keep my system running smooth...

www.auslogics.com

Mat

Post by **campbeme** » 12 Jun 2009, 15:05

Hey Joe,

Is your laptop slow from the minute you turn it on, or does it slow down the longer it is on? If it slows down gradually over the time you are using MSFS then it could be you CPU is getting a tad hot. May be worth checking your fans and also how much dust your machine has consumed and not blown back out.

I had the above symptoms with my old VAIO RIP. In my case it was that I had maxed out the RAM and my fan could no longer cope with the extra heat being made. I fixed the problem by buying a 17inch laptop cooler.

Mark

Jumpshot724 · Post by **Jumpshot724** » 12 Jun 2009, 15:23

I use the default MS programs

My computer does get quite hot, but I do have a laptop cooler fan thing underneath it. It's warm when I'm doing nothing like right now just on IE, but using MSFS it gets pretty darn hot.

scottr5213 · Post by **scottr5213** » 13 Jun 2009, 11:25

When a laptop is in use they will get hot due to CPU usage, the higher the demand the harder the cpu has to work, and when they do get hot the built in logic will slow itself down for protection. You can try this.

1. Get yourself a can of compressed air.
2. Get a small paper clip and insert it between the fan blades to lock the fan from spinning.
3. give it a nice shot of compressed air - be prepared for a dust cloud
4. Repeat 2 and 3 for each fan
5. repeat step 2 and give a good shot to the exhaust area.

Post by **campbeme** » 13 Jun 2009, 17:40

Step 5 sounds like it might hurt a little.....LOL

Mark

Jumpshot724 · Post by **Jumpshot724** » 14 Jun 2009, 04:44

Is there something running in the background that you don't know about? Check your Windows Task Manager and see what's hogging the most resources (other than FS9).

Are you running real time weather by chance, I know that will slow things down every time it updates.

Ok, I did that. The biggest ones are:

fs9.exe Joseph W 331,752k
PcCtlCom.exe System 136,684k
tmproxy.exe System 51,760k
svchost.exe System 40,060k
iexplore.exe Joseph W 50,804k
explorer.exe Joseph W 13,356k

1. Get yourself a can of compressed air.
2. Get a small paper clip and insert it between the fan blades to lock the fan from spinning.
3. give it a nice shot of compressed air - be prepared for a dust cloud
4. Repeat 2 and 3 for each fan
5. repeat step 2 and give a good shot to the exhaust area.

Wouldn't it be easier to shut the comp off so I don't chip the fans jamming a paperclip in there lol??

Step 5 sounds like it might hurt a little.....LOL

Ouch!!

Jumpshot724 · Post by **Jumpshot724** » 15 Jun 2009, 14:49

....anyone??

Post by **Firebird** » 15 Jun 2009, 15:53

We can't see the full list there, Joe. Plus the most useful thing is really ordering the list by cpu time.

What you really need to do is check that you have a clean system. Use something like CCleaner to clear out unwanted files and registry entries. De-install programs you don't use any more, use Revo Uninstaller to ensure all registries are removed at the same time.
Then use Ad-Aware and Spybot to check your system for spyware.
Once that has been done then defrag your HD(s).

The simple truth is that the more you have installed the slower your pc will be, for various reasons.

As for the spyware a colleague of mine complained that his pc was so slow and that neither he, his wife or his his daughter could access the internet any more. When he said that his son was fine, and that he was under parental guidance restriction it clicked.
After running Ad-aware and Spybot he found 2,500 adaware cookies and 350+ spybots. Basically they took all his bandwidth and cpu power. Once they were cleared he noticed about a 50% increase in speed and the internet problem had disappeared. Running a virus checker on its own is not enough.

That's the blueprint but from your first post you said you have done most of it.
Of course you also said that you haven't added any FS addons but you have have. Every additional AI bgl you add or increase in size if you use only one WILL slow down FS9. On loading there is now more scenery to take care of, there is more traffic to keep track of and generate.

Post by **Weescotty** » 15 Jun 2009, 16:51

Thats a LOT of processes running.

Go here -

http://www.blackviper.com/

Will tell you what you can safely do without.

I don't trust any of those PC cleaners.
Nothing cleans a PC up better than a clean install.

Did a qick google on -
tmproxy.exe and pcctlcom.exe - Both are related to Trust anti virus, so your AV software is using close to 200mb of memory on its own!!!!

scottr5213 · Post by **scottr5213** » 15 Jun 2009, 20:33

I would dump tmproxy.exe, it is accociated with PC-cillin antivirus software which I have found to suck, also you have multi virus protection software in your system which can be harmful as on some applications one will cancel out the other or think one is a virus when its not.