| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Windows Vista - starting problem Thread poster: wonita (X)
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wonita (X)
China
Local time: 08:04
From time to time my Windows Vista needs ca. half an hour to get started.
I have deactivated the automatic updating feature of the system, but it did not help.
What else can I do to have the problem fixed? Can the PC be blocked by anti-virus softwares? I did not have the problem as I was working under Windows XP.
Each time when I have to wait for my PC to start, I want to smash my computer.
Thank you in advance.
| | | | Natalie 
Poland
Local time: 12:04
Member (2002)
English to Russian
+ ...
Moderator of this forum SITE LOCALIZER
anti-virus program do you have?
How is it updated - automatically, manually?
| | | | savaria (X)
Hungary
Local time: 12:04
English to Hungarian
+ ...
| Maybe your computer is not suitable | Sep 5, 2008 |
Maybe your computer is too week for this OS.Microsoft has been echoing for a while now that Vista(formely Longhorn) is only suitable for computers with at least 1 Gbyte RAM or above,and that it is recommended for extremely powerful computers. So it is definitely not for average,normal office desktops.
Can it not be the case that your computer is simply not suitable enough for this OS?
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Start > Run > msconfig > Startup Tab
Disable the programs you don't need at start. Reboot.
This should work.
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Marcelo Silveyra
United States
Local time: 04:04
Member (2007)
German to English
+ ...
| Several possibilities.... | Sep 6, 2008 |
I) First of all, and if you've never ever run it in the past:
Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
Run it on all your hard drives and, if you actually needed it, it'll boost performance a little bit.
II) Tadzio's suggestion is really good if you have a lot of unnecessary programs starting up when Windows is booting up. However, if you didn't have this problem with XP, chances are this won't fix it by itself.
III) Vista... See more I) First of all, and if you've never ever run it in the past:
Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter
Run it on all your hard drives and, if you actually needed it, it'll boost performance a little bit.
II) Tadzio's suggestion is really good if you have a lot of unnecessary programs starting up when Windows is booting up. However, if you didn't have this problem with XP, chances are this won't fix it by itself.
III) Vista is a horrible resource hog; I would not recommend running it on less than 3 GB of RAM - 4 GB if you can manage. If you're running the 32-bit version it'll only "see" 3.6 GB (the 64-bit version will see all 4 GB), but that's still a lot better than 3 GB. RAM is really cheap nowadays (make sure to install exactly the same type of RAM - brand and model - that you already have installed on your computer - also, make sure you have RAM slots available and that your motherboard can work with the extra RAM), so upgrading shouldn't be that bad. Increasing the amount of RAM on your computer can really work miracles, and it's a relatively cheap solution.
IV) It could be a virus or some type of malware, but unless the system is much slower than it used to be at first (and is consistently slow; not just when it starts up), I doubt it. As a general recommendation though: If you have Norton or McAffee as anti-virus programs, get rid of them as soon as your subscription runs out and get NOD32 (my personal favorite due to its low footprint) or Kaspersky (best detection out there on the market; at least the last time I checked) instead. Also make sure to get a couple of spyware detectors and to run them frequently (Spybot is free even if you're a freelance business, if I'm not mistaken, and it's actually pretty decent).
V) I don't know if this is still possible, since Microsoft stopped selling copies of Windows XP, but, in theory, you can always downgrade to Windows XP (not recommendable if you're a gamer playing Crysis, which I'm not, and I'm assuming you aren't either!). The way it works (roughly) is that you call Microsoft, tell them you're interested in downgrading, and give them your Vista product key, which they will change for an XP product key. However, you need an installation disc for the corresponding version of XP; Microsoft won't send you one! Also, once you downgrade, you can't simply go back to Vista. Finally, make sure that there are drivers for your system in XP; you don't want to downgrade only to find out that there are no drivers and be left with useless hardware! The driver issue is extremely important, so make sure to do some research on it.
VI) There are a lot more solutions and tips out there, but I think that, provided your processor is advanced enough to run Vista capably, these are probably the easiest ones to implement without knowing a lot about computers. I personally have Vista on only one of my systems (my work desktop has XP on it for a number of reasons, my wife's laptop has XP on it, and I run Linux (Ubuntu) on all the other computers in my house), and, although it has a few nice features in comparison to XP, it's business as usual for Microsoft (i.e., shoddy programming, outstanding marketing, and absolutely unethical and unacceptable business practices - all from the man who's trying to sell "creative capitalism" to the world....then again, that's the business model for many other "reputable" consumer brands like Bose...).
VII) Don't try using registry cleaners...it's easy to mess things up with them.
[Edited at 2008-09-06 13:54] ▲ Collapse
| | | | JPW (X)
Local time: 11:04
Spanish to English
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| My experience | Sep 6, 2008 |
Marcelo you gave good clear advice there but I wanted to make a couple of points:
Firstly, I run Vista with 2GB of RAM (HDD = 360GB) and mine works absolutely fine - slowness or 'resource hogging' does not seem to be an issue; I am talking about a desktop PC of course - perhaps it is different for laptops? On startup, for example, about 2 minutes and you're up and running.
Secondly, about the downgrading from Vista to XP - yes it is possible, but it depends on which ... See more Marcelo you gave good clear advice there but I wanted to make a couple of points:
Firstly, I run Vista with 2GB of RAM (HDD = 360GB) and mine works absolutely fine - slowness or 'resource hogging' does not seem to be an issue; I am talking about a desktop PC of course - perhaps it is different for laptops? On startup, for example, about 2 minutes and you're up and running.
Secondly, about the downgrading from Vista to XP - yes it is possible, but it depends on which version you buy: it's only available with certain editions of Vista:
To the vast bulk of users, though, 'downgrade' is a synonym for reverting to an older version. In that case, it simply means dumping Vista and returning to XP.
So, what downgrades does Microsoft allow? Owners of the OEM editions of Vista Business and Vista Ultimate can downgrade to Windows XP Professional, including Tablet PC Edition and x64 Edition. Only the OEM editions qualify for a downgrade, so if you purchased a new PC with either Business or Ultimate preinstalled, you're in luck.
Those who aren't: all users of Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium, and anyone who upgraded to Vista using a retail edition of any of the operating system's SKUs.
The rest of the article quoted above, including how to downgrade, is here:
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=10930
Most people seem to go for the Home Premium version, in which case a downgrade is not possible.
The public in general seem to be slow in taking up Vista but if I remember correctly, the same was true for XP - Windows 2000 was hugely popular and nobody wanted to change over to XP. Now the same is happening with Vista.
I think the downgrade option is far too convoluted unless you really really want to run XP, and I would try to find out why the system is running too slowly, there must be a simpler reason for it. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Marcelo Silveyra
United States
Local time: 04:04
Member (2007)
German to English
+ ...
| Good points, John | Sep 6, 2008 |
John Paul Weir wrote:
Firstly, I run Vista with 2GB of RAM (HDD = 360GB) and mine works absolutely fine - slowness or 'resource hogging' does not seem to be an issue; I am talking about a desktop PC of course - perhaps it is different for laptops? On startup, for example, about 2 minutes and you're up and running.
Strictly (really strictly) speaking, it's not different for laptops. The difference would stem from things such as the speed of the hard drive (I use a 10,000 rpm hard drive on my work desktop for the operating system and the programs I use, and the difference is noticeable), the microprocessor, the motherboard, etc., which do tend to be different for laptops (hence the "really strictly"). It could even be the programs she's using, and, like I said, Tadzio's suggestion was excellent. However, for all we know, Bin Tiede's computer only has 1 GB of RAM or less, in which case upgrading to 3 GB or 4 GB, given the price difference, would make more sense than upgrading to 2 GB (this is all purely speculative, of course) - I was simply assuming (perhaps wrongly, I admit) that she had 1 GB of RAM or less.
As for slowness and resource hogging - you're right, 2 GB should be enough to run a normal setup smoothly in the vast majority of cases, but the operating system is still a total resource hog. Look at the HD space the thing takes up to start off with. Secondly, remember that XP takes 128 KB of RAM to run and 256 KB to run well in most cases. Compare that with the minimum 1 GB for Home Premium, not to mention the required upgrade (like your 2 GB) if you're dealing with more memory-intensive tasks, and Vista turns out to be quite the resource hog for today's standard consumer computers, especially since it's an operating system!
John Paul Weir wrote:
Most people seem to go for the Home Premium version, in which case a downgrade is not possible.
Oops, I didn't know that. Thanks for bringing it up!
The public in general seem to be slow in taking up Vista but if I remember correctly, the same was true for XP - Windows 2000 was hugely popular and nobody wanted to change over to XP. Now the same is happening with Vista.
This is my personal opinion, of course, but there's a big difference. While XP did require more resources than 2000, the system requirements weren't that out of proportion with the hardware that was - relatively speaking - affordable at the time, and the hardware was required for a lot of new software coming out anyway. Vista's requirements are simply ludicrous and out of touch with most users' needs nowadays - especially when it comes to businesses. I don't think Vista was a bad idea in itself - it was just poorly executed, and the nice new features really don't warrant the kind of system requirements that the operating system needs. For what it's worth, I couldn't care less about the Apple vs. Microsoft vs. Linux thing, and have actually defended Vista numerous times when people accuse it of compatibility problems that don't exist in the first place (mainly because that type of false information is not useful to anyone, especially when buying new, expensive versions of software you already have can be avoided!). But I do think, for a good number of reasons, that Microsoft in general thinks in terms of marketing and bullying business practices first, and efficiency, security, and good coding second.
| | | | Marcelo Silveyra
United States
Local time: 04:04
Member (2007)
German to English
+ ...
| Just one more thing... | Sep 6, 2008 |
Actually, never mind about getting 4 GB of RAM. Turns out that I was wrong and that 32-bit versions of Vista limit available memory to 3.12 GB (not 3.6), so getting 4 would be a waste of .88GB (88% of that extra GB)!
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| clear USB ports | Sep 6, 2008 |
This may not make sense to anyone out there, and computer wizzes might smile at my answer, but I’ll give it a shot anyway.
I have the same system, and have had trouble starting up. So much that it would crash, needed re-booting, repairs, the whole shebang.
For sake of comparison, let me give you an insight in my desktop settings.
I have Norton Antivirus 2008 on my machine, and I won’t say it hasn’t caused problems in the past, but recently it seems to work ok.
Apa... See more This may not make sense to anyone out there, and computer wizzes might smile at my answer, but I’ll give it a shot anyway.
I have the same system, and have had trouble starting up. So much that it would crash, needed re-booting, repairs, the whole shebang.
For sake of comparison, let me give you an insight in my desktop settings.
I have Norton Antivirus 2008 on my machine, and I won’t say it hasn’t caused problems in the past, but recently it seems to work ok.
Apart from the usual MS software and SDL Trados I don’t have an awful lot on my machine (no games, no memory consuming backgrounds or screen savers, etc.)
Since I’m not hindered by huge knowledge of hardware or software, most settings are on default. Automatic updates are ON, firewall is ON, etc.
I work with a wireless modem (I live in the hills and have no phone line, cable, satellite, but I do have a mast on a couple of hundred yards, so luckily most of the time I get a signal).
What worked for me was to unplug the wireless and any memory stick from the USB ports before shutting down, and before starting up again.
Ever since (I say this with great caution) my PC starts without problems. ▲ Collapse
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Marcelo Silveyra wrote:
Actually, never mind about getting 4 GB of RAM. Turns out that I was wrong and that 32-bit versions of Vista limit available memory to 3.12 GB (not 3.6), so getting 4 would be a waste of .88GB (88% of that extra GB)!
That's interesting, when I was shopping for my new laptop earlier this year, I was told that it was 2 GB max for 32 bits, I even considered 64 bits for a while, but decided against it. In the end, my Vista computer is doing just fine and running faster on 2GB than my old XP computer with 1024...
| | | | wonita (X)
China
Local time: 08:04
TOPIC STARTER | Thank you for your response! | Sep 11, 2008 |
I've done the following:
* uninstall avera, my anti-spam software
* deactivate all programs I don't need to start
It seems to work, but unstable. I will turn to a technician for help over the weekend.
Thanks again!
Bin
| | | | | How memory do you have? | Sep 11, 2008 |
Hi Bin. To me this looks like a lot of paging from the memory to disk, caused by Vista's memory footprint and the physical memory you have. How much physical RAM do you have?
I have 4 GB in my Vista machine and it starts up rather quickly.
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| Tadzio, you are a "monstruo" | Sep 11, 2008 |
Tadzio Carvallo wrote:
Start > Run > msconfig > Startup Tab
Disable the programs you don't need at start. Reboot.
This should work.
Smashing advice! I have disabled a couple of things myself. Like the Acrobat Reader Updater, for instance. Why do they use our computer without telling us??
| | | | wonita (X)
China
Local time: 08:04
TOPIC STARTER | 2GB, I think | Sep 11, 2008 |
Tomás Cano Binder wrote:
Hi Bin. To me this looks like a lot of paging from the memory to disk, caused by Vista's memory footprint and the physical memory you have. How much physical RAM do you have?
I have 4 GB in my Vista machine and it starts up rather quickly.
I changed the antivirus to Kaspersky a few days ago. Since then the PC has shut down abruptly several times while running. There seems to be a conflict between firewall and antivirus.
Before my PC crashes, I'd better stop my awkward attemp to fix any problem.
Bin
| | | | | Good experience with NOD 32 | Sep 11, 2008 |
I can only tell about our experience with ESET's NOD 32. Smashing performance, absolute no hassle to the user, and no conflict at all with Vista. I sincerely recommend it. I promise I am not a NOD 32 distributor! 
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