Opening right clicked windows is taking forever? What gives?

[mccoy178]

When I right click a window on my cabinet or open any xp window for that matter, it takes a long time to show up and the computer slows down.  It takes about 3 seconds for a right clicked window to open when it should be instantaneous.  Also, I ran -listxml for .119 through a command window and it took almost an hour.  Any ideas as to what could cause this?  All programs run at full speed with no issues.  It's just the xp part that is acting weird.

[mccoy178]

Bump since I completely changed the thread.

[patrickl]

Probably a problem with one of the shell extentions.

:edit:  You could try NirSift ShellExView. There is a link on that site that shows a step by step how to see where the problem comes from.

Not sure how that could delay opening regular windows though.

[mccoy178]

Quote from: boykster 

have you checked the memory usage and pagefile size/usage when it's slow?  Is it better after a reboot, but gets gradually worse, or is it always bad? 

It's always slow.  Also, the memory is way low too.  That is what is confusing.  The only possible thing I can think of that I did during the time I noticed it was slow was install the keywiz 2.0 software.  Since then I've deleted and reinstalled it, but no change.  So, again, I think that it is something that occurs all the time, i.e. nothing obvious that I open causes it, and it only effects xp windows such as right clicking and the start menu.  Left clicking like opening one folder to the next is unaffected.  I also noticed that clrmame pro would run very fast on its own, but with the torrent program open, it was slowed way down.  But again, nothing is showing as far as resources being hogged.

Probably a problem with one of the shell extentions.

:edit:  You could try NirSift ShellExView. There is a link on that site that shows a step by step how to see where the problem comes from.

Not sure how that could delay opening regular windows though.

Thanks for the tip.  I tried it and didn't see any improvement although it sounded like that those would cause exactly what I'm experiencing.  I attached the above from another forum to provide more info.  Thanks again patrickl.

[patrickl]

I've had something similar after installing some drivers for an MP3 player IIRC. Can you go back to a saved state?

You might also try cleaning your temp directory.

I also had problems with a network drive that didn't exist (anymore) it would block my Save File Dialogs for a minute or so. It's all so frustrating when it suddenly stops working for no apparent reason.

[ratzz]

Try opening task manager (ctrl, alt, del) and see if anything is eating resources.

Could also be a graphics driver issue.

[Avrus]

Finally, a question I can answer.   

How many processes are you showing running in an idle state?
How much free RAM?
When you right click is there excessive hard drive thrashing or just a delay?

It could be (in order of likelyhood):
Too many processes running.
Virus.
Bad hard drive cable.
Hard drive failing.
Heat problem.
Bad RAM.
Bad motherboard.

[mccoy178]

It was the video driver.  I have an ATI Radeon 9600 series video card.  I uninstalled the driver and now I can't find one from their website that works.  I'm using xp and have an AMD 64 2.2ghz processor.  I can get the lcd to work like normal, but the component is no go.   It makes no sense why out of the blue it would start acting so weird.

[headkaze]

When you uninstall the driver (including the Catalyst control panel) reboot your machine. Then when it boots up cancel the prompts when it tries to install them automatically. Then run the Catalyst setup installer. Maybe if you give a bit more info other than "I can't find one from their website that works" might help. Selecting the Catalyst driver for XP / Radeon / Radeon 9600 series should be the correct one.

Another small thing to note, when browsing large folders of zipped files, Windows actually looks inside each zip. This will take a long time on a full Mame set. You can actually unregister XP's built in zip file management to speed things up. But you should install something like 7Zip or WinRar in it's place. I recommend the free 7Zip.

To unregister XP's built in zip management select Start->Run and type

Code: [Select]

regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll
By the way a simple defrag might improve performance a bit. I've seen the slow right-click problem before, in fact I've had it myself and it wasn't the video card. Patrickl might be on the money about the shell extensions.

[Rabbi Bob]

Selecting the Catalyst driver for XP / Radeon / Radeon 9600 series should be the correct one.

In case for some reason you weren't finding the place to go to:  http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html
Select the appropriate hierarchy as HeadKaze pointed out should get you what you need.

[mccoy178]

Thanks fellas.  I did go there and installed the catalyst, but it created a slower environment than before.  I seemed to remember there was an ATI driver that gave similar control as powerstrip as far as configuring component outputs. 

aybe if you give a bit more info other than "I can't find one from their website that works" might help. Selecting the Catalyst driver for XP / Radeon / Radeon 9600 series should be the correct one.

I guess I'm not sure what other information I could provide.

[gonzo90017]

Start by installing Startup Control Panel http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml then look for "Ati2evxx" or "Atievxx" and uncheck it to disable it, reboot and see if that solves your problem.