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Technical Help & Discussion => Windows PCs & Software: Help, News & Discussion => Topic started by: thegallery on May 20, 2003, 14:39

Title: System bogs down while searching
Post by: thegallery on May 20, 2003, 14:39
Everything is great on my system running Windows XP Pro Tablet PC edition. I've got 768mb Ram. But when I go to START and hit Search for a file, it bogs down to the slowest system I've ever seen. Nothing else seems to be effected at any other time. It starts the moment I activate a search. Even if I press stop or close the window it seems to take 5 minutes to respond. Any ideas on the cause? Thanks
Title: Re:System bogs down while searching
Post by: Sandra on May 20, 2003, 15:13
I just tried it on mine and cant get the effect that you describe.
The only thing that I can think of is how is your PC set up?
By that I mean how big is the drive that has your OS one?
Have you got enough spare for the page file for the VM ?
Title: Re:System bogs down while searching
Post by: thegallery on May 20, 2003, 15:33
it's a 20gig HD with at least 12gig free. I guess XP is handling the virtual memory. I do ocasional large image processing and don't have a problem either; I've only seen it while searching for files. I've had the machine just a couple weeks now, but I've been using it 18 hours a day!
Title: Re:System bogs down while searching
Post by: Sandra on May 20, 2003, 15:36
Do you have all the 20 gig set up as C drive then TG ?
Title: Re:System bogs down while searching
Post by: thegallery on May 20, 2003, 15:40
it says for C: 18.6 Gigs with 11G free, actually. I do't see any other partitioned drive, but I'm not sure how I'd find that anyway.
Title: Re:System bogs down while searching
Post by: Sandra on May 20, 2003, 15:48
If its a 20 gig drive that will be right TG as you lose a little due to formatting.

If you did want to see how your drives were partitioned and being used at any time,go to Administative Tools,ComputerManagement then Disk Management.That gives you the information and allows you to rename the drives amongst other stuff  :-*
Title: Re:System bogs down while searching
Post by: thegallery on May 20, 2003, 16:29
Thanks Sandra. I have looked a number of times for the "Scan Disk" but I guess Windows XP doesn't do that anymore, or has automated it?
Title: Re:System bogs down while searching
Post by: Adept on May 20, 2003, 16:44

Thanks Sandra. I have looked a number of times for the "Scan Disk" but I guess Windows XP doesn't do that anymore, or has automated it?


Hi thegallery. You can get XP's scandisk equivalent several ways. I usually right click the drive icon in explorer, choose properties, then choose check now from the tools tab.

I think you can also find the tools menu in the Computer Management | Disk Management properties.

You can also run the chkdsk command from a command prompt. The command chkdsk /? will display the options for you.
Title: Re:System bogs down while searching
Post by: thegallery on May 20, 2003, 17:11
thanks again, you all are on the ball! Say, any thoughts on my miniature keyboard question in hardware?
Title: Re:System bogs down while searching
Post by: Sandra on May 20, 2003, 17:25
Sorry TG I didnt really understand the question in the other thread  ???
I did think that I had seen a small keyboard the other day but it wasnt really a computer one,it was for easier text messaging on a mobile phone so I didnt think that you wanted something like that  :-*
Title: Re:System bogs down while searching
Post by: thegallery on May 20, 2003, 17:46
basically they make hundreds of keyboards for PDA's that are small. they have these thumboards, and fold away boards, but virtually nothing is USB or converterible to a PC. I want a minature keyboard for my PC, and the market seems empty. Anyway, sorry if I sounded confusing. I just can't find a miniature keyboard! LOL
Title: Re:System bogs down while searching
Post by: Adept on May 21, 2003, 13:32
thegallery, I wonder whether your problem may go away if you enable the Indexing service. This is supposed to use spare processor cycles to index the files on your computer, making the search function much quicker.

The Index Service isn't normally enabled because some people find it slows their PC down  ::)

You can enable Indexing by going to Start | Search | Change Preferences and choosing With Indexing Service. Choose the option Yes, enable Indexing service and press OK.

Your PC will then begin making an index of all the files on your PC, hopefully causing the searches to be faster.

If it doesn't work I'd recommend switching the Index service off again.