Topic: Microsoft Download Updates Performance Slower

[ArtM]

1) I recently let the Nicrosoft downloads upload Windows XP Pro.

Now my server runs like a turtle!! Markedly Slower.

This is maddening. Anyone else experience this with relatively recent MS updates? Any suggestions on how to restore performance?

2) Anyone have a good set of tips on how to run Windows XP Pro for optimal Apache performance?

- Art

[James Blond]

Normaly you can uninstall the Downloads. If not, use the restore point from a day before. Make sure that you won't loose any nesseary data.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084/

How to tune Windows up? well, every PC Freak will tell you something different. For myself I installed Windows XP with SP 1, made the Update from CD to SP 2, than disabled updates. But, I have an application protection software. So there are no security hole. Not sure if that is good without the app protection. But the best tuning is RAM. Since I have more than 1 GB RAM, Windows run better. Since I have 2 GB, I never had preformance Problems.

[Jorge]

[Steffen]

Virus scanners can also slow down. Good practice is to exclude scanning your webspace. I use NOD32, that is a lightening fast scanner.

Steffen

[HobbyTech]

2 other Fast Antivirus Programs:

1. Avast! Antivirus
   
2. AVG Antivirus

Avast! is the fastest of those I've tried (assuming Windows and you want GUI software). It even recently caught spyware on my computer, too. AVG has won numerous awards, and it's pretty fast, too. I think Avast! is not so well-known, because I have never seen it reviewed.

Also, maybe a little OT, but my favorite firewall of all I tried is ZoneAlarm which also has a few extra features (like preventing eBay password from being stolen, etc.). It is fast and easy to set up, and it recently was the only firewall in PC World's July review to stop 100% of traffic in each of 3 tests.

Note that most combo-packages don't do so well on either Firewall or Antivirus.

All the above software is free.

If you don't want something to hog your resources, don't use Norton/Symantec software...but most people here probably already know that.

Actually, I recently installed 2GB RAM in my Win-Doze computer, so it's pretty fast, but I make a point to use those products that have a good design, and eventually, I'll go for the pro version on some for some of the extra features. Thank God for people who make free software...I don't know where I'd be right now with my computers without them (lotsa stuff happened the last couple years).

[Steffen]

Interesting:

"Programs that throw many exceptions run significantly slower on a Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)-based computer" at
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;919490&sd=rss&spid=6794

[ArtM]

A few more clues.

I have James tip about putting a sound clip at the end of the page running on the server.

When I access a page I immediately hear the sound clip. BUT the page then takes several seconds more to display. Its like the Apache-PHP sequence is operating at the speed of light; but the output of bytes back to the client on the Internet is the slowpoke!

While my server is far from modern, it used to return pages MUCH faster - until I let MS do the Updates.

Wonder if they throttled TCP/IP speed/size in some way in one of the updates?

I don't run Antivirus programs in real time; so thats not a factor.

[pnllan]

To my knowledge, Microsoft has NOT 're-formulated' the IP stack in Windows XP. The systems I run are maintained to an up-to-date status, and I have experienced what you are talking about. I have seen an earlier version of Apache do this, and the person who corrected the issue reloaded Apache. In a similiar instance, we found that the PC running Apache had a bad IO chip. Once we replaced the board, Apache ran fine on that PC.

Have you tried Restoring to a point before the Update occurred to see if you can regain performance lost after the Update?

Also, inspect what Processes are running in TaskMan.
..
.

[James Blond]