Hangs when opening file

[ctb291]

Hello,
Can a power supply that is not large enough cause my XP equipped computer to hang for 20-30 seconds when opening any kind of file?
The same thing happens when I right click on a file....even a text file.
However, folders open instantly. So do programs like Firefox, Word, Internet Explorer, Adobe Acrobat.

The hang happens when attempting to open an existing file in MS Word, MS Windows Picture & Fax viewer, Wordpad, Acrobat etc.
I am running 2 PNY GeForce video cards powering 3 monitors, and I believe my power supply is 350 watts.

 

[rozz]

I never heard a PSU causing slow downs before, only lockup and random shut downs. You might want to check your HDD though. Sound likes you could have some bad sectors. Run a chkdsk on the HDD, see what you come up with.

If nothing comes up, might want to look into defragging your HDD if you havent done it recently.

Also, how much RAM you have in your computer? i'm hoping more than 512 😉

 

[ctb291]

I have 2 gb of RAM in my computer.

I just ran chksdk 3 times from Windows.
I get this message:

WARNING! F parameter not specified.
Running chkdsk in read-only status.

Each time I run it it deletes numerous index entries, then closes.

How many time should I run it before work is complete?

 

[rozz]

try doing chkdsk /f /r c:

it may take an hour or so to finish 😉

 

[ctb291]

Thanks rozz! I have moved to my other computer while running chkdsk. I will report back in the hour.

ctb

 

[ctb291]

I have run chkdsk as you suggested. Some entries were repaired.
However, after having run & rebooted the problem remains unchanged.

 

[rozz]

If you dont mind, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event View > Windows Logs > Applications. See if you see any Errors at the time of opening up some of those files..

Can you give me a more detailed list of programs this issue hangs on besides MS office documents. Also, Where is the location of these files.. Are you on a secondary HDD?

 

[pjmelect]

I think that you may have two problems, right clicking on a file taking a long time often occurs when you have a large number of programs installed with entries in the context menu and some programs are notorious for causing this
.
Files taking a long time to load could be caused by your anti-virus program (try removing it) or even having two anti-virus programs running.

 

[ctb291]

Hmmm. When I double-clicked on Event Viewer it took 20-30 seconds to open! Just like the other files.

I have run defrag four times today and rebooted each time, coming quite close to a perfectly ordered hard drive. There were a couple of "Application Errors" earlier today, but, nothing is added to the list for the delays I am experiencing now (no new error events show up upon refreshing)

As to the list of programs, here are the most commonly opened file types:

.doc, .jpg, .txt, .pdf, from Word, Notepad, Windows Picture & Fax viewer utility, Adobe Acrobat. It also happens when I double click a music file (.mp3) or video file (.wmv, .mpeg)

As to locations of files: Some are on C drive, some are on secondary drive, some are across the ethernet cable in another computer. I don't think location matters in this case, only because, all locations experience a 20-30 second hang, and, there used to be no delay regardless of location after a C drive re-format and re-install. After a few months from the re-format, the problem resurfaced.

If I re-formatted and re-installed today, the problem would be gone. But, I can't bear to do it again and every 4 to 6 months hereafter!

 

[ctb291]

Please tell me more about this context menu entries angle!

(I do not run anti-virus software. Perhaps unwise, but I rely on prudent browsing, trusted sites and the increase in performance I get from not having it)

As I said to rozz in mt previous post, my workhorses are:

".doc, .jpg, .txt, .pdf, from Word, Notepad, Windows Picture & Fax viewer utility, Adobe Acrobat. It also happens when I double click a music file (.mp3) or video file (.wmv, .mpeg) "

 

[pjmelect]

Some program such as ISO Buster slows down the right click dramatically the more items that you have in the context menu the slower it becomes. I suggest the use of a program such as ShellExView to remove entries from the context menu to speed things up. You can even disable temporarily all non Microsoft menu items to see the difference. You can download the program and read a tutorial at this link.

http://www.watchingthenet.com/how-to-fix-slow-right-click-problems-in-windows.html

 

[ctb291]

Thank you pjmelect!

Sorry for the long time before my response, but, I was away on the weekend and then the hurricane knocked out my power until today.

I have done as you have instructed. I have disabled every context menu handler in my system simultaneously except for the ones that warn me:

"The shell extensions of shell32.dll are a part of the operating system and disabling them may lead to a system that cannot boot properly. Do you want to disable them anyway?

Yes No"

Unfortunately, the problem remains, both in right-click and, in double click mode.

Might you or anyone else have any additional suggestions?
Thanks!

 

[pjmelect]

My only other suggestion is to use system internals (now part of Microsoft) file monitoring routine to see what is going on.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645