Perormance problems

[dcelovic]

Bought the VAIO VGN-FS195-XP with 1Gb memory in april (wanted it to be fast). A month later performance started degrading, especially when watching films from a DVD. After a while it became impossible to watch a film, even from the hard disk.
Recording a DVD, that would initially take 20 min, slowed down to 90 minutes!

I reinstalled the PC from scratch. For 2 days things were better.
Then my VAIO went to update itself on the net... and now:

Impossible to play music as sounds play slow.
Even the windows logon sound does not play properly.
Playing a film from a DVD is OK, but playing from the HD too slow!!!
Recording a DVD = 90min

I have a Toshiba laptop too, which is supposed to be slower, but is 5 times faster and never had such problems.

AAAARRRGH!!! Please help!!!!!!

[jammold]

God, the Sony update gremlin strikes again!

Try uninstalling eac update one by one until performance improves, otherwise if this is not possible, try going back to a basic configuration using your recovery disk(s), (remembering to make a full backup first before they are used).

Hopefully your configuration will be such that your computer's performance increases.

If the changes are very recent, you could try a System Restore or last known Good Configuration to elimate the possibility that it is something recent that causing your problem.

[tonybeard]

I don't want to tell Granma how to suck eggs but you do know about defragmentation yeah? If not and you are suffering simply from lossey or latency defragment your Vaio with everything disabled but the basics and do it over and over again until it defrags in about 30 seconds. This may improve things greatly. I defrag when installing and my system is lightning fast with just 512 meg of RAM

[feederfan]

Yer, you should defragment your hard drive. I got my VAIO back from repair wiped clean 2 days ago, and I uninstalled all the crap... so everything except windows.. then i updated it to SP2 and put the rest of the windows updates on, and after all that, i analyzed the drive using Disk Defragmenter and it came back as being 75% defragmented!
Ideally you should run a defrag every month, or 2 weeks if you use your vaio more.

[dcelovic]

Thanks for the replies. OK, i'll try the defrag, but I can't beleive that the disk can get defragmented only few days after a clean install...
I'll come back with news ;-(

[kee-lo_]

That sounds pretty bad.
I would try avoid the updates if your VAIO works

[Ash911]

I wouldnt defrag the HDD too often if I were you as it seriously impairs HDD life if overused. Perhaps every 6 months is sensible.

This problem sounds as though defrag is exacerbating the problem, but I dont think its causing it. The updates are when the problems start so logically the updates are the cause?

Freshly format the thing 'standing alone' i.e. no network interaction at all, and disable autoupdate and that stuff before putting it back on any network/internet.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

[robpaxton]

Use task manager to find out what application(s) are using the most resources when the slowdown occurs. The problem is probably not related to a fragmented disk unless you are low on disk space.

[feederfan]

defragging doesnt impair drive life! infact, it lengthens it, because it moves files into an order, so the drive does not have to spin at often, and therefore does not wear out as quickly. It is recommended by most IT professionals to defrag on a monthly basis.
Defragging the hard drive on my VAIO boosts performance massivley, and reduces the windows loading time by at least half.

[kee-lo_]

They say that on Executive Software's website too