On 02 Mar 17  18:46:00, Mike Powell said the following to All:   
      
   MP> Good evening,   
   MP> Are there any tips or tricks one would suggest when looking over a Windows   
   MP> machine when the owner (not you) thinks it is "running slow"?   
      
   I wrote a very detailed reply to you in MIN_COMP on Micronet about this.   
      
   No matter what suggestions you read here, the only "proper" way to    
   troubleshoot a slow Windows computer is to correctly identify and isolate what   
   service, application or process is causing the slowness. Task manager and    
   Resource Manager are the two to start with. HijackThis 1.99 comes second, to    
   isolate services loaded on startup. Find the slowness and isolate it.   
      
   NEVER EVER just randomly throw things at it in hopes it will fix it. "Good"   
   technicians fix Windows problems *properly*. They do not just try a bunch of    
   things in hoping and praying it will work.   
      
   I wrote on Micronet about never, EVER defragmenting a customers computer.    
   There is a reason why which I did not explain; which fits into this rant about   
   not just throwing random things at a problem.   
      
   Very rarely do customer computers need defragmenting. This is a common    
   misconception going back to the days of FAT32 file systems and Windows 95.    
   Truth is... the NTFS file system is very reslient and efficient, and unless a    
   computer's file system has been neglected for years will this EVER be a    
   noticable improvement. Take it from someone running a BBS on Windows for close   
   to two DECADES... a BBS that constantly tosses mail packets, many read/writes    
   on an NTFS volume.   
      
   Before investigating performance issues relating to the hard drive, or    
   contemplating a defragment, you should run a SMART test on the customer's hard   
   drive to ensure it can even *survive* any more disk-intensive operation.   
      
   In most cases, the customer has not backed up files... backups? What are    
   those? So, determine with SpaceMonger the breakdown of the disk usage. If its    
   reasonable, lets say, 50 to 100 gigabyte, then use Drive Snapshot to conduct a   
   complete image of the customer's system to an external USB drive. The time    
   spent waiting for the snapshot set to complete can be used to upsell the    
   customer on your services or make idle chit-chat over coffee... your choice.   
      
   If you are charging billable time, the customer will almost always agree to   
   have a working complete disk snapshot. It sells itself. If the customer   
   needs to re-install; they do NOT have to re-install Windows but rather just   
   recover using the snapshot set created.   
      
   I do NOT believe in re-installing Windows except in the most severe cases    
   because you will NEVER hear the end of it from the customer. They will nag    
   you incessently over "wheres this", "wheres that" after reinstalling Windows    
   and in some cases, the computer is back to square one months later, after all   
   your messing around because the slowness was not fixed properly the 1st time.   
      
   The last thing you EVER want is that customer coming back over and over again    
   with the same computer, same problem, etc... harassing you, nagging,    
   demanding work for free, etc etc... "Good" technicians fix things right the   
   first time so they are not "married" to that customer's machine later.   
      
   Nick   
      
   --- Renegade vY2Ka2   
    * Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)