Dell Dimension 4550 "lag"

[Deskstar]

OK, my new Dell Dimension 4550 (bought during a recent Hot Deals super sale) P4 2.66 c1 chip, 1GB memory, 7,200 rpm 60gb hard drive, ATI 9700tx video, 17" Hyundai LCD with DVI connection, Logitech optical mouse. Win XP Home set to "performance" level (no eye candy), etc has a distinctive "lag" of about 1 second between the time that I click on an icon and the time the program starts and a similar "lag" when I close any application. Hard drive has been defragged. Oh, I also deleted the Windows XP update that others said was slowing down their systems. Also I tried disabling the McAfee antivirus program, but no change. Still a 1 second lag even when Word is closing a document. First the document closes, then the application. Odd.

Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas as to where to even start to troubleshoot this issue?

 

[Deskstar]

ttt

 

[Tom]

Do you know if the Windows XP update 811493 has been installed by you or automatically ? You can see by looking in the control panel/add remove programs list.

Discussion about 811493 xp patch

edit- I have a 4550 and I don't experience the lag you describe so I can tell you it isn't normal.

 

[Steve Guilliot]

Just a guess, but besides McAfee, you haven't disabled any of the million "diagnostic" and "utility" apps that come with pre-bundled systems?

My recommendation:

format c:

LOL, seriously, check our your network settings. Office and Windows in general are very network dependent. They will lock up a system while looking for network resources. Do you have any mapped netword drives? Are you running a protocol in addition to TCP/IP? If so, is the binding order set correctly? Are you using a "hosts" file with incorrect entries? Is the office file local or remote? If it's remote, do you have name resolution set correctly?

Steve