Stopping window lag via blocking constant INI file writes

aChallenged1 · Post by **aChallenged1** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:07 am

FireFox is quite nice and is my standard browser. IE only gets used when FF won't allow MSNBC news videos to play. LOL

Fluffy · Post by **Fluffy** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:06 pm

mackster wrote:I thought it was just me that had this problem. I'm not running anti virus software when I play EQ, but I still get this. It's a minor annoyance but it sure sucks when you want to swap out gear in a hurry.

Well the first thing you need to understand your a having a File IO issue. To fix this or find out what the problem is the first thing you need to do is find out and make sure you are running in optimal configuration for your hardware...

Under XP right click on My Computer click on Properties go to device manager then click on Policies.. Make sure Enable write caching is enabled. If it is not that was a cause for your problem as you are not utilitizing your write cache..

Then if that is on the next thing you need to check is your drive speed. And FileIO..

The next thing you need to check is to make sure that your CDROM is not plugged in before your Hard Drive on your computer. Alot of people dont understand what Step Down is on an IDE controller. It paces the speed of all devices stepped down based on the device plugged in front of the next device.

To summurize you should not have delays on writing to an ini for almost any reason. If you are it is not EQ that is the problem it is a hardware configuration problem or a hardware problem. And considering that you are not running an MFM drive.. And if you are then you REALLY need to upgrade. But since your not then you have to assume you have something misconfigured somewhere.

If you are using Linux using Wine and having this problem. Double check your DMA is set to 1 to enable it.

I hope this helps.

Ziggy · Post by **Ziggy** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 8:12 pm

No no.. read what I said..

It's fixed. It was the virus scanner. Thanks for the input, but it's not broken now. There's no IO problems. My hard drive is not about to implode. Nor is my configuration set to ZX81.

:)

aChallenged1 · Post by **aChallenged1** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 9:56 pm

Having had the exact same issue, that's why I gave the advice I gave about the AV. I'm glad it was helpful.

mackster · Post by **mackster** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:47 am

I thought I wasn't running AVG, but it turns out it was on the process list and that was the root of the problem. I just uninstalled the AVG program, it was annoying me anyway. Thanks for the big post though, heh.

Cr4zyb4rd · Post by **Cr4zyb4rd** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 5:29 am

It's amazing how something you didn't know you were running was annoying to you. I wish all of the annoyances in my life were unknown to me

dedpoet · Post by **dedpoet** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 10:19 am

You know, this was exactly my problem too. I also have AVG installed. If you kill the program, it doesn't really end, it leaves some process running and somehow I missed it when going through my process list. Turning off document scanning as suggested or completely removing the program works. I'm so glad to have this issue solved, you don't even know...

As an IT manager I could get killed for saying this, but I agree with an above post - if you're diligent about your sytem, use Firefox, use a good spyware software, keep your registry clean, and are not a moron, you generally don't even need virus software. My systems are always pristine - no fragmentation, no lingering registry keys, no popups, no spyware, no unnecessary services or processes, optimized swap files, no tray icons, etc. I'm actually anal about it. I also don't keep anything sensitive or valuable on my gaming systems. If SuperUltraVirusWorm.C snuck into my system and zeroed my hard drive, I'd reload my OS, copy EQ over from another box, replace my INI files that I keep backed up, install a few apps, and I'd be back in 2 hours. I've been in the industry for 10 years and playing with computers for almost twice that, and have yet to have a virus. It's all about playing it smart.

My users, however, they get all updates as soon as they're published...

RedManCommeth · Post by **RedManCommeth** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:48 am

Never had a virus either myself but have had to clean viruses out of my my Father, Sister, and Fiancee's machines at least once each.

The Fiancee is scariest as her machine is inside my firewall. (Shudder!) She also thought the Bonzi Monkey was cute too!

RMC

guy · Post by **guy** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 12:36 pm

I still scan my computer with avg about once or twice a month, but that doesn't mean I need to have it running in the background all the time.

jebantik · Post by **jebantik** » Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:27 pm

A great set of tools for finding out what is going on in your system can be found at sysinternals.com, two of my favorites in particular FileMon, Handle. I use these sometimes to find out what weird stuff is happening with files.