WinRAR/unzip program issues

My main computer recently had an interesting issue come up. When using WinRAR, the unpacking suddenly slowed to a very slow rate. Running a benchmark test, I am getting speeds of around 430kbs. searching online, i've found references to proper benchmarking speeds being over 1500kbs. I found out about this issue when a virus had ransacked a few programs and they had to be uninstalled and then reinstalled. Upon running the reinstall process and unpacking, programs that would normally be unzipped in a few minutes or less were now taking 15 or 20 minutes! what i've tried: - multiple unzipping/unpacking programs - uninstalling unpacking programs and reinstalling - have tried on small unzip files and on large unzip files *RESULTS: no change in unpacking speeds anybody have any clues as to what could be causing this issue?

Are you confident that you have successfully addressed the infection issue? Are you unpacking while downloading, or downloading first completely and then unpacking? Consider uninstalling and re-installing your WinRar utility.

yes, CatByte (admin on here) actually helped me with the viruses, clean bill of health from him. as stated in what i have tried, WinRAR was uninstalled and reinstalled - to no avail. as well as other unzip programs.

Have you set "Priority" in WinRaR? Options - Settings - General - uncheck "Low Priority" Note: Selecting Higher priority for WinRaR will slow other applications that may be running at the same time you are unpacking with WinRar.

C: is FIXED (NTFS) - 52 GiB total, 1.966 GiB free. <– I this your hard Drive ?

That ain't much free space, particularly if you are unpacking large files.
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What source are you unpacking from , and what destination?

for instance it will be faster from a hard drive to a hard drive, than from USB or CD to a hard drive.

It will be faster for internal Hard Drives and less so for external USB hard drives.

Is it possible that during this recent difficulty that your Hard Drive controller got set back to PIO, instead of DMA if available

This would be something to check if your Hard Drive is ATA IDE.
If it's SATA, then you wouldn't have PIO vs DMA options.
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Right Click on My Computer - Select Properties - Hardware(tab) - Device Manager(button)
scroll down to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers - press the + sign to expand the topic
Double-click on Primary IDE Channel — Should be set as DMA if available
Double-click on Secondary IDE Channel — Should be set as DMA if available

thanks for trying to help out Doug, appreciate it. winRAR is set for "multithreading" and low priority is unchecked. yes, that is my computer. it is pretty close to full… i usually have no less than 5 gigs free. how much free space do you recommend? this issue has been going on for over a month now, and the free space of the hard drive has ranged from almost 2 gigs to a little over 10 gigs, with the benchmark rate not changing. unpacking source and destination are always the main C: drive. nothing is ever unpacked over USB or CD. the hard drive is ATA IDE. here are the Primary and Secondary IDE Channel settings PRIMARY Device 0: - Device Type: Auto Detection (greyed out) - Transfer Mode: DMA if available - Currenct Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 5 Device 1: - Device Type: Auto Detection - Transfer Mode: DMA if available - Currenct Transfer Mode: Not Applicable SECONDARY Device 0: - Device Type: Auto Detection (greyed out) - Transfer Mode: DMA if available - Currenct Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 2 Device 1: - Device Type: Auto Detection - Transfer Mode: DMA if available - Currenct Transfer Mode: Not Applicable

OK, so much for the PIO idea.

But the FREE Space issue may be involved.
Particularly if you are handling large files.
The Drive can get pretty badly fragmented trying to find spaces to stash the unpacked pieces.

The general "rule of thumb" is to keep at least 25% of the Hard Drive as FREE Space. (at least for HD's of the size you have.)
It is much better to try to approach 50% for better performance.

Are you able to save any larger files off of your HD?, in order to get your FREE Space up to at least 25%. Obviously 25% is still pretty small at 12.5gb, so try to press as close to 50% as you are able.

Once you've cleared out at least 25%+ you may benefit from cleaning up that drive structure and file structure.
Run your native CHECKDISK to eliminate "bad-sectors" and corrupted-sectors.

To run the Hard Drive repair utility CHECKDISK, do the following:

Start - Run - (type)cmd - enter
At the blinking cursor (type)chkdsk /r

You will get a warning that CHECKDISK cannot run because files are in use.
OK. We knew that.
You will be invited to scheduel CHECKDISK to complete the next time you reboot your system.
Answer "y" for yes
Reboot your machine

During the Boot (startup) procedure, CHECKDISK will initiate a 5 part scan and repair routine.

I instructed for your to use the " /r " parameter instead of " /f " because " /r " includes " /f " plus it does an excellent job of attempting to recover any missing or corrupted sectors on the Hard Drive.

CHECKDISK can take a couple of hours or more depending upon the size of your Hard Drive.

After you have successfully completed CHECKDISK, your machine will reboot normally.
You don't have to do anything, ** and you should not touch the mouse, keyboard, or interrupt CHECKDISK.

Once you've completed CHKDSK, then reboot into SAFE Mode and perform a Disk Defrag, using your native Windows Defrag.
tool.

You may benefit from the above procedure as a routine about once every 6 months.

If you are regularly handling large files, you may benefit from performing the routine more frequently.

yeah, if only it were that simple! ok, i will try that out. its going to take a day or two to get that much space cleared up. i'll let you know how it goes.

Ooops. I should have mentioned that Windows native defrag won't defrag your paging file, and this "might" be contributing to your difficulty, particularly if it is set to be managed by Windows. You can set a fresh paging file, by selecting "No Paging file" and then reboot. Then set a fixed size paging file at 1.5 X the size of your physical RAM. Then reboot again. ______________________________ I should also have mentioned that System Restore points may be consuming as much as 12.5% or your hard drive and you can safely reduce that to an amount as close to 2048mb as possible, then reboot. ______________ Perform the above "before" you run CHKDSK and before you Defrag in SAFE Mode. If you do the above you will have set the stage for your best advantage. If you are still having difficulty with large files and WinRaR at that time, we can run another scan to look at performance and gather some additional information. Let us know how it's working for you. Best Regards

i checked the System Restore, it was set at 9%. Set it down to 4% (2073) and restarted the computer. The paging file size is custom set at: Initial Size: 900 Maximum Size: 1512 Under virual memory, it shows the total paging file size for all drives is 900mb (so the initial size then, correct?) my comp has 504mb RAM. so, should i change the initial size to 1512mb also, or leave it as it is? i've cleared up almost 19gigs on the harddrive, so over 35%. i'll run thru the CHKDSK and Defrag after hearing back from you on the paging file size.

You will do better, in my opinion with a fixed size paging file with minimum 1536 and maximum 1536. this is equal to 3 X your Physically installed RAM (You only show 504 because a portion of your Physical Ram is shared, probably in behalf of graphics. While we're on the topic, there is no better upgrade for any machine than an upgrade of RAM. Relatively inexpensive and easy to self install. Good work on reaching near 35% FREE Space!

yeah, more RAM would be a good idea. i really should do that! looking at what was taking up the bulk of my hard drive space, it was mostly music and photographs. new digital cameras are amazing, but the files can get pretty big! so i just moved the bulk of my pictures and music rarely listened to to an external backup drive. so, getting over 35% free space was easier than i expected! ok, went thru all the suggestions. (with all of the reboots) paging file - 1536mb CHKDSK ran on startup defrag run. RESULTS: benchmark test on WinRAR shows a speed of 466kb/s its improved, but only about 39kb/s. so this is helping, but there must be some other underlying issues…

Please Run the PCPitstop.com OverDrive Full Tests

Here's how:

You must use your Internet Explorer for this procedure. (doesn't work so well in Firefox or others)

Go to: http://www.pcpitstop.com
Click on "Free Computer Check-up" listed below PC Pitstop OverDrive
In the User Login - Click on "Sign up FREE!"
You'll need to submit a valid email address and create your own password, then click - Create Account(button)

Now enter your email address and password to Log in, Select - Scan this system Now!(button)
You will then be asked to download an ActiveX component and allow it to install.
It is safe and does not compromise your privacy.
Follow the on-screen prompts to install the ActiveX and to allow the Full Tests to be run on your machine.

The Full Tests take about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes on most machines.
When complete, a Results - Summary - Recommended Fixes will be displayed.

Please post the URL internet address from your Results, back here into this Topic Thread so that we can review the configuration and present performance levels of your machine.

Note: During the graphics 2D and graphics 3D testing, your screen will display some rapidly moving objects.
If you are sensitive to visual flashing, it may cause dizziness. Therefore, look away from the screen during that portion of the testing.

We'll be better informed about your machine's present performance levels and may be able to offer suggestions.

Best Regards