Long lasting startup

Kanopus · Post by **Kanopus** » 12 Jul 2008, 00:48

Since 2.51 I recognized that AS needs about 15-20 seconds for the first start. If I shut down AS and start it again, it's really fast, but the first start is quite annoying. I renamed the registry key "Altap" temporarily without success, the next start after reboot was also very slow. And it doesn't depend on the directories. When I leave AS, they are always very small.
I am using an Intel Quad Core with two hard drives running in Raid 0. Operating system is Windows XP Professional SP3. The system is very fast in all occasions except for this issue.
On the old computer I used AS V2.5 and on the new one I installed 2.51, so I cannot definitively say, if the problem is really caused by the new version of AS.
Any ideas?

Post by **Jan Rysavy** » 12 Jul 2008, 11:23

When you start one instance of Salamander, keep it running, and start second instance, is it slow too?

Altap Salamander 2.5 is still available on our FTP server so you can try it (install it to different directory):
ftp://ftp.altap.cz/pub/altap/salamand/as25f.exe

Kanopus · Post by **Kanopus** » 12 Jul 2008, 16:07

No, the second instance starts with normal speed. Seems that salamander reads something else besides the registry and directories in the panels, which is cached by the OS.

Edit: I tried V2.5 you mentioned, and this one starts normally. So it is in fact an issue of 2.51.

Post by **Jan Rysavy** » 12 Jul 2008, 22:14

Kanopus wrote:Edit: I tried V2.5 you mentioned, and this one starts normally. So it is in fact an issue of 2.51.

1) Did you restart Windows before testing AS 2.5?

2) When you start AS 2.5 first and then AS 2.51, does 2.51 wait?

What we are looking for is bug report from waiting instance 2.51. It could be generated using 2.5 (menu Help > Task List, the Break button), or using special small software I can provide. Please let me know if you could use AS 2.5 for break (my question 2). Otherwise I can send you the special software.

From the mentioned bug report we will see where it is waiting.

Another question: when you did try to start AS 2.51 without configuration (renamed ALTAP key in Registry), was the small progress window displayed during the start? Salamander is enumerating all plugins and saving configuration in this case. I assume you have no config.reg in the Salamander home directory? (It is automatically imported into registry during AS startup).

Kanopus · Post by **Kanopus** » 13 Jul 2008, 00:03

Yes, I rebooted Windows before starting salamander 2.5 to ensure it's the same basis. When I experienced that this version starts without delay, I closed 2.5 and started 2.51 without reboot, and here was again a delay.

I made the bug report with 2.5 as you proposed, but I am not sure if it will help. The 2.51 instance was not shown in the list (I pressed "Refresh" in short times) until it has finished startup after about 20 seconds. The file is about 500 lines long, I think that's to much to post it here as text, so I added it as an attachment. But maybe it's better you send me the tool you mentioned.

Yes, the progress windows was shown. Before that, I had to choose the language (I have the german lng file installed) and I selected english. Then I was asked to uninstall WinSCP and SelfExtracor, what I refused. Then the plugins were initialized. So this procedure needed naturally more time as usual. The delay was noticed after next reboot. I suspected some registry entries like history data or so, but that was obviously not the case.

You are right, I don't have a config.reg in the salamander directory.

BTW: I noticed very high disc activity when 2.51 is starting up. I currently downloaded the ProcessMonitor from Microsoft (I didn't know before that they also caught SysInternals

). I will inform you about the results in short.

SelfMan · Post by **SelfMan** » 13 Jul 2008, 02:04

If you have a antivirus installed (I hope you have), set the salamander executable or folder as excluded from scan.
As the program starts first time its scanned by the antivirus, which might be the cause of the delay.
The other thing can be a "Shortcut key" vs Explorer bug in windows.
A problem I am facing too. (Nicely described here http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=324831 )

Post by **Jan Rysavy** » 13 Jul 2008, 10:19

Kanopus wrote:I made the bug report with 2.5 as you proposed, but I am not sure if it will help. The 2.51 instance was not shown in the list (I pressed "Refresh" in short times) until it has finished startup after about 20 seconds.

Thank you! So it looks like Salamander is not running during these 20 seconds, because the first instance is not able to reach it.

How does it look like? You double-click the Salamander 2.51 shortcut and nothing happen for 20 seconds? Then the main Salamander windows is displayed? The bug report you attached is created after the delay?

Could you please check the Windows Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Escape), the Processes tab, during this time? Sort running processes using first Name column and check when the salamand.exe appears?

It is really strange problem you have, we are very curious...

Kanopus wrote:BTW: I noticed very high disc activity when 2.51 is starting up. I currently downloaded the ProcessMonitor from Microsoft (I didn't know before that they also caught SysInternals ). I will inform you about the results in short.

Fortunately Mark Russinovich (now Microsoft employee) is still doing what he does, including blogging about Sony rootkits

Kanopus · Post by **Kanopus** » 13 Jul 2008, 13:34

@SelfMan: Thanks, great idea - that's it! I am using AVG Free. Excluding the salamander directory didn't have an effect, so I turned off the resident shield. And now AS 2.51 starts without delay.
I didn't suspect the virus scanner, because no other programs are affected.
Of course it's still strange, mainly because AS 2.5 is not involved.

I will now look why excluding directories does not work in AVG, maybe I will change the virus scanner.

Jan, also to you great thanks for your good and quick support.

Kanopus · Post by **Kanopus** » 14 Jul 2008, 00:55

I found out now that disabling the option "Use Heuristics" in the AVG configuration under Tools/Advanced Options/Resident Shield solved the issue. Heuristic search seams to be a chink in AVG under unknown circumstances. Still mysterious why this only affects AS 2.51, but I hope this help other users who experienced this problem.

SelfMan · Post by **SelfMan** » 14 Jul 2008, 01:23

You are welcome...
Personaly I don't like AVG... to many problems in the past.

Post by **Jan Rysavy** » 14 Jul 2008, 09:35

SelfMan, thanks for your time and ideas!