This morning:
9:10 start from standby
9:12 mouse movement and clicks start working.
9:13 display gets resized
9:15 resize done
(yes: resizing on my ThinkPad takes at least 1 minutes, circa 2)
9:16 Outlook is now visible, although it is not responding to clicks.
Apparently it is archiving email
9:17 Today's calendar is visible
9:20 Internet Explorer windows still framed, but blank inside the frame
9:21 I have finally been able to read my first email on Outlook.
However, disposing of it and moving on the the next email still takes a very
long time.
9:23 I regret making the mistake of clicking on a link in a piece of Outlook email.
Now both Outlook and Internet Explorer are hung.
9:33 Finally, Internet Explorer display the link that I clicked on 10 minutes ago.
Bottom line:
7 minutes to where I can look at my calendar
11 minutes to where I could read my first email.
23 minutes to where I can actually process email that involves web.links
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
More slowness at startup
Yesterday, Tuesday:
8:28 start from Standby
8:30 Outlook visible, but blocked - not accepting input, etc.
8:35 able to change Windows in Outlook, can see calendar, but can't do email yet
8:38 Outlook says it is archiving folders
8:39 still getting hourglass
8:42 able to read email
Bottom line: 14 minutes from start, to reading email.
8:28 start from Standby
8:30 Outlook visible, but blocked - not accepting input, etc.
8:35 able to change Windows in Outlook, can see calendar, but can't do email yet
8:38 Outlook says it is archiving folders
8:39 still getting hourglass
8:42 able to read email
Bottom line: 14 minutes from start, to reading email.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Slow Monday Morning
I complain constantly and profusely about how slow the computer is that IT forces me to use.
(I don't complain so much about my personal computers, which are faster to begin with, and less weighed down by IT software.)
This morning is a particularly bad example:
8:32 - start trying to use computer.
But this is a particularly bad slow day: (a) I reinstalled IT's BESclient, so as to allow me to try to upgrade some software, installing the missing Microsoft Equation Editor; and (b) when I went to bed last night at 1am I started up IT's backup tool, Connected TLM, which was still running.
Although I hit the "cancel" button on the backup in progress, after 8 minutes it had not even accepted the keypress so I went further:
8:40 - requested a "Restart" of the OS
circa 8:45 - the actual reboot started, after stopping all pending processes
8:53 - the reboot had progressed to the point where I could see the digital clock on the status bar
8:55 - my screen was resized by the reboot, to reflect my docking station configuration
8:56 - Outlook started
9:00 - I can finally see my Outlook calendar!!!
9:04 - I can finally see the first piece of email in my Outlook Inbox.
One way of looking at this is that it took 32 minutes from the time I decided to start using my computer, to the time I could do anything with it.
(I don't complain so much about my personal computers, which are faster to begin with, and less weighed down by IT software.)
This morning is a particularly bad example:
8:32 - start trying to use computer.
But this is a particularly bad slow day: (a) I reinstalled IT's BESclient, so as to allow me to try to upgrade some software, installing the missing Microsoft Equation Editor; and (b) when I went to bed last night at 1am I started up IT's backup tool, Connected TLM, which was still running.
Although I hit the "cancel" button on the backup in progress, after 8 minutes it had not even accepted the keypress so I went further:
8:40 - requested a "Restart" of the OS
circa 8:45 - the actual reboot started, after stopping all pending processes
8:53 - the reboot had progressed to the point where I could see the digital clock on the status bar
8:55 - my screen was resized by the reboot, to reflect my docking station configuration
8:56 - Outlook started
9:00 - I can finally see my Outlook calendar!!!
9:04 - I can finally see the first piece of email in my Outlook Inbox.
One way of looking at this is that it took 32 minutes from the time I decided to start using my computer, to the time I could do anything with it.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Slow laptop
I just submitted this problem report to IT's ServiceDesk web application. Not once, but three times, because of problems with the problem reporting system. Thank goodness I had cut and paste my problem report to a file. The problem reporting system has so many problems itself.
This is just bitching. But, it has happened before that somebody outside my company has seen such a post, and solved my problem, when internal IT is of no help.
===
My laptop is slow. This is true in general, but especially in one specific circumstance: starting up after it has been in standby for an extended period of time, e.g. overnight.
This sort of problem seems to be shared by many people, but it seems to be especially bad for me. This can be indicated anecdotally: I often pair program with people, and we have to wait while my laptop powers up. They turn to me, and say things like "Wow, your laptop is slow." Then they suggest that the problem may be that I have too little DRAM, or too slow a processor, or ... But we have never found a configuration option that we can tune that improves things significantly.
At the moment, the leading candidates, suggested by "expert" PC performance tuners (people whose job it is to make PCs run faster) are:
a) that I have too little DRAM. Although I have 1GB of DRAM, it has been suggested that I request an upgrade to 1.5 or 2GB, because I use my laptop more extensively than most people, running visual studio for large compiles, etc.
I would like to officially request such a memory upgrade.
b) that my disks are too slow. Some folks have suggested that I request a disk upgrade from 5400 to 7200 rpm. Another person, the most expert, has suggested that the problem may be that my disk has a lot of bad blocks. Certainly, during these slow periods, the disk is cranking, audibly constantly seeking - a characterostic of bad block remapping.
I would like to officially request that somebody in IT provide me with PC diagnostic software that can query the disk controller, and see how often such bad block remappings are being done. Note that this is controller level software; OS level software reports "bad blocks", but most physical bad block remappings are hidden by the disk controller hardware. If you, whoever is in IT reading this, do not understand what I just said, please escalate to someone who does.
And, yes, by the way: I have repeatedly run IT diagnostics, and have not found the problem.
Let me provide some data. In the last few days, I have recorded the time I started my computer, and the time at which I could use Outlook to read email. These sample times are:
8:39 - 8:46 - 9 minutes
8:46 - 8:55 - 9 minutes
8:37 - 8:50 - 13 minutes
8:04 - 8:11 - 7 minutes
9:06 - 9:20 - 14 minutes
8:05 - 8:17 - 12 minutes
Such delays do not just occur in the morning after being idle overnight. They sometimes occur during the day, e.g. when I have an hour between meetings. 12 minutes of startup time is a significant fraction of an hour, and makes it very difficult to get things done.
Moreover, getting from start to Outlook is not the whole story. The computer often remains slow for 5-10 more minutes, with the disk cranking away. I have used "start to Outlook" as a measure because it is an objective measure, but it is an understimate of the period of slowness.
The disk is, as I have mentioned, cranking away madly during the period of slowness. It is not always possible to run Task Manager to see what is going on (e.g. Task manager sometimes takes sevceral minutes to start), but when I have been able to I have often observed virus scanning in progress. Similarly, I have also often observed IT tools such as BESclient. In fact, BESclient was so often associated with delays of much worse duraytion - 15-30 minutes - that I completely disabled it (as reported in earlier servicedesk requests). I am reluctant, however, to disable virus scanning, because of IT chargeback policies.
I suspect that the problem may be caused by virus scanning or other periodic tasks all starting up after a period of idleness; possibly related to invalidation or timeout of in-DRAM caches of file blocks.
The paranoid part of me fears that my laptop may be controlled by malware, or possibly by company installed spyware. But, that's paranoid.
---
To be honest, I do not expect IT to do anything useful, to hekp me, with this problem report.
I am making this problem report mainly so that nobody in IT can say that I have not reported the problem. I have repeatedly reported the problem over the past year or so, but could not find it in the problem database, probably because of changes in the problem reporting system.
As usual, there is no problem reporting category that this seems to fall under. So I choose something as close as possible: Computing/Notebook/Docking Station.
---
I am reluctant to spend many hours on the phone or in chat sessions with IT HelpDesk personnel trying to fix this. I have wasted many hours in such conversations in the past, usually to no avail. (Although I must admit that the last time I interacted with the IT ServiceDesk, they actually solved my problem quickly and competently - kudos on that.)
I am completely willing to leave my laptop with IT service people, so that they can try to reproduce and solve this performance problem themselves. However, I would need a loaner PC, ideally with an image made of my current disk, so that I can continue to work.
Actually, that would be a good test: image copy my disk, and install the new disk in a new loaner PC, and see if the slowness continues. If not, it suggests a problem with the old isk, such as bad block remappings. If it were possible to try the extra DRAM, even if only temporarily in a loaner PC...
---
I typed this in twice, but the ServiceDesk web application lost what I had typed: so now I have placed the problem report in an attached file. Please read it.
Also, the service desk web application refuses to accept such detailed problem reports.
This is just bitching. But, it has happened before that somebody outside my company has seen such a post, and solved my problem, when internal IT is of no help.
===
My laptop is slow. This is true in general, but especially in one specific circumstance: starting up after it has been in standby for an extended period of time, e.g. overnight.
This sort of problem seems to be shared by many people, but it seems to be especially bad for me. This can be indicated anecdotally: I often pair program with people, and we have to wait while my laptop powers up. They turn to me, and say things like "Wow, your laptop is slow." Then they suggest that the problem may be that I have too little DRAM, or too slow a processor, or ... But we have never found a configuration option that we can tune that improves things significantly.
At the moment, the leading candidates, suggested by "expert" PC performance tuners (people whose job it is to make PCs run faster) are:
a) that I have too little DRAM. Although I have 1GB of DRAM, it has been suggested that I request an upgrade to 1.5 or 2GB, because I use my laptop more extensively than most people, running visual studio for large compiles, etc.
I would like to officially request such a memory upgrade.
b) that my disks are too slow. Some folks have suggested that I request a disk upgrade from 5400 to 7200 rpm. Another person, the most expert, has suggested that the problem may be that my disk has a lot of bad blocks. Certainly, during these slow periods, the disk is cranking, audibly constantly seeking - a characterostic of bad block remapping.
I would like to officially request that somebody in IT provide me with PC diagnostic software that can query the disk controller, and see how often such bad block remappings are being done. Note that this is controller level software; OS level software reports "bad blocks", but most physical bad block remappings are hidden by the disk controller hardware. If you, whoever is in IT reading this, do not understand what I just said, please escalate to someone who does.
And, yes, by the way: I have repeatedly run IT diagnostics, and have not found the problem.
Let me provide some data. In the last few days, I have recorded the time I started my computer, and the time at which I could use Outlook to read email. These sample times are:
8:39 - 8:46 - 9 minutes
8:46 - 8:55 - 9 minutes
8:37 - 8:50 - 13 minutes
8:04 - 8:11 - 7 minutes
9:06 - 9:20 - 14 minutes
8:05 - 8:17 - 12 minutes
Such delays do not just occur in the morning after being idle overnight. They sometimes occur during the day, e.g. when I have an hour between meetings. 12 minutes of startup time is a significant fraction of an hour, and makes it very difficult to get things done.
Moreover, getting from start to Outlook is not the whole story. The computer often remains slow for 5-10 more minutes, with the disk cranking away. I have used "start to Outlook" as a measure because it is an objective measure, but it is an understimate of the period of slowness.
The disk is, as I have mentioned, cranking away madly during the period of slowness. It is not always possible to run Task Manager to see what is going on (e.g. Task manager sometimes takes sevceral minutes to start), but when I have been able to I have often observed virus scanning in progress. Similarly, I have also often observed IT tools such as BESclient. In fact, BESclient was so often associated with delays of much worse duraytion - 15-30 minutes - that I completely disabled it (as reported in earlier servicedesk requests). I am reluctant, however, to disable virus scanning, because of IT chargeback policies.
I suspect that the problem may be caused by virus scanning or other periodic tasks all starting up after a period of idleness; possibly related to invalidation or timeout of in-DRAM caches of file blocks.
The paranoid part of me fears that my laptop may be controlled by malware, or possibly by company installed spyware. But, that's paranoid.
---
To be honest, I do not expect IT to do anything useful, to hekp me, with this problem report.
I am making this problem report mainly so that nobody in IT can say that I have not reported the problem. I have repeatedly reported the problem over the past year or so, but could not find it in the problem database, probably because of changes in the problem reporting system.
As usual, there is no problem reporting category that this seems to fall under. So I choose something as close as possible: Computing/Notebook/Docking Station.
---
I am reluctant to spend many hours on the phone or in chat sessions with IT HelpDesk personnel trying to fix this. I have wasted many hours in such conversations in the past, usually to no avail. (Although I must admit that the last time I interacted with the IT ServiceDesk, they actually solved my problem quickly and competently - kudos on that.)
I am completely willing to leave my laptop with IT service people, so that they can try to reproduce and solve this performance problem themselves. However, I would need a loaner PC, ideally with an image made of my current disk, so that I can continue to work.
Actually, that would be a good test: image copy my disk, and install the new disk in a new loaner PC, and see if the slowness continues. If not, it suggests a problem with the old isk, such as bad block remappings. If it were possible to try the extra DRAM, even if only temporarily in a loaner PC...
---
I typed this in twice, but the ServiceDesk web application lost what I had typed: so now I have placed the problem report in an attached file. Please read it.
Also, the service desk web application refuses to accept such detailed problem reports.
Problem report about slow laptop
Here is a problem report I just submitted to company IT. Not once, but three times, because of problems with their problem reporting tool. Thank goodness I had cut and paste my problem report to a file. The problem reporting system is so unreliable.
This is just bitching. But there's a chance some web.lurker outside my company may be able to help solve my problem.
===
My laptop is slow. This is true in general, but especially in one specific circumstance: starting up after it has been in standby for an extended period of time, e.g. overnight.
This sort of problem seems to be shared by many people, but it seems to be especially bad for me. This can be indicated anecdotally: I often pair program with people, and we have to wait while my laptop powers up. They turn to me, and say things like "Wow, your laptop is slow." Then they suggest that the problem may be that I have too little DRAM, or too slow a processor, or ... But we have never found a configuration option that we can tune that improves things significantly.
At the moment, the leading candidates, suggested by "expert" PC performance tuners (people at my employer whose job it is to make PCs run faster) are:
a) that I have too little DRAM. Although I have 1GB of DRAM, it has been suggested that I request an upgrade to 1.5 or 2GB, because I use my laptop more extensively than most people, running visual studio for large compiles, etc.
I would like to officially request such a memory upgrade.
b) that my disks are too slow. Some folks have suggested that I request a disk upgrade from 5400 to 7200 rpm. Another person, the most expert, has suggested that the problem may be that my disk has a lot of bad blocks. Certainly, during these slow periods, the disk is cranking, audibly constantly seeking - a characterostic of bad block remapping.
I would like to officially request that somebody in IT provide me with PC diagnostic software that can query the disk controller, and see how often such bad block remappings are being done. Note that this is controller level software; OS level software reports "bad blocks", but most physical bad block remappings are hidden by the disk controller hardware. If you, whoever is in IT reading this, do not understand what I just said, please escalate to someone who does.
And, yes, by the way: I have repeatedly run IT diagnostics, and have not found the problem.
Let me provide some data. In the last few days, I have recorded the time I started my computer, and the time at which I could use Outlook to read email. These sample times are:
8:39 - 8:46 - 9 minutes
8:46 - 8:55 - 9 minutes
8:37 - 8:50 - 13 minutes
8:04 - 8:11 - 7 minutes
9:06 - 9:20 - 14 minutes
8:05 - 8:17 - 12 minutes
Such delays do not just occur in the morning after being idle overnight. They sometimes occur during the day, e.g. when I have an hour between meetings. 12 minutes of startup time is a significant fraction of an hour, and makes it very difficult to get things done.
Moreover, getting from start to Outlook is not the whole story. The computer often remains slow for 5-10 more minutes, with the disk cranking away. I have used "start to Outlook" as a measure because it is an objective measure, but it is an understimate of the period of slowness.
The disk is, as I have mentioned, cranking away madly during the period of slowness. It is not always possible to run Task Manager to see what is going on (e.g. Task manager sometimes takes sevceral minutes to start), but when I have been able to I have often observed virus scanning in progress. Similarly, I have also often observed IT tools such as BESclient. In fact, BESclient was so often associated with delays of much worse duration - 15-30 minutes - that I completely disabled it (as reported in earlier servicedesk requests). I am reluctant, however, to disable virus scanning, because of IT chargeback policies.
I suspect that the problem may be caused by virus scanning or other periodic tasks all starting up after a period of idleness; possibly related to invalidation or timeout of in-DRAM caches of file blocks.
The paranoid part of me fears that my laptop may be controlled by malware, or possibly by company installed spyware. But, that's paranoid.
---
To be honest, I do not expect IT to do anything useful, to hekp me, with this problem report.
I am making this problem report mainly so that nobody in IT can say that I have not reported the problem. I have repeatedly reported the problem over the past year or so, but could not find it in the problem database, probably because of changes in the problem reporting system.
As usual, there is no problem reporting category that this seems to fall under. So I choose something as close as possible: Computing/Notebook/Docking Station.
---
I am reluctant to spend many hours on the phone or in chat sessions with IT HelpDesk personnel trying to fix this. I have wasted many hours in such conversations in the past, usually to no avail. (Although I must admit that the last time I interacted with the IT ServiceDesk, they actually solved my problem quickly and competently - kudos on that.)
I am completely willing to leave my laptop with IT service people, so that they can try to reproduce and solve this performance problem themselves. However, I would need a loaner PC, ideally with an image made of my current disk, so that I can continue to work.
Actually, that would be a good test: image copy my disk, and install the new disk in a new loaner PC, and see if the slowness continues. If not, it suggests a problem with the old disk, such as bad block remappings. If it were possible to try the extra DRAM, even if only temporarily in a loaner PC...
---
I typed this in twice, but the ServiceDesk web application lost what I had typed: so now I have placed the problem report in an attached file. Please read it.
Also, the service desk web application refuses to accept such detailed problem reports.
This is just bitching. But there's a chance some web.lurker outside my company may be able to help solve my problem.
===
My laptop is slow. This is true in general, but especially in one specific circumstance: starting up after it has been in standby for an extended period of time, e.g. overnight.
This sort of problem seems to be shared by many people, but it seems to be especially bad for me. This can be indicated anecdotally: I often pair program with people, and we have to wait while my laptop powers up. They turn to me, and say things like "Wow, your laptop is slow." Then they suggest that the problem may be that I have too little DRAM, or too slow a processor, or ... But we have never found a configuration option that we can tune that improves things significantly.
At the moment, the leading candidates, suggested by "expert" PC performance tuners (people at my employer whose job it is to make PCs run faster) are:
a) that I have too little DRAM. Although I have 1GB of DRAM, it has been suggested that I request an upgrade to 1.5 or 2GB, because I use my laptop more extensively than most people, running visual studio for large compiles, etc.
I would like to officially request such a memory upgrade.
b) that my disks are too slow. Some folks have suggested that I request a disk upgrade from 5400 to 7200 rpm. Another person, the most expert, has suggested that the problem may be that my disk has a lot of bad blocks. Certainly, during these slow periods, the disk is cranking, audibly constantly seeking - a characterostic of bad block remapping.
I would like to officially request that somebody in IT provide me with PC diagnostic software that can query the disk controller, and see how often such bad block remappings are being done. Note that this is controller level software; OS level software reports "bad blocks", but most physical bad block remappings are hidden by the disk controller hardware. If you, whoever is in IT reading this, do not understand what I just said, please escalate to someone who does.
And, yes, by the way: I have repeatedly run IT diagnostics, and have not found the problem.
Let me provide some data. In the last few days, I have recorded the time I started my computer, and the time at which I could use Outlook to read email. These sample times are:
8:39 - 8:46 - 9 minutes
8:46 - 8:55 - 9 minutes
8:37 - 8:50 - 13 minutes
8:04 - 8:11 - 7 minutes
9:06 - 9:20 - 14 minutes
8:05 - 8:17 - 12 minutes
Such delays do not just occur in the morning after being idle overnight. They sometimes occur during the day, e.g. when I have an hour between meetings. 12 minutes of startup time is a significant fraction of an hour, and makes it very difficult to get things done.
Moreover, getting from start to Outlook is not the whole story. The computer often remains slow for 5-10 more minutes, with the disk cranking away. I have used "start to Outlook" as a measure because it is an objective measure, but it is an understimate of the period of slowness.
The disk is, as I have mentioned, cranking away madly during the period of slowness. It is not always possible to run Task Manager to see what is going on (e.g. Task manager sometimes takes sevceral minutes to start), but when I have been able to I have often observed virus scanning in progress. Similarly, I have also often observed IT tools such as BESclient. In fact, BESclient was so often associated with delays of much worse duration - 15-30 minutes - that I completely disabled it (as reported in earlier servicedesk requests). I am reluctant, however, to disable virus scanning, because of IT chargeback policies.
I suspect that the problem may be caused by virus scanning or other periodic tasks all starting up after a period of idleness; possibly related to invalidation or timeout of in-DRAM caches of file blocks.
The paranoid part of me fears that my laptop may be controlled by malware, or possibly by company installed spyware. But, that's paranoid.
---
To be honest, I do not expect IT to do anything useful, to hekp me, with this problem report.
I am making this problem report mainly so that nobody in IT can say that I have not reported the problem. I have repeatedly reported the problem over the past year or so, but could not find it in the problem database, probably because of changes in the problem reporting system.
As usual, there is no problem reporting category that this seems to fall under. So I choose something as close as possible: Computing/Notebook/Docking Station.
---
I am reluctant to spend many hours on the phone or in chat sessions with IT HelpDesk personnel trying to fix this. I have wasted many hours in such conversations in the past, usually to no avail. (Although I must admit that the last time I interacted with the IT ServiceDesk, they actually solved my problem quickly and competently - kudos on that.)
I am completely willing to leave my laptop with IT service people, so that they can try to reproduce and solve this performance problem themselves. However, I would need a loaner PC, ideally with an image made of my current disk, so that I can continue to work.
Actually, that would be a good test: image copy my disk, and install the new disk in a new loaner PC, and see if the slowness continues. If not, it suggests a problem with the old disk, such as bad block remappings. If it were possible to try the extra DRAM, even if only temporarily in a loaner PC...
---
I typed this in twice, but the ServiceDesk web application lost what I had typed: so now I have placed the problem report in an attached file. Please read it.
Also, the service desk web application refuses to accept such detailed problem reports.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Requirements and ZBBs
I dislked "Requirements Engineering". Very often it is associated with projects that do not satisfy the customer. At the end, the engineers often blame the customer, saying "If only they had written more precise requirements".
This is a cop-out. It is the engineers' job to figure out the real customer needs and requirements. Or maybe the architects. Or marketing.
Here is an example of why I dislike "Requirements Lists". If you have requirements R1…R10, often people say "Let's restrict ourselves to the top three", and implement a mechanism or separate mechanisms that meet R1, R2, R3. They ignore the possibility of a mechanism that satisfies all of R1…R10, although possibly not as wel as the specific mechanism.
Or, there may be a single mechanism that satisfies R1 and R3…R10, but not R2. But it gets dropped, because we have arbitrarily excluded R4…R10 from consideration.
I.e. it is not so much the process of requirements that I dislike, as the simple minded prioritization thinking that is so often associated with it.
This is a cop-out. It is the engineers' job to figure out the real customer needs and requirements. Or maybe the architects. Or marketing.
Here is an example of why I dislike "Requirements Lists". If you have requirements R1…R10, often people say "Let's restrict ourselves to the top three", and implement a mechanism or separate mechanisms that meet R1, R2, R3. They ignore the possibility of a mechanism that satisfies all of R1…R10, although possibly not as wel as the specific mechanism.
Or, there may be a single mechanism that satisfies R1 and R3…R10, but not R2. But it gets dropped, because we have arbitrarily excluded R4…R10 from consideration.
I.e. it is not so much the process of requirements that I dislike, as the simple minded prioritization thinking that is so often associated with it.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
45 minutes = 500MB ?
Yesterday IT complained that I had exceeded 1GB of diskspace on my home directory, and the 17GB disk was full, hurting 47 other users on the disk.
It took me 45 minutes to clean up 500MB.
Ironically, the first 300MB was easier - it was a disk usage report I was creating to find out why a different disk used by a project was full. I.e. my home directory disk was full because I was using it to investigate why my project disk was full.
According to PriceWatch, 1GB of PC disks can be purchased for less than 25 cents; heck, 1GB of flash is only around 10$.
45 minutes of my time is worth more than 1GB of disk.
Heck, 45 minutes of the US minimum wage is worth more than 1GB of disk.
It took me 45 minutes to clean up 500MB.
Ironically, the first 300MB was easier - it was a disk usage report I was creating to find out why a different disk used by a project was full. I.e. my home directory disk was full because I was using it to investigate why my project disk was full.
According to PriceWatch, 1GB of PC disks can be purchased for less than 25 cents; heck, 1GB of flash is only around 10$.
45 minutes of my time is worth more than 1GB of disk.
Heck, 45 minutes of the US minimum wage is worth more than 1GB of disk.
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