Sophos = Slowdown

Discussions around the setup, operation, replacement, and disposal of clerk computers, not to include using MLS
Post Reply
kylejhunt-p40
New Member
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 12:37 am
Location: Long Beach, CA

Sophos = Slowdown

#1

Post by kylejhunt-p40 »

Hello All

After installing Sophos on 2 of our Stake PC's, they have slowed to a crawl. By crawl I mean 10-15 min boot times and 5-10 min MLS login times. Plus, I get several calls/email each day w/ complaints from the clerks who use them. I'm supposed to install Sophos on all the others PC's, but am holding off until I have more information. Anyone else having similar issues? Anyone found any "solutions"?

Maybe someday the church will start leasing/purchasing PC's w/ sufficient hardware specs to last the 3-5 years they are intended to last....just a thought :)

K
User avatar
aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

#2

Post by aebrown »

kylejhunt wrote:After installing Sophos on 2 of our Stake PC's, they have slowed to a crawl. By crawl I mean 10-15 min boot times and 5-10 min MLS login times. Plus, I get several calls/email each day w/ complaints from the clerks who use them. I'm supposed to install Sophos on all the others PC's, but am holding off until I have more information. Anyone else having similar issues? Anyone found any "solutions"?
We noticed a slight slowdown on startup after installing Sophos, but no more than a minute more. I've seen no change on MLS login times. And this was on really slow Celeron machines.

How much memory do your machines have? Those old machines I referred to had been upgraded to 512MB from the original 256MB.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34422
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

#3

Post by russellhltn »

More information would be helpful. What kind of machine? How much memory? Is it on broadband?

I've installed Sophos on a 5 year old machines with the original 256MB of memory and didn't see this. However, if you have broadband, then Sophos will update itself, and that may be a factor.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
kylejhunt-p40
New Member
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 12:37 am
Location: Long Beach, CA

#4

Post by kylejhunt-p40 »

Our machines all have 256K of RAM. They were slow to begin w/ but now it's laughable. The problem is that now we have to purchase RAM just to be compliant w/ SLC's request to install Sophos (not really complaining, just stating fact).

These 2 machines to have broadband...when it works :) I have noticed that they are even slower during the Sophos update, but it's not enough to worry over.

So the only suggestion is to add RAM?
User avatar
aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

#5

Post by aebrown »

kylejhunt wrote:So the only suggestion is to add RAM?
When we installed Sophos on our really slow Celeron machines, it didn't make much difference. We have a broadband connection. I can't imagine your machines are any slower than ours were, so the only obvious difference is that we had 512MB RAM and you have 256MB RAM.

When others see only a minor slowdown after installing the same software, it certainly makes sense that a dramatic slowdown would be related to tight memory. When installing new software starts to cause lots of memory paging, the performance hit can be significant. So I would think it's reasonable to conclude that doubling the RAM would make a significant performance improvement.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34422
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

#6

Post by russellhltn »

Before you buy memory, have the STS check with the FM group on the replacement plans. Many of the 256MB machines are up for replacement. It was supposed to be under the 5 year plan, but that's been stretched a bit because of the economy.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
kylejhunt-p40
New Member
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 12:37 am
Location: Long Beach, CA

#7

Post by kylejhunt-p40 »

I'm waiting for a response from our FM group and Stake Presidency. Hopefully a replacement is pending cause these machines are OLD. If not we'll proceed w/ a RAM upgrade and I'll let you know how it goes :) Thanks!
jdlessley
Community Moderators
Posts: 9861
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:30 am
Location: USA, TX

#8

Post by jdlessley »

If you only have 256MB of memory you are going to have a slow down. Sophos will use most, if not all, of that in the first few minutes after boot-up and log-on while it updates. For a celeron GX270 running 512MB Sophos grabs 56% of the cpu cycles and a good portion of the RAM.

If you can wait until Sophos is finished updating before starting MLS this may help somewhat. This takes anywhere from around a minute to about three minutes after boot-up.

More RAM definitely helps.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
drepouille
Senior Member
Posts: 2859
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 6:06 pm
Location: Plattsmouth, NE

Add RAM and Reboot

#9

Post by drepouille »

kylejhunt wrote:The problem is that now we have to purchase RAM just to be compliant w/ SLC's request to install Sophos

That's right! We had to do the same thing with all our GX-270 computers when I installed Desktop 5.5, including Symantec Anti-Virus. All the clerks in the stake complained about the slowdown. I told them to buy more RAM out of their budget funds.

Dana
Post Reply

Return to “Clerk Computers”