snipping tool slow

[Jeff]

In my previous Windows 7 64 bit system running on a i3 laptop with 6G of
ram I learned to use and really like the "Snipping Tool".

But in my new Windows 7 64 bit laptop with a 3rd generation i7 cpu and 8
G of ram the "Snipping tool" takes over 30 seconds to start. I've
searched the web and find that many others have noticed slow starts of
the Snipping tool but n solutions for it. I ran sfc /scannow and it
found no problems. So I am at a loss.

Any suggestions?

Could it be that my 1 GB pagefile is too large (causing Windows 7 to
search my slow HDD instead of finding it in ram)?

Other ideas?

Jeff

 

[Jeff Layman]

In my previous Windows 7 64 bit system running on a i3 laptop with 6G of
ram I learned to use and really like the "Snipping Tool".

But in my new Windows 7 64 bit laptop with a 3rd generation i7 cpu and 8
G of ram the "Snipping tool" takes over 30 seconds to start. I've
searched the web and find that many others have noticed slow starts of
the Snipping tool but n solutions for it. I ran sfc /scannow and it
found no problems. So I am at a loss.

Any suggestions?

Could it be that my 1 GB pagefile is too large (causing Windows 7 to
search my slow HDD instead of finding it in ram)?

Other ideas?

Jeff

I've never tried it, but does the snipping tool run in safe mode? If
so, is it any faster?

Other than that, what about running the snipping tool when the task
manager is up showing what processes are running, and what is using up
the CPU. That's with the "Processes" tab on screen. You might try the
same thing with the "Performance" tab on screen. Does anything start
consuming CPU time when you start the snipping tool?

 

[Jeff]

I've never tried it, but does the snipping tool run in safe mode? If
so, is it any faster?

Other than that, what about running the snipping tool when the task
manager is up showing what processes are running, and what is using up
the CPU. That's with the "Processes" tab on screen. You might try the
same thing with the "Performance" tab on screen. Does anything start
consuming CPU time when you start the snipping tool?

Thanks for your suggestions Jeff (I like that name).

Good suggestions! I started the taskmanager and started the snipping
tool while watching the process screen. The only thing that changed was
the appearance of the ST which only used up 1 % of the cpu.

I did the same while watching the performance screen and there was
literally no even a blip visible when I started ST!

Not sure how to start the system in safe mode.

But here are some interesting findings that might help others.

I had originally set the virtual memory on this system to 1024MB (both
min and maximum) because I thought the 8GB that Windows had set it to
was too large. This is counter-intuitive but I now went back and let
Windows manage it and it immediately reset it to 8 GB. Now, the ST
starts up at the same time as it does in my old laptop. Still not
terribly fast but much faster. Makes no sense because my HDD is not a
fast one but these are the facts.

I also restarted the system and immediately started the ST. It started
at about the same speed as it does after letting Windows manage the size
of the pagefile.

Another thing. I use Avast free as a antivirus. I thought some of its
"active shields" might be part of the problem. But temporarily stopping
all of them had no effect on the starting of ST.

I really like the Windows 7 snipping tool and use it quite a bit to take
screen shots. The web says that snagit is better, but unlike snagit the
ST is free and does the trick quite well except for its slow startup.

Jeff

 

[Ed Cryer]

Thanks for your suggestions Jeff (I like that name).

Good suggestions! I started the taskmanager and started the snipping
tool while watching the process screen. The only thing that changed was
the appearance of the ST which only used up 1 % of the cpu.

I did the same while watching the performance screen and there was
literally no even a blip visible when I started ST!

Not sure how to start the system in safe mode.

But here are some interesting findings that might help others.

I had originally set the virtual memory on this system to 1024MB (both
min and maximum) because I thought the 8GB that Windows had set it to
was too large. This is counter-intuitive but I now went back and let
Windows manage it and it immediately reset it to 8 GB. Now, the ST
starts up at the same time as it does in my old laptop. Still not
terribly fast but much faster. Makes no sense because my HDD is not a
fast one but these are the facts.

I also restarted the system and immediately started the ST. It started
at about the same speed as it does after letting Windows manage the size
of the pagefile.

Another thing. I use Avast free as a antivirus. I thought some of its
"active shields" might be part of the problem. But temporarily stopping
all of them had no effect on the starting of ST.

I really like the Windows 7 snipping tool and use it quite a bit to take
screen shots. The web says that snagit is better, but unlike snagit the
ST is free and does the trick quite well except for its slow startup.

Jeff

I would have thought that if your system set-up was to blame for
Snipping Tool's slow load then it would have the same effect on other
programs too; mail, browser, AV etc.
If those are loading ok, you'll have to look at Snipping Tool individually.

Here's some info from my PC;
SnippingTool.exe in System32, Windows folder.
File version 6.1.7600.16385
421KB
date modified 14/07/2009

Right click on the entry in Start menu; see if it points to that.

Don't go tinkering with Win7's system settings until you have good
reason to conclude the system itself needs attention.

Ed

 

[Jeff]

I would have thought that if your system set-up was to blame for
Snipping Tool's slow load then it would have the same effect on other
programs too; mail, browser, AV etc.
If those are loading ok, you'll have to look at Snipping Tool individually.

Here's some info from my PC;
SnippingTool.exe in System32, Windows folder.
File version 6.1.7600.16385
421KB
date modified 14/07/2009

Right click on the entry in Start menu; see if it points to that.

Don't go tinkering with Win7's system settings until you have good
reason to conclude the system itself needs attention.

Ed

Thanks Ed.

Everything else starts fine and the shortcut does point to the same file
as yours does except my date is July 1 instead of July 14. Same size,
etc. So I guess it is just the way ST starts. Does yours take some time
to start too?

But I am a tinkerer! And it gets me into all sorts of trouble..... ;>

Jeff

 

[Ed Cryer]

Thanks Ed.

Everything else starts fine and the shortcut does point to the same file
as yours does except my date is July 1 instead of July 14. Same size,
etc. So I guess it is just the way ST starts. Does yours take some time
to start too?


But I am a tinkerer! And it gets me into all sorts of trouble..... ;>

Jeff

Mine throws up its window a second after clicking for it.
Look in the options settings. See if it's checking for updates or something.

I find Irfanview's screen capture preferable.

Ed

 

[Jeff]

Mine throws up its window a second after clicking for it.
Look in the options settings. See if it's checking for updates or
something.

I find Irfanview's screen capture preferable.

Ed

Thanks. Wish mine went up in a second. Will check.
I have Irfanview installed but never used its screen capture tool. Will
explore.
Thanks.

 

[Jeff Layman]

Thanks for your suggestions Jeff (I like that name).

I know what you mean!

Not sure how to start the system in safe mode.

Just follow the on-screen instructions while booting. The usual way is
to press and hold the F8 key early on during the boot process (before
the Windows logo appears). You will then be presented with a screen
which gives you several options to continue. One of these will be Safe
Mode.

But here are some interesting findings that might help others.

I had originally set the virtual memory on this system to 1024MB (both
min and maximum) because I thought the 8GB that Windows had set it to
was too large. This is counter-intuitive but I now went back and let
Windows manage it and it immediately reset it to 8 GB. Now, the ST
starts up at the same time as it does in my old laptop. Still not
terribly fast but much faster. Makes no sense because my HDD is not a
fast one but these are the facts.

On my 3-years old HP G61 laptop (Win7HPx64, dual core Pentium T4300
@2.1GHz, 4GB ram, virtual memory is automatically managed and 4GB is
currently allocated), the Snipping Tool starts 3 - 4 seconds after
clicking its link in "Accessories". That seems ok to me.

 

[Jeff]

I know what you mean!


Just follow the on-screen instructions while booting. The usual way is
to press and hold the F8 key early on during the boot process (before
the Windows logo appears). You will then be presented with a screen
which gives you several options to continue. One of these will be Safe
Mode.


On my 3-years old HP G61 laptop (Win7HPx64, dual core Pentium T4300
@2.1GHz, 4GB ram, virtual memory is automatically managed and 4GB is
currently allocated), the Snipping Tool starts 3 - 4 seconds after
clicking its link in "Accessories". That seems ok to me.

Wish mine did.
On my laptop, after a fresh reboot and with Windows controlling the
pagefile Snipping Tool now opens at a speedy 16 seconds. 3-4 seconds
would be fine with me too!
There are a lt of messages on the web about ST slow starts but no useful
solutions I could find.

I just created a desktop shortcut using the command line for IrfanView
capture tool
"C:\Program Files (x86)\IrfanView\i_view32.exe" /capture=X
and it is dazzlingly "instantaneous"! Now I need to figure out how to
make it not capture the entire desktop but only what I want like in
Snipping Tool.

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

Thanks. Wish mine went up in a second. Will check. I have Irfanview
installed but never used its screen capture tool. Will explore.
Thanks.

I don't normally use the Snipping Tool. I didn't even know it existed.
I've been using FastStone since my W2K daze, but when I tried Snipping
Tool, it came up and worked as advertised in the second or so it took to
read the program from disk. This even though the potentially conflicting
FastStone is installed and running in memory.

 

[Jeff Layman]

I just created a desktop shortcut using the command line for IrfanView
capture tool
"C:\Program Files (x86)\IrfanView\i_view32.exe" /capture=X
and it is dazzlingly "instantaneous"! Now I need to figure out how to
make it not capture the entire desktop but only what I want like in
Snipping Tool.

The instructions are in IrfanView's Help File, but they seem a bit
convoluted to me. I must say that the Snipping Tool is one of MS's
better recent introductions.

 

[Ed Cryer]

Wish mine did.
On my laptop, after a fresh reboot and with Windows controlling the
pagefile Snipping Tool now opens at a speedy 16 seconds. 3-4 seconds
would be fine with me too!
There are a lt of messages on the web about ST slow starts but no useful
solutions I could find.

I just created a desktop shortcut using the command line for IrfanView
capture tool
"C:\Program Files (x86)\IrfanView\i_view32.exe" /capture=X
and it is dazzlingly "instantaneous"! Now I need to figure out how to
make it not capture the entire desktop but only what I want like in
Snipping Tool.

http://tinyurl.com/9uv4mn2
Irfanview, Options, Capture/ Screenshot.

Ed

 

[Ed Cryer]

http://tinyurl.com/9uv4mn2
Irfanview, Options, Capture/ Screenshot.

Ed

There's one suggested solution that comes up time and again with a
google on this problem; Tablet PC Components.
See here;
http://tinyurl.com/8b8lxzn
Give it a try.

Ed

 

[Jeff]

The instructions are in IrfanView's Help File, but they seem a bit
convoluted to me. I must say that the Snipping Tool is one of MS's
better recent introductions.

Yes, I really find it useful. Just wish it would open up faster on my
laptop. Just tried again and it took 14 sec to appear.
Will keep searching for the problem.

 

[Jeff]

There's one suggested solution that comes up time and again with a
google on this problem; Tablet PC Components.
See here;
http://tinyurl.com/8b8lxzn
Give it a try.

Ed

That is probably my problem. Not only do I have Tablet PC disabled, I
think I had uninstalled it. Will try to get it back.
Thanks for the hint.

 

[Jeff]

There's one suggested solution that comes up time and again with a
google on this problem; Tablet PC Components.
See here;
http://tinyurl.com/8b8lxzn
Give it a try.

Ed

Ed, you are the champ. You solved my problem.

I re-installed Tablet PC Components and Snipping Tool opens in 2-3 seconds!

For others in the same predicament I created for myself: here is how to
re-install any of Windows 7 default services:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/236709-services-restore-default-services-windows-7-a.html

Thanks everyone.

Note: beware of mucking around with Windows. You are more likely to get
yourself in trouble than to remove "unnecessary" services .....

Jeff

 

[Bob I]

I know what you mean!


Just follow the on-screen instructions while booting. The usual way is
to press and hold the F8 key early on during the boot process (before
the Windows logo appears). You will then be presented with a screen
which gives you several options to continue. One of these will be Safe
Mode.


On my 3-years old HP G61 laptop (Win7HPx64, dual core Pentium T4300
@2.1GHz, 4GB ram, virtual memory is automatically managed and 4GB is
currently allocated), the Snipping Tool starts 3 - 4 seconds after
clicking its link in "Accessories". That seems ok to me.

On a laptop with an SSD it is virtually instantaneous.

 

[Ed Cryer]

Ed, you are the champ. You solved my problem.

I re-installed Tablet PC Components and Snipping Tool opens in 2-3 seconds!

For others in the same predicament I created for myself: here is how to
re-install any of Windows 7 default services:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/236709-services-restore-default-services-windows-7-a.html


Thanks everyone.

Note: beware of mucking around with Windows. You are more likely to get
yourself in trouble than to remove "unnecessary" services .....

Jeff

It's good to see that these NGs can be helpful as well as a vehicle for
spammers, trolls and vitriol-laden losers.
The Snipping Tool can do a lot that Paint does.
Look at this little gem I painted;
http://tinyurl.com/bvt7hbf

Ed

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

It's good to see that these NGs can be helpful as well as a vehicle for
spammers, trolls and vitriol-laden losers.
The Snipping Tool can do a lot that Paint does.
Look at this little gem I painted;
http://tinyurl.com/bvt7hbf

Ed

Makes you look like a toddler!

but really - thanks for the hint.

I just tried it. Geez, my handwriting is bad. Makes me look like a
toddler

Given my handwriting, I'd also like the ability to type text in, but
what the heck, one can do that in another app once the picture is saved.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

On a laptop with an SSD it is virtually instantaneous.

It's normally pretty quick with a hard drive too. The OP had a
configuration problem which was solved by a hint from Ed Cryer.