[Marlin Guy]

A friend has asked me to look into a problem he is having with some trading software. The software is Tradestation.

It seems that at 9:30 each morning the system bogs down and becomes nearly unresponsive.
I haven't been by his office to look at it yet, because I want to go as prepared as possible.
I'm thinking it's a network issue, because of the time being the same everyday, but he also says that friends of his aren't seeing the slow downs.

I guess I can use his Windows XP Performace Monitor, but I was wondering if there was something better. Something that aggregates machine and network performance into one interface, so that I could more accurately define where the bottleneck is occurring?

Suggestions?

 

[David Ortiz]

Perhaps a scheduled antivirus scan? I've seen those slow down systems. Sometimes they're even stored in another user's profile.

 

[Marlin Guy]

Perhaps a scheduled antivirus scan? I've seen those slow down systems. Sometimes they're even stored in another user's profile.

I haven't been by there yet, but he indicated that
1- There is no antivirus software, because it can cause problems with speed
2- The system has been fully wiped and re-installed, yet the problem persists.

I'll probably take one of my PCs there and install the software on it to try to further isolate the problem.

 

[dpeters11]

9:30 Eastern? Interesting that is when the markets open.

 

[Marlin Guy]

Correct. I'm thinking that the data stream from Tradestation is overloaded, but he says that his friends don't see the slowdown like he does. So maybe it's Comcast?
I just need a way to prove the theory.

 

[RasputinAXP]

Comcast, probably. Is there a significant response expected by the server? Upstream is throttled to death with Comcast.

 

[Marlin Guy]

I don't know what the program requires. I would assume the upstream is dictated by a couple of factors.
How often the system polls for updates.
How often he executes a buy/sell order.
Others?

Is there any third party software that would log and chart these actions over time?