title: Git sh.exe process forking issue on windows XP, slow?
body: <p>Git is essential to my workflow. I run MSYS Git on Windows XP on my quad core machine with 3GB of RAM, and normally it is responsive and zippy. </p>
  
  <p>Suddenly an issue has cropped up whereby it takes >30 seconds to run any command from the Git Bash command prompt, including <code>ls</code> or <code>cd</code>. Interestingly, from the bash prompt it looks likes <code>ls</code> runs fairly quickly, I can then see the output from <code>ls</code>, but it then takes ~30 seconds for the prompt to return. If I switch to the windows command prompt (by running <code>cmd</code> from the start menu) git related commands also take forever, even just to run. For example <code>git status</code> can take close to a minute before anything happens. Sometimes the processes simply don't finish. </p>
  
  <p>Note that I have "MSYS Git" installed as well as regular "MSYS" for things like <code>MinGW</code> and <code>make</code>. </p>
  
  <p>I believe the problem is related to <code>sh.exe</code> located in <code>C:\Program Files\Git\bin</code>. When I run <code>ls</code> from the bash prompt, or  when I invoke <code>git</code> from the windows prompt, task manager shows up to four instances of <code>sh.exe</code> processes that come and go.  </p>
  
  <p>Here I am waiting for <code>ls</code> to return and you can see the task manager has <code>git.exe</code> running and four instances of <code>sh.exe</code>:
  <img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/VSp0a.png" alt="Here I am waiting for ls to return and you can see the task manager has git.exe running and four instances of sh.exe"></p>
  
  <p>If I <code>ctrl-c</code> in the middle of an <code>ls</code> I sometimes get errors that include:</p>
  
  <pre><code>sh.exe": fork: Resource temporarily unavailable
        0 [main] sh.exe" 1624 proc_subproc: Couldn't duplicate my handle&lt;0x6FC&gt; fo
  r pid 6052, Win32 error 5
  sh.exe": fork: Resource temporarily unavailable
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Or for <code>git status</code>:
  $ git status</p>
  
  <pre><code>sh.exe": fork: Resource temporarily unavailable
  sh.exe": fork: Resource temporarily unavailable
  sh.exe": fork: Resource temporarily unavailable
  sh.exe": fork: Resource temporarily unavailable
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><em>Can I fix this so that git runs quickly again, and if so how?</em> </p>
  
  <p>Things I have tried:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Reboot</li>
  <li>Upgrade MSYS Git to most recent version &amp; Reboot</li>
  <li>Upgrade MSYS to most recent version &amp; Reboot </li>
  <li>Uninstall  MSYS &amp; uninstall and reinstall MSYS Git alone &amp; Reboot </li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>I'd very much like to not wipe my box and reinstall Windows, but I will if I can't get this fixed. I can no longer code if it takes me >30 s to run <code>git status</code> or <code>cd.</code></p>