troubleshoot java.exe responding very slowly

[crw150]

Hi experts,

I don't know where else to go with this question and would be grateful if you could point me in the right direction.

I've run RenderX XEP 4.6 for several years with no problem, but suddenly it is VERY slow to respond, 2-3 minutes just to open a file. I believe it is a problem with my Java installation, but is there some way to troubleshoot Java? My OS is WinXP Pro SP2, Java version 1.6. I have 4G RAM and a 400G hard drive. With no other programs running, when I try to open a file with XEP, Windows Task Manager shows java.exe using 50%-60% of cpu resources. Is that awfully high?

This problem started immediately after I installed InstantRails (I haven't used it, just installed it to start learning it). InstantRails says it changes nothing on your system, but this is exactly when XEP got screwed up. I uninstalled InstantRails and even restored to a previous checkpoint, but that didn't help XEP.

Obviously I'm no programmer and clueless. RenderX support won't even answer my inquiry, probably because it appears the problem is not XEP but my java installation. I'd appreciate ANY help -- even if you can just tell me of some other forum where I should post this question.

Thanks,
Susan

 

[timw]

Have you installed any anti-virus software at about the same time? They can slow a Java program down horrendously.

Tim

 

[crw150]

I am using Avast but it isn't a new install. As far as I know, XEP and Avast were running together before without any problem. But could something have changed that so that Avast is now having some negative effect on Java?

I mentioned InstantRails because I had used XEP all afternoon to run transformations, then I stopped briefly to download and install InstantRails, then I immediately went back to work using XEP, and that's when XEP was suddenly screwed up. InstantRails shouldn't have anything to do with it, but ...?

Thanks,
Susan