VSMON.EXE and Internet bank site 2

[Rahosi]

Can anyone explain why I have to stop VSMON.EXE (from within Task Manager) when accessing a bank account (Egg.com). Otherwise my computer grinds to a halt. If I close VSMON.EXE during the problem, the computer largely recovers. During the problem VSMON shows 80+% CPU activity.

I have no problem accessing other (HSBC) banking sites.

Computer
XPpro, IE6, USB/ADSL, ZApro3, McAfee Virusscan.

Under IE6 privacy my cookies are set to accept First party, block Third party cookies but allow session cookies. However I have specifically allowed all cookies from all the banking sites

 

[synergy021]

Hey I hope you get an answer because I notice vsmon.exe is consuming up to 99% of my cpu time GRADUALLY increasing from low cpu consumption after 4 days of letting kazaa run continously *gotta love kazaa*... Altho it was working smoothly it was rather choppy later towards the 4 1/2 day mark when I decided to problem solve and found conclusively that by just removing vsmon.exe with the xp systems monitor .. then all my cpu usage went back down to the 1-3% range where it normally is. So I found that by simply shutting it down and restarting zonealarm everything works great and no need for a reboot at all. Well at least I know its not just a kazaa and vsmon issue since u have the problem when trying to access that bank site u referred to. Yet this vsmon irregularity that i've come across is a rather slow gradual consumption of cpu time.... But easily fixed as mentioned before. Hope someone has a real explanation for this behavior or how to prevent it. Thanks .. Bye all.
-Synergy021
(Computer: XP-Pro - Duron 1200 - 512DDR)

 

[hempjammer]

I too was having this issue and it was driving me nuts because not only was it going up to 99% but causing BSOD on Win2K Advance Server that I do alot of DB work on.

Here is the answer from Zone Alarms that seems to have resolved the issue for me.


Issue Summary: vsmon.exe using 100% cpu

Issue Details
The resources used by any program is directly proportional to the
amount of processing it is doing (in this case, more Internet
traffic, such as running a web server, means more resources used).
Depending on system configuration, and the applications you are
running at the time, you may also see Internet speeds slow a little
bit with ZoneAlarm running.

Users will see more resource usage during the Program Learning
phase, right after installation. This should go down after a few
days to a week, when you set the Program setting to High, taking ZAP
out of the learning mode. Note that when the ZA icon appears at the
bottom of your screen, that is only the User Interface - the actual
firewall service starts much sooner.

If resource usage remains high, there are several possible solutions:

1) Upgrade to the latest version. Be sure to use the “Clean Install”
option.

2) Set the number of alerts shown to 50. While this number can be
set as high as 999, please remember that these are stored in memory
as well, and will take more resources.

Hope it works for everyone else

 

[Ironbuket]

I am having a similar problem, but my situation seems to contradict your explanation. I have adsl and since a couple of days ago (prior to that everything have been working fine since the PC was built) when I leave my PC unattended for a while, I come back and find that I cant open web pages anymore. A quick ctrl+alt+del and I see vsmon.exe is using 99% of the cpu. All I am running is internet explorer and no sharing programs (there should have been no activity while I was away). I can see from the ZA logs that I only have 1 or 2 attempts to access me as is normal for me over a couple or hours.

I can see from my hdd indicator that the hdd isn’t doing anything, there is also no up or download activity, but I am still connected. Disconnecting the line through software or even physically does not effect vsmon.exe and it remains at 99% cpu usage. Waiting also has no effect, I have left it for over an hour and its still at 99% cpu usage. Killing the process or rebooting the PC is the only way to restore internet access.

I am running Win2kpro SP2 on MSI kt3ultra mobo, AMD1800xp, 512MbDDR, 60Gb hdd, AsusTi4400, alcatel usb adsl modem/router

 

[artheim]

I have also seen this on my system, but when I upgraded to Pro, the problem has not reoccured. Also by downleveling ZA to an earlier version (don't remember what level, but I think was 2.6), the problem never showed up. I had the problem with Win98 and also Win2K Pro.

 

[omair]

Hi,
I'm not sure if anyone is going to read this thread anymore since it's so old, but lemme try asking anyways.

I have ZoneAlarm installed, but I rarely use it anymore. It doesn't start up when Windows XP boots up, but VSMON.exe does. Why? VSMON.exe is a ZoneAlarm file, isn't it? Why is it being started on my computer when ZoneAlarm isn't? This exe file is causing so many headaches. How do I tell Windows to stop launching this file when the computer boots up, without un-installing ZoneAlarm?

Thanks!

 

[webb666]

I came to this forum because VSMON was using way too much cpu resource. I didn't know it was part of ZoneAlarm but that info helped me decide that my generosity to the rest of the world might be causing me grief!

Specifically, I ran WinMX with a "primary" connection which somehow makes my machine act as a server; changing that to a "secondary" connection has bought VSMON cpu usage back into line.

 

[Acextreme]

omair, vsmon.exe is the actual firewall. The zonealarm program is simply the inteface. So unless you disable your firewall, it will still be started when Windows starts.

But however, I noticed something weird. I did uninstall zonealarm pro before and when I rebooted, vsmon.exe was still there. Funny, right???

 

[josonchen]

follow is what happen on my computer(inter p4 1.5 ,w2k +sp3):
i find vsmon.exe use 90% memory,and when i open the manager tools ,i found the"

http://WWW(IIS)"

and "FTp" server is running(it is the default install item).
when i uninstall them,and reboot,then all is ok.

 

[Reena512]

i'm getting this same vsmon.exe but in windows me no go...tell me what shud i do...???

 

[marco71]

Ironbuket, I suspect your symptoms may be USBmodem+VIA chipset conflict, and the vsmon bit is spurious? Check out
<

http://www.speedtouchdsl.com/supfaqusb.htm#_Toc501768811>

question 11.

 

[Ironbuket]

Thanks for the sugestion marco71,
but that is talking about KT7 mobos made by Asus, and despite the similar coding, mine different as its a KT2ulra made by MSI. It already has the latest VIA4in1 drivers anyway.

To be honest its been a long time since I experienced this problem. Everytime I upgrade to a newer version of ZA it seems to happen less and less, and now I cant even remember when it last happened

Im more worried about the &quot;sudden reboot&quot; problem Im having, but thats for another thread.

Thanks for the suggestion anyway

 

[eatmeplease]

I had the same problem (vsmon.exe inflating and taking over CPU) and I am happy to say that I have been able to fix the problem. I originally encountered the problem when I noticed that I had two versions of Zonealarm working in the background and deleted one of the copies. It was all downhill from there. Everything seemed to be crashing when I attempted to shut down the computer. It would eventually shut down, but would take upto 20 minutes to do so. I am running a P4 2.3ghz with 512Meg RDRAM and win XP home. Restarting the computer would allow me to connect once again to the internet but it was only a matter of time before it would freeze. It seems that Zone Alarm is blocking hundreds of pings to my computer per minute and is simply overwhelming the system. The ONLY way that I was able to correct the problem was to completely reinstall ZoneAlarm. That means that I performed a CLEAN install and had to re-authorize all my programs to use the internet. However, this was a simple process and everything has worked fine since. I hope this helps someone. Take care

 

[subbaraob]

hi,

I just had the vsmon problem today, I have zone alarm pro on XP and vsmon acted weird, when I pressed refresh button for a match I was watching online. I was not able to do anything for around 10 mins or so, I applied the more basic method, removed the plug of my modem halting the internet connection and voila - presto, it stopped, it didnt give me any problem again. I read else where, may be when you are online, sometimes, some programs may create a lot of udp connections and ZA couldnt keep up with them and vsmon being its internet traffic monitor goes into hyper drive to keep track of them all. I tried to test this so, I pressed refresh button on my online match again and presto vsmon went into hyper drive, this time instead of removing my modem wire, I opened the ZA monitor and stopped all the internet traffic and yes vsmon stopped, after 3 - 5 secs I went back to the net and now everything worked normal. I could come to the conclusion, it has to do with the internet traffic and the refreshing of some big files like video streaming or so. But can any one expalin to me better.

Thanks waiting for some replies.

subbarao

 

[kevyou]

After I installed SQL server for .net framework I had VSMON running at 100% most of the time until I found the following microsoft article. This fixed my problem, don't know if it the same will fix other problems also??

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 321434
On a computer that is running Microsoft Windows NT or later, use Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe). To do so, click Start, click Run, and then type regedt32.
Locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vsmon.

NOTE: Vsmon is a service that is installed by ZoneAlarm Pro.
In the right pane, double-click DependOnService.
In the Edit Multi-String dialog box, you will see a list of items that might include Afd, RpcSs, and Vsdatant. Add W3SVC to the end of this list, and then click OK.

 

[MarketG]

Hi everybody. I visited many forums about the question. And my problem was solved by deleting the mshost process in the task manager.
From all the things i've read i think that the problem always come from a process trying constantly to enter the system.

PS : for my part, it was linked to Norton

 

[artheim]

I would really check your system. Mshost is a process that gets added by the Beasty.Backdoor.Family virus/worm. Go to

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/backdoor.beasty.family.html

for the details.

 

[brixvibe]

I found out what the problem was. I'll bet 90% of the people having this problem are running Norton Antivirus. I mean it would only figure that we use the best firewall with the best antivirus software. I noticed in my task manager that in intervals of about every 10 seconds vsmon would jump too 90+% for about 2-3 seconds and drop. So I disabled Norton's Auto-Protect feature, and no more problems. So my suggestion to you is disable Auto-protect forever (not a good idea), Find a new Antivirus Software (my first choice), or find a new firewall, (but I don't wanna, I love the features ZA Pro has). Anywhooo, hope this helps all the disgruntled people out there that had this same problem.

 

[brixvibe]

Just to follow up with everyone. I switched to Trend Micro's PC-Cillin 2003, and sure enough the problem is gone. Have Fun!

 

[peter23]

Check thread924-491759 for one ***SOLUTION*** that works!!!

Basically uninstall ZA Pro 3.5.169 and install ZA Lite 3.7

I have more details in thread924-491759