XP system running at close to 100% all the time 3

[odincronus]

I have a XP HOme edition running for games and finances. It booted today and the "system" is running at 96% with 220kb for memory, this is making everything run really slow. The machine is running 512Megs of memory and has a 1.8gig processor. I am trying to do a windows update right now to see if that is the case, but I have not installed any programs or used it very much in the past week or two, just browsing and finance using quicken 2002. Any helpful pointers on how to get this going again would be appriciated.

Thanks,

 

[meastaugh1]

Do you have any antivirus programs running?

 

[aces0]

yeah meastaugh1 (TechnicalUser) those antivirus scans can be hell on xp, now check this out i copyed and paste this reply below from another forum look and see if you can figure out, the main culpret for slowing down xp. ; )

>>I get the hourglass and have to wait much longer for documents to open with xp than with winme or win98. When clicked, applications themselves open quickly, but waiting for a txt document to find an application has a noticble delay. The start menu has a noticible delay before dispaying the contents. Right clicking a document also lags with the hourglass. I did a disk clean with system tools. I just recently installed xp and only have a few applications installed (*norton systemworks included*). <<

 

[linney]

Try disabling any unrequired services that are running in background.

http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

HOW TO: Set Performance Options (Q308417)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/4/17.asp

Computer Speed and Performance May Decrease (Q310419)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q310/4/19.asp

Try downloading a program like Ad-Aware (

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/)

to find and remove any adware or Spyware programs.

Do a full virus scan, checking &quot;all files&quot; with the latest virus definitions available.

 

[KevinAr18]

Have you done the simple CTRL+ALT+DEL and clicked on the Processes tab and looked at what processes were using up all the cpu?

Also another useful step is to look at what programs are starting up with windows. One of the things in the startup is almost surely the problem.
Take a look here:
Start -> Run -> msconfig (startup tab)
Once you've got msconfig open, goto this site and look for each application listed in the startup tab:

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm

Compare the info from this site, from msconfig, and what you see after pressing CTRL+ATL+DEL to find out what app is taking up your cpu cycles. Once you figure it out, go about configuring the app or removing it.

 

[RedDisk]

I agree with all of the statements so far. What about old
16 bit drivers? I wish I have NEVER upgraded a system running legacy apps to XP.

Certainly you want to put a shortcut to your event viewer on
the desktop.

Anybody have any idea how to find and force runaway processes into the bit bucket? So it is never apparent there is a problem to the user?

Somebody give me a registry tweek or a setting that auto terminates the offender and sends a gentle message to the
screen.

My example:

&quot;The computer slowed to a crawl when I had Microsoft word and bridge software up and running and trying to change the date on one event. This happened after this next one.

This time I got out of the ledger program on my machine which is on the administrator's computer and the only icon on the desk top was WinZip. All other icons did not come up and when I looked at the event viewer there was nothing running.

I rebooted in both instances.

Attached you will find the error messages from the event viewer. For your information.&quot;

 

[williambishop]

I had the same problem a few days ago, turns out I had installed some fixes, and it had defaulted back to hibernation mode and somehow the computer got it in it's head that it was trying to hibernate. Turned it back off and it was fine.

 

[odincronus]

The process is &quot;system&quot; that was running at 100%. I believe what happend was this. I installed Win32 SSH software so that I could talk to the rest of my computers on my network, and actually get some work done with my home computer. After I installed the software I copied over the exe's to the system32 folder, and after that the S*** hit the fan with the processor. I just finished going through and removing the last of those exe's, none overwrote anything else, and did a reboot and the system is running normal again(for now). I have two 4400 Dells that I have been using, one with Red Hat 7.2 loaded and the other being my XP box... I have notice a lot more overhead and slower reponse times with the XP box, but it does serve my gaming needs. Thanks for all the tips!

 

[XPisfree]

this below is for Professional, but anyway... get rid of those services:

With thanks to pcAUDIOLABS.com

Alerter ---Disabled
Application Layer Gateway Service ---Disabled
Application Management AppMgmt ---Manual
Automatic Updates ---Disabled
Background Intelligent Transfer Service ---Disabled
ClipBook ---Disabled
COM+ Event System EventSystem ---Disabled
COM+ System Application ---Disabled
Computer Browser ---Disabled
Cryptographic Services ---Disabled
DHCP Client ---Disabled (Set this to ------Manual for Internet)
Distributed Link Tracking Client ---Disabled
Distributed Transaction Coordinator ---Disabled
DNS Client ---Disabled (set this to ------Manual for Internet)
Error Reporting Service ---Disabled
Event Log Automatic
Fast User Switching Compatibility ---Disabled
Fax Service ---Disabled
Help and Support ---Disabled
Human Interface Device Access ---Disabled
IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service ------Manual
Indexing Service ---Disabled
Internet Connection Sharing ---Disabled
IPSEC Services PolicyAgent ---Disabled
Logical Disk Manager ------Manual
Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service ------Manual
Messenger ---Disabled
MS Software Shadow Copy Provider ---Disabled
Net Login ---Disabled
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing ---Disabled
Network Connections ------Manual
Network DDE ---Disabled
Network DDE DSDM ---Disabled
Network Location Awareness (NLA) ---Disabled
NT LM Security Support Provider ---Disabled
Performance Logs and Alerts ---Disabled
Plug and Play PlugPlay Automatic
Portable Media Serial Number ---Disabled
Print Spooler ---Disabled
Protected Storage ---Disabled
QoS RSVP ---Disabled
Remote Access Auto Connection Manager ---Disabled
Remote Access Connection Manager ---Disabled
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager ---Disabled
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Automatic
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator ------Manual
Remote Registry Service ---Disabled
Removable Storage ---Disabled
Routing and Remote Access ---Disabled
Secondary Logon s ---Disabled
Security Accounts Manager ---Disabled
Server ---Disabled
Shell Hardware Detection ---Disabled
Smart Card ---Disabled
Smart Card Helper ---Disabled
SSDP Discovery Service ---Disabled
System Event Notification ---Disabled
System Restore Service ---Disabled
Task Scheduler Schedule ---Disabled
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper Service ---Disabled (set this to Manual for
Internet)
Telephony ---Disabled
Telnet ---Disabled
Terminal Services ---Disabled
Themes ---Disabled
Uninterruptible Power Supply ---Disabled
Universal Plug and Play Device Host ---Disabled
Upload Manager ---Disabled
Volume Shadow Copy ---Disabled
WebClient ---Disabled
Windows Audio Automatic
Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) ---Disabled
Windows Installer ------Manual
Windows Management Instrumentation Automatic
Windows Management Instrumentation Driver ------Manual
Windows Time ---Disabled
Wireless Zero Configuration ---Disabled
WMI Performance Adapter ---Disabled
Workstation Automatic

 

[dslqueen]

Helpful Hint:

If you are a games player...take heed to where you download from...Kevins site he gave you to check start up tasks in MSCONFIG could be a life saver for you! Ever gone to imesh? audiogalaxy? or even worse kazaa? betcha you'll see programs you don't recognize in your add/remove programs list not to mention your start up list. you may want to try downloading something like &quot;ad-aware&quot; to trace instances of spyware/adware and/or theftware on your machine using resources in the background.

*big culprits - Bonzi Buddy, Gator, ever seen an error DW.exe? thats from Kazaa...get rid of this stuff if its there k? you'll also find your internet connection a lot faster. *ducks and hides* &quot;don't shoot me i'm only the messenger!&quot;

 

[Youlanda]

That bugger!

My system was having the above problem, and I turned off most of what XPisfree listed (unless I wasn't sure It wouldn't interfere with what I do, such as use my dsl modem to log on, no logging on means no way to find help) and my problem cleared up. That was friday.

Yesterday, it started again.
What I did yesterday:
Tried (and failed) to install a soundblaster sound card, removed it's software.
Removed some old useless stuff.
And the Google Bar updated its self.

When my box first started up, my system resources weren't a big problem, then, it seemed that when I opened internet explorer, things went to System using up most of my cpu time.

The following processes running are:
Iexplore.exe
taskmgr.exe
icq.exe
adsgone.exe
livejournal.exe
wcat.exe
pulse.exe
point32.exe
explorer.exe
svchost.exe (about 5 of those)
nprotect.exe
lsass.exe
services.exe
winlogon.exe
csrss.exe (this one has me a little eeeerie)
smss.exe (this one has me a little eeeerie)
System (212k, using 94%-100% of cpu time)
System Idle Process

The Services I am running are:
Com+ Event System (Manual)
Event Log (automatic)
Network Connections (Manual)
Norton Unerase Protection (Automatic)
Plug and Play (Automatic)
Protected Storage (automatic)
Remote Access Connection manager (Manual)
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) (Automatic)
Security Accounts Manager (Automatic)
System Restore Service (Automatic)
Telephony (Manual)
Terminal Services (Manual)
Themes (Automatic)
Windows Audio (Automatic)
Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) (Automatic)
Windows Management Instrumentation (Automatic)
Workstation (Automatic)

Which of the above can I turn off while still being able to connect to the internet to get more help?

I shall uninstall the google bar, hopefully someone can help me. I don't like my computer running like this.

 

[Youlanda]

Ahhh pardon me, I'm using:
Windows XP Professional
1 GB Athlon CPU
512mb ram

 

[KevinAr18]

Did you check the startup items as well Youlanda?

 

[linney]

You could use System Restore to go back to when you were happy with your computer's performance.

 

[Youlanda]

I have already done the startup thing. It appears that the removal of the google taskbar has caused the problem to go away. (now to solve the lovely soundcard program).

Thanks for your help.

 

[Moxen]

odincronus (Programmer), I have had this same problem on my PC. You wouldnt happen to be running a USB modem would you? It is the only time that my resources go up to nearly 100% is when I use my USB modem, Win 2000 had the same problem which was fixed with service pack 1, XP is the same, if you download SP1 then the problem is solved. Wouldnt recommend it though cos XP SP1 has corrupted my system twice so I wont download it again....

ANyways, hope this has helped!!!