Re: avp.exe

Excellent information, Bob. That will help a lot.

I looked up your specs. Here is a spec *** for your model:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c00628099&dlc=en

It says:

Hard Drive 160GB (5400RPM) Dual Hard Drive (80GB x 2)

That seems to match what you wrote. The way these things are marketed,
an 80GB drive winds up *really* being 75GB, which is what your D: drive
is. Since C: is only 66GB, I am guessing that there is a 9GB hidden
recovery partition on there.

The manuals can be found here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?product=1845530&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&product=1845530

The maintenance and service guide:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00701888.pdf

Pages B11 and B12 contain instructions to return your PC to its original
fresh-from-the-factory condition (which I am sure would include a number
of "free" trial programs that many of us are not fans of - e.g.,
Norton - also known as crapware!). There is indeed a hidden recovery
partition. But it appears you do not have an XP installation CD; that
is, this laptop would have shipped with recovery discs instead (or
perhaps these were discs you were instructed to create). But that is not
the same thing as an XP installation CD. Recovery discs essentially do
the same thing the recovery partition does.

Then again, it's possible you have an XP installation CD from another
PC. If so, that proably won't work with your HP laptop. In fact, the
only one that would work (for Repair or Clean Installs) is a generic OEM
XP Home installation CD, preferably at the SP3 level. In order to access
XP's Recoery Console, you *might* be able to use a different flavor of
XP installation CD.

AV = antivirus

Malware is in two broad categories: viruses (and related malware like
worms and trojans) and spyware. I had recommended the following programs
for AV:

NOD32
AVG
Avast
Avira AntiVir

(the last three have free versions)

And I recommended these two programs for anti-spyware:

MalwareBytes' AntiMalware
SUPERAntiSpyware

(both have free versions)

I would not uninstall The Shield until you have all your installation
files. Then I would physically disconnect from the Internet, uninstall
The Shield, reboot, and install the AV program of your choice and the
two antimalware programs. Physically reconnect to download the latest
updates. Scan with all three. Depending on your situation (that is,
there might be malware still on your PC), you may need to scan in Safe
Mode. In more drastic situations, you might even need to boot off a
Rescue Disc in order to scan (but I currently wouldn't be worried about
that).

What follows is my usual "boilerplate" for the typical causes of
sluggishness. Number 5 addresses the hard drive access mode and how to
check it and fix it:

Here are the typical causes of sluggishness:

1. Malicious software (malware). You need to rule this out first! This
page has excellent information:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Viruses_Malware

2. Certain programs that are designed to combat malware (e.g., Norton
and McAfee). Ironically, they can slow things down because they simply
use way too many resources. Sometime they cause conflicts with other
programs. And their default mode is to scan your entire hard drive each
time you boot up. Fortunately, there are other antimalware programs
available that use far fewer resources (e.g., NOD32, Avast, and Avira).

3. Too many of *certain types* of programs always running in the
background -- with or without your knowledge. (Then again, many programs
that run in the background have trivial consequences.)

To determine every program and process you are currently running, use
the Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and click the Processes tab. You should
be able to sort by CPU usage or Memory usage to get a good ideas which
ones are the resource/memory hogs. You should write down the names of
all the processes for future detective work (or take a snapshot and
print it out).

Use these sites to determine what these programs are and to learn how to
configure them not to always run at startup:

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php#THE_PROGRAMS
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm

Sometimes it is recommended to use msconfig to configure the programs to
not run at startup. A better, more thorough program is Autoruns:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

But before you do this, you should use the preference settings of the
program in question. Otherwise, for some programs, they will return to
the startup list anyway!

If you do wish to use msconfig, it may be accessed this way:

Start | Run | type "msconfig" (without the quotation marks) | Enter (or
OK)

4. Not enough RAM, which causes the PC to overly rely on the pagefile. A
quick way to determine if this is happening is to open Task Manager
(Ctrl+Alt+Del) and click the Performance tab. Then note the three values
under Commit Charge (K): in the lower left-hand corner: Total, Limit,
and Peak.

The Total figure represents the amount of memory you are using at that
very moment. The Peak figure represents the highest amount of memory you
used since last bootup. If both these figures are below the value of
Physical Memory (K) Total, then you probably have plenty of RAM.
In case you want to explore this further, you may run Page File Monitor
for Windows XP:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

5. You might also want to check that your hard drive's access mode
didn't change from DMA to PIO:

http://www.technize.com/2007/08/02/is-your-hard-disk-cddvd-drives-too-slow-while-copying/

and

http://users.bigpond.net.au/ninjaduck/itserviceduck/udma_fix/




Bob V wrote:
Thanks very much for your detailed response & other respondees
responses. Additional info you requested follows:
Computer - Laptop HP Pavilion dv8220ca
OS - Windows XP Home Ed. SP3
My C: drive is 66GB - used 35GB, free 31GB
My internal D: drive (used for backups) is 75GB - used 37GB, free 38GB
RAM - 1.00GB
History - I've had the problem for about a month, but I don't recall
any special events that might have triggered it.
Yes - I have an XP installation CD.
Re - 'hard drive didn't slip from DMA to PIO mode' - how do I check
that?

There is a lot of info in your & other's responses, so it might take
me a few days to absorb it all. One thing that surprises (indeed
amazes) me is the common disdain for registry cleaners, incl.
Registry Mechanic. I realize that most clean up can be done thru Disk
Cleanup, & I use Disk Defragmenter frequently (when required). So I'm
going to uninstall Registry Mechanic.

I emailed support at The Shield, for comments on the 'avp.exe'
problem, but I have to wait 3 days for a reply.

Re all the freeware mentioned, should I uninstall The Shield first
before downloading them?

Also, I don't understand 'AV'. What is that?

Again, thanks for all your help to date.

"Daave" wrote:

Bob V wrote:
Sorry about confusing the Posts & Threads. I just thought that it
would be better to get the corrected file name on the Subject line.
I'll know next time.

The problems I have include slow downs &/or freeze ups in programs
like MS Word, MS Outlook, Windows Explorer & Internet Explorer.
Sometimes I can't even close the programs. When I do, I find I can't
get to Start\Restart.

You might have malware in your system. That needs to be ruled out.
See this page for pointers:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Viruses_Malware

Sometimes I get a message box that says words
like ".. the file avp.exe is not responding (or not functioning)".

In the event you don't have malware, I would imagine you are having
problems with whatever program that calls on avp.exe. Your best bet
is to get support from the makers of that program. If they cannot
resolve your problem, you should cut your losses and uninstall that
problematic program.

I have to hold down the Off button, then turn on again.

That's not good. Sometimes that lead to much bigger problems (e.g.,
the inability to boot).

I use The Shield Deluxe 2008 Antivirus program. This is set up to
run continuosly for automatic updates & scanning my mail & files.
Also, on start up, it scans Startup Objects. I note that The Shield
uses avp.exe & Kaspersky files.

Then contact them for support. Again, if they can't address this
issue, you will most likely be better off uninstalling this program.

Also, I use Registry Mechanic to keep the Registry clean.

Not a good move for reasons mentioned in other replies you have
surely seen. Although I doubt it, it's certainly possible that your
problem might be a direct result of removing an important registry
key.

I note from a MS KB article that AVP input files might conflict with
the MS Metadirectory Services (MMS) XML and File Toolkit Wizard. But
that is far too technical for me.

Another reason you should uninstall The Shield Deluxe.

I have not uninstalled, reinstalled or installed any programs for a
long time, nor changed any Settings.

So what is my next step?

After you have ruled out malware, you might want to uninstall The
Shield Deluxe and then run System Restore to a point before you
started screwing around with the registry. Who knows? You might luck
out. Then uninstall Registry Mechanic. For AV, use NOD32 if you want
to pay for a program. If you want freeware, AVG, Avast, and Avira
AntiVir are all very good. And make sure you also run other
antimalware programs: MalwareBytes' AntiMalware and SUPERAntiSpyware
are both free and effective. Make sure your Windows Firewall is
running, too.

I would also make sure your hard drive didn't slip from DMA to PIO
mode.

It is important to provide us with information such as:

- Make/Model/Number of your PC

- Flavor of XP (Home, Pro, or MCE)

- SP level

- Size of hard drive and amount of free space

- Amount of RAM

- Relevant history, such as how long have you had this problem and do
you recall anything significant that happened around that time?

Final question: Do you have an XP installation CD?


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