Re: CPU Pegged at 100%

Post run of housecall - found 37 "grayware/spyware", which consisted of 36
cookies and something identified as "ADWARE_MEMWATCHER" in
c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts\127.0.0.1

That one appears, from what I've seen on the web, to be a false positive
that can be caused by spybot s&d.

So, the system appears to be clean, and yet a huge amount of cpu appears to
be being used by kernel mode.

Any other thoughts, other than getting a new computer?? It really seems
like this machine should be able to handle the work that we want to do on it,
but it bogs down way too much on ridiculously simple tasks.

HELP!

"Gerry" wrote:

Mark

You can use an Intel Application Accelerator with the Intel Chipsets
listed in this link.
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa/sb/cs-009312.htm

An Intel Application Accelerator is not offered by Intel for later
chipsets

Did you disable McAfee and Windows Defender before running Housecall? It
would be helpful to know whether the problem was a fight between
security software or defensive measures being taken by malware? It could
of course be something else.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



mtvet wrote:
Tried the housecall link. Looked like it was working ok at first,
but then took FOREVER. There was no data going across the web, so
something hung up, and the CPU was, again, at 100%. Tried to restart
the housecall check, and it kept giving me error messages, so I don't
think I'm going to be able to successfully run that. Any other
ideas???

Mark

"Gerry" wrote:

mtvet

Try an online scan using this link:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mtvet wrote:
I know it's the holidays, and that's why responses may be slow, but
I'm still looking for help.

Any idea if Intel's Application Accelerator would be helpful with
this kind of situation? Just been poking along, trying to check on
drivers etc, and stumbled across it.

Mark

"Gerry" wrote:

mtvet

Your commit charge figures are well below available RAM so in that
sense they are fine. In terms of comparables posted these will have
been posted as a result of requests where the user has complained
of slow performance and excessive use of the pagefile is expected.
So any results posted will more than likely be high. However, it
is not easy to get typical figures. You really need to get results
when the user is not conscious of a performance issue.

Leaving a computer on 24/7 exposes the system to the consequences
of memory leaks. Even when a programme with a memory leak is
closed the memory is not released until the system is shutdown or
restarted.

You can check pagefile usage more directly using pagefilemon.

A small utility to monitor pagefile usage:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

Note that programs using undo features, particularly those
associated with graphics and photo editing, require large amounts
of memory so if you use this type of programme check these first
observing how the page usage increases when they start and whether
the usage decreases when you close the programme.

You can get clues as to what is generating peak memory demands but
this is not a precise science, more a matter of judgement.

The basis of your complaint is that CPU is pegged at 100%. Are you
counting the System Idle process as part of the 100%. The System
Idle process needs to be disregarded as it represents unused CPU
capacity. Normally if you can match CPU usage to something you are
doing then it is of no concern. It is unexplained CPU usage that
needs investigation as it can indicate malware activity. You can
also get a programme commanding 100% because it has a problem.
Windows Automatic Updates has been known to create this type of
problem.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


mtvet wrote:
Gerry-

Under normal circumstances, what would average commit charge
figures be? Just curious, because the examples I've seen on line
have been roughly the same as on this machine, so I'm wondering
what the metric is that you use.

Also, I've heard conflicting arguments for shutting down
frequently vs. leaving a computer on for longer. Some involve
the strain on the hardware from frequent power cycles, some
involve software stability over long periods of time. Why do you
say it is "not a good idea" to leave the computer on 24/7?

I'll try the spybot thing. I think that McAfee had said that it
conflicts with their software and that it needed to be removed,
but I'll double check those conversations and give it a try.

Mark

"Gerry" wrote:

Mark

Your commit charge figures are high. McAfee is a known cause and
two of the items in your list relate to McAfee. Leaving your
computer on 24/7 is not a good idea.

You might look for malware.

I would download and run Spybot S & D (freeware version) and see
if it finds anything like a Trojan. If Spybot S & D finds
anything significant ( other than cookies) you need to be wary.
If it removes something and it returns or another nasty pops up
it can be an indication that there is another hidden nasty not
being detected by McAfee or Spybot.

Spybot S & D. There is a freeware version buried in this link:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
mtvet wrote:
Just wanted to make sure my responses were actually getting out
there, since my ability to see them has been very compromised by
using the Microsoft web-based newsreader. Figured I would ping
this one, just to make sure that if the existence of the other
replies had been unobserved there would be another chance for a
response.

Mark

"Gerry" wrote:

What version of McAfee is it?

I do not know whether Windows Defender clashes with McAfee but
I doubt that is the problem.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the
Performance Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the
Limit and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task
Manager. With the Processes tab open select View, Select,
Columns and check the boxes before Peak Memory Usage and
Virtual Memory size. What are the figures for the 6 processes
using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



mtvet wrote:
Sorry, it's actually 1.25 G. System came with 500M (250x2).
I bought 1G and replace 1 module.

In Task Manager, the total physical memory is : 1308656.
Total available hovers around: 583560, and system cache
around: 654840.

Any idea if Windows Defender and McAfee clash at all to cause
these kinds of symptoms. It's still strange to me that the
biggest hog I wind up seeing is svchost.exe with 3 identical
threads kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

While McAfee may be somewhat of a hog, it doesn't "appear" to
be grabbing too much of the CPU (except at certain times).

"Gerry" wrote:

In terms of system performance McAfee is a poor choice for a
home computer. Replacing it with freeware alternatives would
result in a significant improvement.

Are you sure you have 1.3 gb RAM? You have two slots. What
size stick is each?

Drivers:
http://snipurl.com/951ce [h10025_www1_hp_com]

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mtvet wrote:
On SP3 now...got THAT issue resolved, but performance still
the same, LOUSY. Updated video driver, no effect. You
mentioned the motherboard chipset drivers and that they
should be sure to be updated. If I go into device manager,
which devices do I select in order to update those drivers
appropriately? Is there a way to get the system to do a
global driver update of some type, rather than having to do
them piecemeal??

Thanks.

"Shenan Stanley" wrote:

mtvet wrote:
I've seen this issue a number of times, but no firm
solution, and have a few differences with the other
presentations. Just want to try to get at what's going on
with this machine.

HP Pavilion 503n, XPSP2, Celeron 1.7GHz, 1.3 GB RAM

Running Process Explorer to try to figure out what's going
on.

Launch an Office program - Jumps to 100% CPU, then drops
down. When I then try to open a file and navigate to My
Computer, the flashlight comes up, and it takes forever,
with the usage up to 100%. The primary process in this
case appears to be the Office App (eg - WinWord). In
other cases, seems like it's svchost that has 3 threads of
kernel32.dll!CreateThread+0x22.

These each consume 20+% of the CPU.

When we connect to the web using VZAccessMgr (verizon
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: CPU Pegged at 100%
    ... try to get at what is really consuming CPU. ... Did you disable McAfee and Windows Defender before running Housecall? ... Even when a programme with a memory leak is ... You can check pagefile usage more directly using pagefilemon. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: CPU Pegged at 100%
    ... Did you disable McAfee and Windows Defender before running Housecall? ... Even when a programme with a memory leak is ... You can check pagefile usage more directly using pagefilemon. ... The basis of your complaint is that CPU is pegged at 100%. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: CPU Pegged at 100%
    ... Even when a programme with a memory leak is closed the ... You can check pagefile usage more directly using pagefilemon. ... The basis of your complaint is that CPU is pegged at 100%. ... I think that McAfee had said that it ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: CPU Pegged at 100%
    ... Even when a programme with a memory leak is closed the ... You can check pagefile usage more directly using pagefilemon. ... The basis of your complaint is that CPU is pegged at 100%. ... I think that McAfee had said that it ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: CPU Pegged at 100%
    ... via VZAccess Manager I get spikes of 45-70% CPU usage, ... On the memory leak front, wouldn't I see the total RAM used slowly creeping ... You can check pagefile usage more directly using pagefilemon. ... I think that McAfee had said that it ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
Loading