"Not Responding"

Johnny has written on 6/30/2013 6:11 PM:
On 6/29/2013 12:35 PM, Juan Wei wrote:
Far too frequently, I see "Not Responding" in the title bar of a program
-- browsers, email client, spreadsheet, word processor, etc.

I have Process Explorer running and always check to see if the display
is active and what the total CPU usage is. It rarely shows more than 10-15%.

The "Not Responding" delay can run as long as 30 seconds and is very
irritating.

How can I get this to stop?

Thank you.


The only time I ever had a problem with a program not responding was
when I was typing an Email in Thunderbird. I would be typing away, and
look up and the letters were not appearing. After a short time, they
would just pop up.

I thought the problem was with Thunderbird, but it was with Firefox, and
it only happened when I left a certain website open in Firefox, while
writing an Email in Thunderbird.

I really think the problem was caused by the Shockwave Flash Plug in.

I solved the problem by uninstalling Firefox, and the only way to really
do that is to delete your profile.

Yes, Firefox was using 100% of the CPU.

Thanks but that's not what's happening here. I have Process Explorer
running and can assure you that my CPU use is way below 100%.

Did you get "Not Responding" in the title bar? If not, your animal and
mine are different.

Thanks anyway.

On 6/30/2013 6:39 PM, Juan Wei wrote:
Johnny has written on 6/30/2013 6:11 PM:
On 6/29/2013 12:35 PM, Juan Wei wrote:
Far too frequently, I see "Not Responding" in the title bar of a program
-- browsers, email client, spreadsheet, word processor, etc.

I have Process Explorer running and always check to see if the display
is active and what the total CPU usage is. It rarely shows more than 10-15%.

The "Not Responding" delay can run as long as 30 seconds and is very
irritating.

How can I get this to stop?

Thank you.


The only time I ever had a problem with a program not responding was
when I was typing an Email in Thunderbird. I would be typing away, and
look up and the letters were not appearing. After a short time, they
would just pop up.

I thought the problem was with Thunderbird, but it was with Firefox, and
it only happened when I left a certain website open in Firefox, while
writing an Email in Thunderbird.

I really think the problem was caused by the Shockwave Flash Plug in.

I solved the problem by uninstalling Firefox, and the only way to really
do that is to delete your profile.

Yes, Firefox was using 100% of the CPU.

Thanks but that's not what's happening here. I have Process Explorer
running and can assure you that my CPU use is way below 100%.

Did you get "Not Responding" in the title bar? If not, your animal and
mine are different.

Thanks anyway.


Yes, Thunderbird had Not Responding in the title bar.

Juan Wei wrote:
Johnny has written on 6/30/2013 6:11 PM:
On 6/29/2013 12:35 PM, Juan Wei wrote:
Far too frequently, I see "Not Responding" in the title bar of a program
-- browsers, email client, spreadsheet, word processor, etc.

I have Process Explorer running and always check to see if the display
is active and what the total CPU usage is. It rarely shows more than 10-15%.

The "Not Responding" delay can run as long as 30 seconds and is very
irritating.

How can I get this to stop?

Thank you.

The only time I ever had a problem with a program not responding was
when I was typing an Email in Thunderbird. I would be typing away, and
look up and the letters were not appearing. After a short time, they
would just pop up.

I thought the problem was with Thunderbird, but it was with Firefox, and
it only happened when I left a certain website open in Firefox, while
writing an Email in Thunderbird.

I really think the problem was caused by the Shockwave Flash Plug in.

I solved the problem by uninstalling Firefox, and the only way to really
do that is to delete your profile.

Yes, Firefox was using 100% of the CPU.

Thanks but that's not what's happening here. I have Process Explorer
running and can assure you that my CPU use is way below 100%.

Did you get "Not Responding" in the title bar? If not, your animal and
mine are different.

Thanks anyway.

"Not responding" can easily occur, if you're stuck in a kernel call.
There would be no indication on the %CPU display, if that happens.
And AV programs are the sort of things, that screw around with *everything*.
Which is why removing them, is a start.

You can set up a kernel debugger, connect the PC via serial cable to
a second PC, and debug the machine that way. I've never done it,
and I doubt I'd be successful getting it to run in any case. It's
that ugly. I have a pretty poor record, getting debuggers to run.
The one in Visual Studio wasn't bad (that's an application level
debugger). At least I managed to single-step that one. At least
some of the free debuggers out there, they don't have good
docs for naive users like myself (GDB comes to mind).

The idea would be, if you got stuck in a kernel call for long enough,
you could go to the second PC, and see if the kernel debugger is
responding or not.

Paul

Paul has written on 7/1/2013 2:46 AM:

"Not responding" can easily occur, if you're stuck in a kernel call.
There would be no indication on the %CPU display, if that happens.
And AV programs are the sort of things, that screw around with *everything*.
Which is why removing them, is a start.

You can set up a kernel debugger, connect the PC via serial cable to
a second PC, and debug the machine that way. I've never done it,
and I doubt I'd be successful getting it to run in any case. It's
that ugly. I have a pretty poor record, getting debuggers to run.
The one in Visual Studio wasn't bad (that's an application level
debugger). At least I managed to single-step that one. At least
some of the free debuggers out there, they don't have good
docs for naive users like myself (GDB comes to mind).

The idea would be, if you got stuck in a kernel call for long enough,
you could go to the second PC, and see if the kernel debugger is
responding or not.

Thanks, Paul, but I guess I'll just wait them out.

On Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:41:35 -0400, Juan Wei
wrote:

Win 7. The 32-bit programs I use regularly a

Evernote (background)
Everything (bg)
Fast Stone Capture (bg)
Kingsoft Office
Malwarebytes Antimalware (bg)
Firefox
Thunderbird
Opera
Stardock Fences (bg)
Maxthon browser
Slimbrowser


OT for this thread, but if I may ask, why do you use so many browsers
(Firefox, Opera, Maxthon, and SlimBrowser)? How do you decide which
browser is best for each web site you go to? In particular, I'd like
to know your thoughts about SlimBrowser (which is new to me); when do
you use it, and how do you decide to use it?

Ken Blake has written on 7/2/2013 10:38 AM:

OT for this thread, but if I may ask, why do you use so many browsers
(Firefox, Opera, Maxthon, and SlimBrowser)? How do you decide which
browser is best for each web site you go to? In particular, I'd like
to know your thoughts about SlimBrowser (which is new to me); when do
you use it, and how do you decide to use it?

I like browsers. :-) (You left out Chrome and IE.)

Well, FF is my historical browser, and I can put notes in the bookmarks.

Chrome is probably best.

The others are "interesting". In my usage, I don't really see much
difference.

I like to keep Words with Friends and Scrabble open in one browser and
then a "scrabble helper" in another so I can go back and forth via
Alt-Tab. :-)

I tend to have lots of open tabs and SlimBrowser sees to have the
smallest virtual memory size.

On Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:14:15 -0400, Juan Wei
wrote:

Ken Blake has written on 7/2/2013 10:38 AM:

OT for this thread, but if I may ask, why do you use so many browsers
(Firefox, Opera, Maxthon, and SlimBrowser)? How do you decide which
browser is best for each web site you go to? In particular, I'd like
to know your thoughts about SlimBrowser (which is new to me); when do
you use it, and how do you decide to use it?

I like browsers. :-) (You left out Chrome and IE.)

Well, FF is my historical browser, and I can put notes in the bookmarks.

Chrome is probably best.


Not to me, it isn't. But that's OK; we don't have to have the same
preferences.

But what I don't understand is that if you think Chrome is the best,
why don't you use it all the time, to the exclusion of the others?

Ken Blake has written on 7/2/2013 11:57 AM:
On Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:14:15 -0400, Juan Wei
wrote:

Well, FF is my historical browser, and I can put notes in the bookmarks.

But what I don't understand is that if you think Chrome is the best,
why don't you use it all the time, to the exclusion of the others?

See above. Why should they be excluded? Actually, it's faster to shut
down a browser with a small number of open tabs than one with a large
number, so it seems to me that I am shutting down more quickly by having
tabs spread across several browsers.

Besides, if I had everything in one browser and had to restart it, it
could take a while.

And as I said, I like browsers. :-)

On Tue, 02 Jul 2013 13:02:20 -0400, Juan Wei
wrote:

Ken Blake has written on 7/2/2013 11:57 AM:
On Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:14:15 -0400, Juan Wei
wrote:

Well, FF is my historical browser, and I can put notes in the bookmarks.

But what I don't understand is that if you think Chrome is the best,
why don't you use it all the time, to the exclusion of the others?

See above. Why should they be excluded? Actually, it's faster to shut
down a browser with a small number of open tabs than one with a large
number, so it seems to me that I am shutting down more quickly by having
tabs spread across several browsers.

Several points:

1. I use my browser so often that I never shut it down.

2. A good browser lets you have multiple instances of it open at once.
I don't know about all of them, but Maxthon does. Again, why not use
just your favorite (with multiple open instances if you want) rather
than several?

3. If it's faster, it's at best slightly faster.

4. Every browser is different in part from all the others. If you run
several, it is very different to remember which one you are in, and
you will try to do something in one that doesn't work that way in that
one.

5. If you don't try to do something in one that doesn't work that way
in that one, you are undoubtedly not using all the best features of
each browser. As a single example, one of the things that makes
Maxthon so good is its mouse gestures. Either you don't use mouse
gestures or you keep trying unsuccessfully to use them in other
browsers.

Besides, if I had everything in one browser and had to restart it, it
could take a while.

And as I said, I like browsers. :-)


Your choice, but as far as I'm concerned, it makes much more sense to
pick the one you like the best and use just that one.

Ken Blake has written on 7/2/2013 2:44 PM:
Several points:

1. I use my browser so often that I never shut it down.

You never restart your computer? You never get a page that freezes?

2. A good browser lets you have multiple instances of it open at once.
I don't know about all of them, but Maxthon does. Again, why not use
just your favorite (with multiple open instances if you want) rather
than several?

I can't ditch FF. I'd lose too much info.

3. If it's faster, it's at best slightly faster.

4. Every browser is different in part from all the others. If you run
several, it is very different to remember which one you are in, and
you will try to do something in one that doesn't work that way in that
one.

No, I won't.

5. If you don't try to do something in one that doesn't work that way
in that one, you are undoubtedly not using all the best features of
each browser. As a single example, one of the things that makes
Maxthon so good is its mouse gestures. Either you don't use mouse
gestures or you keep trying unsuccessfully to use them in other
browsers.

I have no idea what mouse gestures are or why I'd want to use them.

Your choice, but as far as I'm concerned, it makes much more sense to
pick the one you like the best and use just that one.

It makes much more sense to you. :-)

On Tue, 02 Jul 2013 15:21:27 -0400, Juan Wei
wrote:

Ken Blake has written on 7/2/2013 2:44 PM:
Several points:

1. I use my browser so often that I never shut it down.

You never restart your computer?


Don't take the word "never" that literally. Almost never--perhaps once
a month or so.


You never get a page that freezes?


Again--almost never.


2. A good browser lets you have multiple instances of it open at once.
I don't know about all of them, but Maxthon does. Again, why not use
just your favorite (with multiple open instances if you want) rather
than several?

I can't ditch FF. I'd lose too much info.

3. If it's faster, it's at best slightly faster.

4. Every browser is different in part from all the others. If you run
several, it is very different to remember which one you are in, and
you will try to do something in one that doesn't work that way in that
one.

No, I won't.

5. If you don't try to do something in one that doesn't work that way
in that one, you are undoubtedly not using all the best features of
each browser. As a single example, one of the things that makes
Maxthon so good is its mouse gestures. Either you don't use mouse
gestures or you keep trying unsuccessfully to use them in other
browsers.

I have no idea what mouse gestures are or why I'd want to use them.


As I suspected. You use many browsers, but don't know the strong
points of each, and that's why you don't choose to use only the one
that works best for you.



Your choice, but as far as I'm concerned, it makes much more sense to
pick the one you like the best and use just that one.

It makes much more sense to you. :-)


Have it you way. As far as I'm concerned, you're making a big mistake,
but I won't try any more to convince you of it.

On Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:44:35 -0700, Ken Blake wrote:

Your choice, but as far as I'm concerned, it makes much more sense to
pick the one you like the best and use just that one.

One problem arises, though. Firefox in Windows isn't the same as Firefox
in Android...

True of others as well, for instance Chrome.

Luckily for me, I'm one of those people who don't make full use of the
browsers' features. Nonetheless, something as simple as making and later
using a bookmark can be bafflingly different on the two platforms.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

Ken Blake has written on 7/2/2013 5:19 PM:

Have it you way. As far as I'm concerned, you're making a big mistake,
but I won't try any more to convince you of it.


Thank you but aren't you going to tell me about mouse gestures?

On Sun, 30 Jun 2013 15:59:16 +0100, Dave-UK wrote:

"Stan Brown" wrote in message t...

Something they still have not fixed is the absurdly long timeouts for
unavailable devices. If I accidentally click the DVD drive in
Explorer, for example, Windows locks up for what seems like a whole
minute until it finally realizes that there's no disk in the drive.

I don't think it's a Windows problem.
When I double-click on my empty DVD drive icon with Windows explorer
the drive door slides open and a message box appears immediately saying:
" Please insert a disc into drive D:."

I have a laptop. Would you by chance have a desktop? DVD drive
handling is different in the two.

For example, ImgBurn can close a DVD tray on a desktop, but not on a
laptop.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

On Tue, 2 Jul 2013 19:10:50 -0400, Stan Brown wrote:

On Sun, 30 Jun 2013 15:59:16 +0100, Dave-UK wrote:

"Stan Brown" wrote in message t...

Something they still have not fixed is the absurdly long timeouts for
unavailable devices. If I accidentally click the DVD drive in
Explorer, for example, Windows locks up for what seems like a whole
minute until it finally realizes that there's no disk in the drive.

I don't think it's a Windows problem.
When I double-click on my empty DVD drive icon with Windows explorer
the drive door slides open and a message box appears immediately saying:
" Please insert a disc into drive D:."

I have a laptop. Would you by chance have a desktop? DVD drive
handling is different in the two.

For example, ImgBurn can close a DVD tray on a desktop, but not on a
laptop.

Does that relate in any way to the fact that the tray on a laptop drive
is not motorized? :-)

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)