CPU Pegged at 100%

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 wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this
case appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything
else runs on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality
at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver for
that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let Windows
control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does
it crash your system? And how long does it take to completely
peg your processor and use all your memory?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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 wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this
case appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything
else runs on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality
at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver for
that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let Windows
control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does
it crash your system? And how long does it take to completely
peg your processor and use all your memory?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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 wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this
case appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything
else runs on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality
at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver
for that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let
Windows control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does
it crash your system? And how long does it take to completely
peg your processor and use all your memory?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Gerry-

I was just asking what you look at for normal because you said they seem
high in your prior posting.

As far as your question goes, of course I am NOT counting the idle process
in the total. As noted in the examples above, when connected to the internet
via VZAccess Manager I get spikes of 45-70% CPU usage, where the key process
using CPU appears to be svchost, with 3 threads of kernel32!CreateThread0x22
(doing it by memory, but that's close to it), each taking about a third of
the total CPU being used.

If I start Word, at startup Word.exe will take up 100% of CPU for a few
seconds. It then drops down to baseline. If I then do a File-Open and use
the drop down box to go to My Computer, it will pause for about 10
seconds...during that time Word.exe is at 90-100% of CPU, and the CPU is
running at 100% for that time. The system is, of course, non-responsive at
that time. I get the same thing with Excel, except that it's excel.exe that
is taking up the whole CPU at that time.

I get the same symptoms if I just use Windows explorer and navigate to My
Computer, except it's explore.exe that takes up the entire CPU.

On the memory leak front, wouldn't I see the total RAM used slowly creeping
up if processes were taking memory and not releasing it? RAM, from
everything I can see, doesn't appear to be the issue here. It seems like
it's really a CPU problem, but I'm not sure how to get to the next level as
far as determining what within either the Office application or Windows
Explorer, or svchost is really eating up cycles that shouldn't be.

Thanks for your help. I'm still stumped.

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 wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this
case appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything
else runs on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality
at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver
for that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let
Windows control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does
it crash your system? And how long does it take to completely
peg your processor and use all your memory?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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 wireless
connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to 80% and back
down. Just keeps cycling like that. The heavy users in this
case appear to be the CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything
else runs on top of that, we have absolutely no functionality
at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver
for that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let
Windows control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while - does
it crash your system? And how long does it take to completely
peg your processor and use all your memory?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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
wireless connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to
80% and back down. Just keeps cycling like that. The
heavy users in this case appear to be the
CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything else runs on top of
that, we have absolutely no functionality at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in
particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver
for that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let
Windows control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while -
does it crash your system? And how long does it take to
completely peg your processor and use all your memory?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Gerry,

I'll try that, but you didn't answer my other questions.

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
wireless connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to
80% and back down. Just keeps cycling like that. The
heavy users in this case appear to be the
CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything else runs on top of
that, we have absolutely no functionality at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in
particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver
for that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let
Windows control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while -
does it crash your system? And how long does it take to
completely peg your processor and use all your memory?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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
wireless connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to
80% and back down. Just keeps cycling like that. The
heavy users in this case appear to be the
CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything else runs on top of
that, we have absolutely no functionality at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a noticable
difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in
particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest driver
for that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let
Windows control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition or
Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while -
does it crash your system? And how long does it take to
completely peg your processor and use all your memory?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Mark

You can use an Intel Application Accelerator with the Intel Chipsets
listed in this link.
http://www.intel.com/support/chipset.../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
wireless connection) the usage jumps from about 20% up to
80% and back down. Just keeps cycling like that. The
heavy users in this case appear to be the
CreateThread+0x22. Then when anything else runs on top of
that, we have absolutely no functionality at all.

Any help/suggestions appreciated!!!

I tend to see that alot on celeron processors. The lack of
sufficient cache on the processor *really* makes a
noticable difference.

- Are you running the latest VZAccessMgr?
- Latest hardware drivers (motherboard chipset in
particular)?
- What AV software?
- Integrated or seperate video card (and is the latest
driver for that installed?)
- What is your virtual memory set at? (I suggest you let
Windows control it.)
- How much free disk space?
- Last time you ran a full CHKDSK?
- Followed by a full defragmentation?
- What version of Office?
- Why SP2 and not SP3 for Windows XP?
- Home Edition, Professional Edition, Media Center Edition
or Tablet PC Edition?
- If you run an application like "HeavyLoad" for a while -
does it crash your system? And how long does it take to
completely peg your processor and use all your memory?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Defender and McAfee have now been disabled. After that, wound up trying to
run Housecall and kept getting the message "an error occurred while trying to
transfer data from the internet." I couldn't get past it. I then tried the
newly released revision, and it appears to be working correctly, but is
taking a very long time. It is, at least, updating the status so it looks
like I should have results in 4-5 hours.

Tried some other things and still can't figure out what's going on. In
Process Explorer, when it's up at 100%, the bulk of the time appears to be
kernel time, about 80%. I captured the WINWORD stacks for the two states to
try to get at what is really consuming CPU. Let me know if you have any
thoughts about further measures I can take to debug. I'll report back with
any problems found by housecall. I also have kernrate downloaded, but need
help figuring out where to focus when using it. Here they a

WINWORD stack when 100% CPU usage
ntoskrnl.exe+0x47f3
ntoskrnl.exe!PsGetContextThread+0x329
ntoskrnl.exe!FsRtlInitializeFileLock+0x83f
ntoskrnl.exe!ExReleaseResourceLite+0x1d4
ntdll.dll!KiFastSystemCallRet
USER32.dll!PeekMessageW+0x167
SHELL32.dll!SHCreateQueryCancelAutoPlayMoniker+0x7 023
mso.dll!Ordinal159+0x52a
mso.dll!Ordinal99+0x455
mso.dll!Ordinal99+0x1d8
mso.dll!Ordinal99+0x6e7


WINWORD stack low CPU
ntoskrnl.exe!ExReleaseResourceLite+0x1a3
ntoskrnl.exe!PsGetContextThread+0x329
ntoskrnl.exe!FsRtlInitializeFileLock+0x83f
ntoskrnl.exe!FsRtlInitializeFileLock+0x87e
win32k.sys+0x2ed2
win32k.sys+0x36d8
win32k.sys+0x36f5
ntdll.dll!KiFastSystemCallRet


"Gerry" wrote:

Mark

You can use an Intel Application Accelerator with the Intel Chipsets
listed in this link.
http://www.intel.com/support/chipset.../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

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/chipset.../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

Still looking for some feedback on my posts from the 8th and 9th. Anyone out
there?!?!?!?

Mark

"Gerry" wrote:

Mark

You can use an Intel Application Accelerator with the Intel Chipsets
listed in this link.
http://www.intel.com/support/chipset.../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

Try Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
1.32 -freeware (if you upgrade you pay).
http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes...-10804572.html

Run Malwarebytes' in safe mode and turn off McAfee before you do to
avoid
a conflict. Disregard the invitation on the web site regarding the
Registry Optimiser -a Registry Optimiser is not a helpful utitity.

--



Hope this helps.

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



mtvet wrote:
Still looking for some feedback on my posts from the 8th and 9th.
Anyone out there?!?!?!?

Mark

"Gerry" wrote:

Mark

You can use an Intel Application Accelerator with the Intel Chipsets
listed in this link.
http://www.intel.com/support/chipset.../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

Ok, Gerry.

Ran Malwarebytes in Safe Mode with McAfee off. Found no malware at all on
the system. Sorry it took me so long to follow up. Hope you're still
monitoring this thread.

Here's where we are now. No malware. SP3, all drivers updated (as far as I
can figure out).

Symptoms... even not on the web, so without VZAccess Manager running, launch
part of the Office Suite, and the CPU goes to 100% for several seconds. If I
then try to open a file and navigate to MyComputer, the system freezes for 10
or more seconds (100% CPU usage) with the primary user of CPU being that
Office application executable.

If I don't launch one of those applications, but instead launce Windows
Explorer and navigate to My Computer the same thing happens, but explorer.exe
is the principle user of cpu.

Any more thoughts about this? With no sign of malware, I'm wondering if it
could be a BIOS issue, although I haven't heard of BIOS problems causing
this. Any more tools to use to try to find out what specifically is locking
the CPU for so long. I have verified that the machine is correctly
identifying the CPU and locating the on-board cache. Temperatures seem to be
stable. I cleaned the inside of the case, so no dust to lead to overheating
either, but this doesn't seem like an overheating issue.

Help!!

mtvet

"Gerry" wrote:

Try Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
1.32 -freeware (if you upgrade you pay).
http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes...-10804572.html

Run Malwarebytes' in safe mode and turn off McAfee before you do to
avoid
a conflict. Disregard the invitation on the web site regarding the
Registry Optimiser -a Registry Optimiser is not a helpful utitity.

--



Hope this helps.

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



mtvet wrote:
Still looking for some feedback on my posts from the 8th and 9th.
Anyone out there?!?!?!?

Mark

"Gerry" wrote:

Mark

You can use an Intel Application Accelerator with the Intel Chipsets
listed in this link.
http://www.intel.com/support/chipset.../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

By the way, just to make sure it's really clear what I'm seeing, when the CPU
ramps up for that long, the bulk of it appears to be in kernel mode. Don't
know if that helps, but thought it might.

Thanks.

"Gerry" wrote:

Try Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
1.32 -freeware (if you upgrade you pay).
http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes...-10804572.html

Run Malwarebytes' in safe mode and turn off McAfee before you do to
avoid
a conflict. Disregard the invitation on the web site regarding the
Registry Optimiser -a Registry Optimiser is not a helpful utitity.

--



Hope this helps.

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



mtvet wrote:
Still looking for some feedback on my posts from the 8th and 9th.
Anyone out there?!?!?!?

Mark

"Gerry" wrote:

Mark

You can use an Intel Application Accelerator with the Intel Chipsets
listed in this link.
http://www.intel.com/support/chipset.../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