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Re: Windows XP Home Edition Slow

  #41  
Nov 20th, 2007
Originally Posted by JAJansenJr View Post
It seems to be jumping around all over the place. Usage shows anything from 14% to 100%. The usage graph shows a series of jagged spikes.

JAJansenJr
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I've been following this thread since it started and I'm amazed you haven't been asked to list the, say, top 5 processes and their % CPU usage when Task Manager/Processes sorted on CPU is selected.

We might be able to get a handle on all this then. Also there's a HJT log that can tell us what's running in your 384MB PC.

If there's no malware, then remember that Windows or your AV do kick in from time time time. Again, if there's no malware the way to speed up is what you've already been told:
- Keep your startup stuff to a minimum (needs effort & maintenance)
- Unload programs not in use
- Don't run several apps at once

Your aim must be to avoid page thrashing because of all the crap that can run if you don't housekeep what's in startup.

If you ost an HJT log we might (or might not) find malware. But 4 pages into this thread and you're not much further forward because a whole load of important stuff isn't known. Or have I missed it?
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Re: Windows XP Home Edition Slow

  #42  
Nov 20th, 2007
Here are the top 5 processes running at the moment:

Opera 72,972K
WAOL 52,288K
AOLsoftware.exe 13,456K
McShield.exe 13,168K
svchost.exe 10,816K

The % CPU fluctuates but mainly
the SystemIdleProcess is showing
the greatest % (around 85%).

So at the moment the brower (with four windows open) Opera,
AOL and McAfee antivirus are the main processes. Svchost.exe
can mean a variety of things - is there a way to decide which
svchost.exe can be stopped without crashing the system? At the
moment there are six instances of svchost.exe running.

What XP needs is a control panel that would make it a no brainer
to shut down every process that isn't needed. As it stands, you
have to do a - lot - of digging to figure out what can be done.

I'd run a Hijaak This but have not done this before - can
you point to directions on how this is done.

As mentioned, disabling indexing services seemed to help -
a lot - but I'm still interested in anything else I might do
to perk things up.

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Re: Windows XP Home Edition Slow

  #43  
Nov 20th, 2007

The % CPU fluctuates but mainly
the SystemIdleProcess is showing
the greatest % (around 85%).


System idle doesnt do ANYTHING. In fact , its a measure of what the CPU ISNT doing.

e.g if system idle is 90% then it means your CPU is only being 10% used
TRY MY SUGGESTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK

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Re: Windows XP Home Edition Slow

  #44  
Nov 20th, 2007
Is what you listed typical of your problem period - which is, after all, what we're interested in? 15% used CPU isn't much to worry about. I hope the list you provided was top down in CPU usage order rather than memory order. I wanted the 5 processes at the top of the CPU list.

I'd observe the following from what you've posted:

1/
Your memory usage profile for the main running items is fairly lean. Opera uses less RAM than IE7. Stuff that isn't running will usually be paged out and will spring to life (and send your disk into hard work) when you wake something else up.

2/
SVCHOST.EXE manages your DLLs and you can't safely stop them because you don't know to which DLL any instance is bound.

3/
I've always stayed clear of AOL. There's absolutely no reason why any ISP needs to run anything on your PC to enable internet access. It's an obscenity to consume YOUR resources for their purposes. So what happens if you don't run the two AOL processes? WAOL.EXE is resource hungry. I looked this one up for you to confirm my suspicions. This link may help you: http://paler.com/forums/message-view?message_id=4438

My superficial diagnosis at a distance is to get round having to use WAOL.EXE. Switch ISP is also sound advice. I use MSN which is totally software free;

Let us know what you think and try stopping WAOL.EXE. Worst comes to it you'll need to log off and log on your user again.
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Re: Windows XP Home Edition Slow

  #45  
Nov 20th, 2007
>running MULTIPLE anti-virus and other malware programs

running more than one antivirus program is NOT recommended. They will interfere with each other and not work at all.
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Re: Windows XP Home Edition Slow

  #46  
Nov 20th, 2007
Originally Posted by Suspishio View Post
Is what you listed typical of your problem period - which is, after all, what we're interested in? 15% used CPU isn't much to worry about. I hope the list you provided was top down in CPU usage order rather than memory order. I wanted the 5 processes at the top of the CPU list.ou've posted:



Sorry I provided the memory usage when you asked for CPU usage. It turns out not to be simple to get CPU usage, as it seems to jump about every second or so. Services.exe (23%) and svchost.exe (22%) seem to figure as two that use a high % CPU - some of the time - but, as I say, the % changes every second or so - I had to do a screen capture to get just those two processes identified.

This is just one glaring example of the OS not providing useful information without a lot of effort you should not have to provide - there just is no way to capture %CPU usage for the top 5 processes since these change so rapidly.

I will continue to tweak and if I learn something useful that seems to make a significant difference I'll return and post about it.

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Re: Windows XP Home Edition Slow

  #47  
Nov 20th, 2007
Originally Posted by JAJansenJr View Post
What XP needs is a control panel that would make it a no brainer
to shut down every process that isn't needed. As it stands, you
have to do a - lot - of digging to figure out what can be done.

a no brainier ,there is none with windows ,you should maybe switch to Linux ,because you hate windows so much.
the problem with the control panel you want is everyone uses/needs different services ,depending on what is installed on there computer . and Microsoft has no way of knowing this !!
There use to be a really good Guy with a web page to help us decide what we need and don't need in services ,Called Black Viper ,but he retired /quit doing it .just did a search and i think hes back.
http://www.blackviper.com/index.html
Last edited by caperjack : Nov 20th, 2007 at 8:35 pm.
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Re: Windows XP Home Edition Slow

  #48  
Nov 20th, 2007
I'm sorry if it comes across that I "hate Windows so much". That is really not the case.

What it comes down to is working with a PC - decades after they were first manufactured - is still an exercise in time wasting guesswork to a very considerable extent.

Yes, an OS manufacturer can only guess at what customers need and there are a huge variety of end use programs that make it a challenge to meet the needs of the customer.

In spite of this, under no circumstances should an OS come to a crawl. There can and should be some capability for the OS to tell you - why - it is coming to a crawl and offer you some options to fix whatever is bringing it to such a state.

Firmly believing that is not the same as hating any OS.

Maybe Linux would be worth a try but there is so much software written for Windows that going to Linux offers challenges of its own. And there are so many different flavors of Linux!

Thanks to all who have participated on this thread. Any further suggestions sincerely welcome.

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Re: Windows XP Home Edition Slow

  #49  
Nov 21st, 2007
You keep asking for further suggestions. What about the ones you've been gen?

WAOL.EXE and dealing with the AOL overhead.

The svchost.exe cpu usage is due to one or more running DLL (malware cannot be ruled out - but try stopping WAOL.EXE first); services.exe is a routine used to control Windows services. If the high CPU is asociated with high disk activity, then it may be paging. If not, then there could be a trojan and indeed it could be services.exe itself if it is not the one located in the system21 folder.

So, please follow the recommendations I've mad - they won't hurt you and additionally post a Hijack This log so we can look into your processes a little deeper.
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Re: Windows XP Home Edition Slow

  #50  
Nov 21st, 2007
Originally Posted by Suspishio View Post
You keep asking for further suggestions. What about the ones you've been gen?

WAOL.EXE and dealing with the AOL overhead.

The svchost.exe cpu usage is due to one or more running DLL (malware cannot be ruled out - but try stopping WAOL.EXE first); services.exe is a routine used to control Windows services. If the high CPU is asociated with high disk activity, then it may be paging. If not, then there could be a trojan and indeed it could be services.exe itself if it is not the one located in the system21 folder.

So, please follow the recommendations I've mad - they won't hurt you and additionally post a Hijack This log so we can look into your processes a little deeper.


I have tried your suggestions regarding minimising startup programs. Regarding not using AOL, this suggestion isn't usable because I want to continue to use AOL. It's probably not the most efficient ISP but I have been using it for a long time, finding the news, email and various other features valuable. Also, I accept what you are saying that it probably is contributing to the slowness issue to some extent, but there are many times when it is running and there is no difficulty.

A Hijack This log is enclosed.

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Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.0 (BETA)
Scan saved at 4:00:26 AM, on 11/21/2007
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
F:\WINDOWSX\System32\smss.exe
F:\WINDOWSX\system32\winlogon.exe
F:\WINDOWSX\system32\services.exe
F:\WINDOWSX\system32\lsass.exe
F:\WINDOWSX\system32\svchost.exe
F:\WINDOWSX\System32\svchost.exe
F:\WINDOWSX\system32\spoolsv.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\ACS\AOLAcsd.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\TopSpeed\2.0\aoltsmon.exe
F:\Program Files\McAfee\MBK\MBackMonitor.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\McAfee\HackerWatch\HWAPI.exe
F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\MSC\mcmscsvc.exe
f:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\mcafee\mna\mcnasvc.exe
F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\VIRUSS~1\mcods.exe
F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\MSC\mcpromgr.exe
f:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\mcafee\mcproxy\mcproxy.exe
f:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\mcafee\redirsvc\redirsvc.exe
F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\VIRUSS~1\mcshield.exe
F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\VIRUSS~1\mcsysmon.exe
F:\Program Files\McAfee\MPF\MPFSrv.exe
F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\MPS\mps.exe
F:\WINDOWSX\System32\HPZipm12.exe
F:\WINDOWSX\System32\snmp.exe
F:\WINDOWSX\System32\svchost.exe
F:\Program Files\UPHClean\uphclean.exe
F:\WINDOWSX\Explorer.EXE
f:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mcagent.exe
F:\Program Files\McAfee\MPS\mpsevh.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\ACS\AOLDial.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\1188598631\ee\AOLSoftware.exe
F:\Program Files\HP\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd2.exe
F:\Program Files\America Online 9.0d\waol.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe
F:\Program Files\Speeditup Free\SearchDefender.exe
F:\WINDOWSX\system32\ctfmon.exe
f:\program files\common files\aol\1188598631\ee\services\antiSpywareApp\ver2_0_32_1\AOLSP Scheduler.exe
f:\program files\common files\aol\1188598631\ee\aolsoftware.exe
F:\Program Files\America Online 9.0d\shellmon.exe
F:\Program Files\Opera\Opera.exe
F:\Documents and Settings\Joseph.CUSTOM-PROGRAMS.000\Desktop\HiJackThis_v2.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://www.searchgateway.net/search
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://www.searchgateway.net/search
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchURL,(Default) = http://www.searchgateway.net/search....ORID%3A11&q=%s
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: scriptproxy - {7DB2D5A0-7241-4E79-B68D-6309F01C5231} - f:\PROGRA~1\mcafee\VIRUSS~1\scriptcl.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Helper - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} - f:\program files\google\googletoolbar2.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Notifier BHO - {AF69DE43-7D58-4638-B6FA-CE66B5AD205D} - F:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbarNotifier\2.1.615.5858\swg.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Google - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - f:\program files\google\googletoolbar2.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AOLDialer] F:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\ACS\AOLDial.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Pure Networks Port Magic] "F:\PROGRA~1\PURENE~1\PORTMA~1\PortAOL.exe" -Run
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HostManager] F:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\1188598631\ee\AOLSoftware.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HP Software Update] F:\Program Files\HP\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd2.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [googletalk] F:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe /autostart
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSConfig] F:\WINDOWSX\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\MSConfig.exe /auto
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "F:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "F:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MBkLogOnHook] F:\Program Files\McAfee\MBK\LogOnHook.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [AOL Fast Start] "F:\Program Files\America Online 9.0d\AOL.EXE" -b
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Search Defender] "F:\Program Files\Speeditup Free\SearchDefender.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] F:\WINDOWSX\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [swg] F:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbarNotifier\GoogleToolbarNotifier.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: &AOL Toolbar search - res://F:\Program Files\AOL Toolbar\toolbar.dll/SEARCH.HTML
O8 - Extra context menu item: Add to Google Photos Screensa&ver - res://F:\WINDOWSX\system32\GPhotos.scr/200
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: Real.com - {CD67F990-D8E9-11d2-98FE-00C0F0318AFE} - F:\WINDOWSX\System32\Shdocvw.dll
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - F:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - F:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {6E32070A-766D-4EE6-879C-DC1FA91D2FC3} (MUWebControl Class) - http://www.update.microsoft.com/micr...?1195018168148
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{F02B532D-F717-4379-AF33-97214A583AC3}: NameServer = 205.188.146.145
O20 - AppInit_DLLs: "F:\PROGRA~1\Google\Google Desktop Search\GOEC62~1.DLL"
O22 - SharedTaskScheduler: Browseui preloader - {438755C2-A8BA-11D1-B96B-00A0C90312E1} - F:\WINDOWSX\System32\browseui.dll
O22 - SharedTaskScheduler: Component Categories cache daemon - {8C7461EF-2B13-11d2-BE35-3078302C2030} - F:\WINDOWSX\System32\browseui.dll
O23 - Service: AOL Connectivity Service (AOL ACS) - America Online - F:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\ACS\AOLAcsd.exe
O23 - Service: AOL TopSpeed Monitor (AOL TopSpeedMonitor) - America Online, Inc - F:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\TopSpeed\2.0\aoltsmon.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee E-mail Proxy (Emproxy) - McAfee, Inc. - F:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\McAfee\EmProxy\emproxy.exe
O23 - Service: MBackMonitor - McAfee - F:\Program Files\McAfee\MBK\MBackMonitor.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee HackerWatch Service - McAfee, Inc. - F:\Program Files\Common Files\McAfee\HackerWatch\HWAPI.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Update Manager (mcmispupdmgr) - McAfee, Inc. - F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\MSC\mcupdmgr.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Services (mcmscsvc) - McAfee, Inc. - F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\MSC\mcmscsvc.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Network Agent (McNASvc) - McAfee, Inc. - f:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\mcafee\mna\mcnasvc.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Scanner (McODS) - McAfee, Inc. - F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\VIRUSS~1\mcods.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Protection Manager (mcpromgr) - McAfee, Inc. - F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\MSC\mcpromgr.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Proxy Service (McProxy) - McAfee, Inc. - f:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\mcafee\mcproxy\mcproxy.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Redirector Service (McRedirector) - McAfee, Inc. - f:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\mcafee\redirsvc\redirsvc.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Real-time Scanner (McShield) - McAfee, Inc. - F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\VIRUSS~1\mcshield.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee SystemGuards (McSysmon) - McAfee, Inc. - F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\VIRUSS~1\mcsysmon.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Personal Firewall Service (MpfService) - McAfee, Inc. - F:\Program Files\McAfee\MPF\MPFSrv.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Privacy Service (MPS9) - McAfee, Inc. - F:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\MPS\mps.exe
O23 - Service: Pml Driver HPZ12 - HP - F:\WINDOWSX\System32\HPZipm12.exe

--
End of file - 8022 bytes
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