Explorer hogging system resources

[Guest]

I have noticed over the past few months that every once in a while, maybe
once every other day, for whatever reason, my computer will experience an
onslaught of poor performance that can only be fixed by manually restarting
the explorer process (with this approach, the problem usually resurfaces
after an hour or two), or, ideally, restarting the computer.

Basically, to briefly describe what I normally experience: resizing any
window to any size, whether it expands/collapses by one pixel or if I
minimize or maximize, takes 100% of the CPU cycles. Granted, minimizing a
window is normally very quick, so the sudden tax on the system is brief, but
when one is working in multiple windows, toggling back and forth, sizing
this, minimizing that, etc., this frequent lag can become quite aggravating.
I haven't noticed any specific program or event that causes this problem, so
I don't really know what to avoid. Sometimes, certain full-screen games will
cause the problem if I multi-task to the desktop, but the problem surfaces
even without the presence of these culprits.

Could this be a sign that my video card (which is maybe around 3 years old)
might be dying, or could there be something else behind the scenes that I
might not realize? I've done spyware/virus/malware scans multiple times, and
the programs I use cannot detect anything malicious that might be causing
problems. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Grand_Poobah]

I could possibly be your video card. When was the last time you updated
the drivers for it? If you've had it for three years and never updated
the drivers, then it's about time. This may clear up the problem.

GP

--->

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I could possibly be your video card.

Highly unlikely. Video cards generally work or don't work. They don't result
in degraded performance, and they don't fail "every once in a while."

When was the last time you
updated the drivers for it? If you've had it for three years and
never updated the drivers, then it's about time.

I strongly disagree with this statement. Video drivers don't need to updated
periodically. They need to be updated only if there's a specific problem to
be solved. They should never be updated just because there's a newer version
available. Any time you do something like update a video driver, you run the
risk of creating a problem where one didn't exist before.

Since his symptoms don't at all sound like a video driver issue, I recommend
that he *not* do this.

This may clear up the problem.

*Highly* unlikely.

 

[Guest]

If this isn't a video card issue, could it be malfunctioning RAM chips?
Because I never see this problem immediately after a boot, could it be an
overheating issue either with the proc, the RAM, anything?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

If this isn't a video card issue, could it be malfunctioning RAM
chips?

Again, I doubt it very much. RAM either works or doesn't. It doesn't cause
performance issues.

Because I never see this problem immediately after a boot,
could it be an overheating issue either with the proc, the RAM,
anything?

Overheating generally causes your system to shut down or restart. Again,
performance issues are unlikely.

 

[Grand_Poobah]

Thank you for you expertise Ken. It is always refreshing to have your
theories completely panned.

GP

--->

 

[Grand_Poobah]

Really, really good at telling us what it *ISN'T* Ken. Now, could you
possibly give us some positive input?

GP

--->

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Really, really good at telling us what it *ISN'T* Ken. Now, could you
possibly give us some positive input?

As I said in a subsequent message, I don't know what the problem is,
since I've never seen this behavior before.

However if you don't understand the value of knowing that a particular
suggestion is highly unlikely to be correct, you are a complete novice
in troubleshooting.




Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

 

[Grand_Poobah]

Oh, deary me. All those 45 years of my experience, down the drain. Oh,
boo hoo.

GP


--->

 

[Guest]

Any recent insights in to what I could start examining that might be causing
the problem? So far, I've been told that it isn't a video card issue, nor is
it malfunctioning or overheating CPU or RAM; are there any possible hardware
issues (nothing new has been installed any time recently, other than a new
Dell monitor, but this issue was occuring well before I received the
monitor), is this more likely a software issue? Maybe something not entirely
shutting down when it is closed, thus continuing to run invisible in the
background?

As I stated in the OP, I don't notice that any specific program causes this
issue. There are some programs that I notice cause this behaviour more
frequently, although not 100% of the time, so I still can't narrow the
problem to any one program or action.

 

[Lester Stiefel]

Any recent insights in to what I could start examining that might be causing
the problem? So far, I've been told that it isn't a video card issue, nor is
it malfunctioning or overheating CPU or RAM; are there any possible hardware
issues (nothing new has been installed any time recently, other than a new
Dell monitor, but this issue was occuring well before I received the
monitor), is this more likely a software issue? Maybe something not entirely
shutting down when it is closed, thus continuing to run invisible in the
background?

As I stated in the OP, I don't notice that any specific program causes this
issue. There are some programs that I notice cause this behaviour more
frequently, although not 100% of the time, so I still can't narrow the
problem to any one program or action.

Open up the configuration program and check the 'startup '
items. Write them down and post the list here. There may be
a resource hog in the services, or the startup items which
may be recognizable to one of us here.

 

[Guest]

As previously stated, the slowness that I have been experiencing doesn't
appear on startup, but rather after the computer has been in use for a while.
Regardless, please see below for a list of my startup programs:

"jusched" (Java Update Scheduler)
"atiptaxx" (ATI video card interface)
"ashDisp" (something for Avast! Antivirus)
"qttask" (background-running program for QuickTime, I believe)
"TeaTimer" (registry-protecting portion of Spybot)
"wcescomm" (I think this might be the ActiveSync installed with my mobile
phone's software)
a blank entry... I've disabled this entry, as there is no indication what it
is.
"Adobe Gamma Loader"
"Adobe Reader Speed Launch"

Does anything in that list seem out of the ordinary, or possibly
problematic? I don't really need the wcescomm, Adobe Gamma Loader or Adobe
Reader Speed Launch, but I don't see why they would be causing any problems.
Any suggestions?

 

[David Starr]

As previously stated, the slowness that I have been experiencing doesn't
appear on startup, but rather after the computer has been in use for a while.
Regardless, please see below for a list of my startup programs:

"jusched" (Java Update Scheduler)
"atiptaxx" (ATI video card interface)

I recently deactivated atipaxx. It is just a fancy user interface
allowing you to click on a hot key and reprogram your video card. I
never ever want this to happen. I set my video card the way I like it
in ControlPanel and tI want it to stay that way. I don't want an
accidental key press changing it.

"ashDisp" (something for Avast! Antivirus)
"qttask" (background-running program for QuickTime, I believe)
"TeaTimer" (registry-protecting portion of Spybot)
"wcescomm" (I think this might be the ActiveSync installed with my mobile
phone's software)
a blank entry... I've disabled this entry, as there is no indication what it
is.

I am about to do the same thing wit my blank entry.

"Adobe Gamma Loader"
"Adobe Reader Speed Launch"

My Adobe works just fine with the Gamma loader and the speedlaunch disabled.

Does anything in that list seem out of the ordinary, or possibly
problematic? I don't really need the wcescomm, Adobe Gamma Loader or Adobe
Reader Speed Launch, but I don't see why they would be causing any problems.
Any suggestions?

I agree, I don't think they are causing your troubles. On the other
hand, if you kill 'em off, then you KNOW they aren't causing any
trouble. The only good program is a dead program...

David Starr