Windows Explorer using all CPU resources

[Allan]

More often than not, recently, when I use Windows
explorer to investigate the contents of a drive ot
folder, the task manager shows that it is using >95% of
the CPU resources, causing other programs etc to slow or
almost stop.
I am using XP Pro that has religiously been kept up to
date. The machine is using an AZ-11 motherboard with
AThlon XP2000+ CPU and 256MB PC2700 (DDR) RAM. OS is
loaded on a 20G WD drive with over 4 GB free.
I think I have read about this problem before, but am
unable to locate any info at present. Any help would be
much appreciated.

Regards,
Allan Bool

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Allan

Start by downloading Adaware and / or update Reference file from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/
and use it to remove parasites.

Task Manager is useful but you could look at another freeware utility Process Explorer, which provides similar information but adds that little bit extra towards seeing what the running processes represent. For further information about Process Explorer see here:

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/procexp.shtml

~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA
(e-mail address removed)
Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Gerry,
Many thanks for your reply. Adaware/Spybot etc already
run without causing any changes. The utility you
suggested is a really cool tool! I plan to sit down and
use it to locate the actual process causing the problem!
Thanks again,
Allan

-----Original Message-----
Allan

Start by downloading Adaware and / or update Reference

file from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

and use it to remove parasites.

Task Manager is useful but you could look at another

freeware utility Process Explorer, which provides similar
information but adds that little bit extra towards seeing
what the running processes represent. For further
information about Process Explorer see here:

 

[Guest]

Further to my reply:
The part of Explorer (the Thread) causing the system
resources to be consumed is the file called ntdll.dll
from Microsoft (of course), File version 5.0.2600.1217
(xpsp2.030429-2132).This appears to be an updated file.
Using Process Explorer, locating the file that is using
the resources shows Explorer.exe to be the culprit.
Opening the properties of this file brings up a tabbed
window. Selecting the Performance Graph shows CPU Useage
at about 95% and the Private Bytes graph stadily
climbing. The Help file for this graph (see below)
indicates a "memory leak bug" is the cause. and the
Threads Tab identifies the ntdll.dll as the bit hogging
the CPU resources.

Performance Graph:

A history of a process' CPU usage and its private bytes
allocation shows as in Task Manager-like graphs on this
page. Red in the CPU usage graph indicates CPU usage in
kernel-mode whereas green is the sum of kernel-mode and
user-mode execution. Private Bytes represents the amount
of private virtual memory a process has allocated and is
the value that will rise of a process exhibits a memory
leak bug. Note that while the System Information
performance graphs update while Process Explorer is
minimized to the tray, these graphs do not. The private
bytes usage graphs are scaled against the peak amount of
private bytes the process has allocated; if the peak
grows the graphs recalculate their scales.

How do we fix this problem??

Killing the thread pulled the CPU useage right back to 2 -
3 % but did not release the memory being used. Killing
Explorer.exe did the trick, then restarting explorer got
the computer back to (almost) normal operation again.
Some icons did not reappear in the Sys Tray but the
processes appear to be operating still.

This is the best I have been able to come up with so far.

-----Original Message-----
Allan

Start by downloading Adaware and / or update Reference

file from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

and use it to remove parasites.

Task Manager is useful but you could look at another

freeware utility Process Explorer, which provides similar
information but adds that little bit extra towards seeing
what the running processes represent. For further
information about Process Explorer see here:

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Are you up to date with your Windows XP updates?

Have a look at the Articles in this link ( the first three in particular) :
http://support.microsoft.com/search...&maxResults=150&Titles=false&numDays=&InCC=on


~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~