CPU 100% Virtual Memory gone

[Guest]

Hello
Every time I start my computer explorer.exe takes over the CPU and finally a
message stating I am out of Virtual memory appears.
As soon as I turn on the laptop explorer.exe starts growing exponentially
and in about a minute it reaches 100% CPU capacity going after that into
overboard and all systems collapse.
Is there any way that I can reinstall explorer.exe?
I have no virus, trojans or any kind of malware in my system,Best Buy Geek
squad just did a complete review of everything and could figure out what the
problem is.

Thanks

Lilia

 

[Ron Martell]

Hello
Every time I start my computer explorer.exe takes over the CPU and finally a
message stating I am out of Virtual memory appears.
As soon as I turn on the laptop explorer.exe starts growing exponentially
and in about a minute it reaches 100% CPU capacity going after that into
overboard and all systems collapse.
Is there any way that I can reinstall explorer.exe?
I have no virus, trojans or any kind of malware in my system,Best Buy Geek
squad just did a complete review of everything and could figure out what the
problem is.

Thanks

Lilia

Explorer.exe is the heart and soul of Windows XP and it does not
behave this way on a properly functioning malware free system.

Does the same thing happen when you boot the computer into Safe Mode?

To start Windows XP in Safe Mode turn the computer on and start
tapping the F8 key rapidly just as soon as the first information of
any kind shows on the screen. Keep tapping until the Windows XP
Startup Menu appears and choose Safe Mode from the menu.

Note that if Windows XP Startup Logo appears you have missed the
Startup Menu. If this happens let the machine finish booting up then
shut down, restart and try the F8 trick again.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Guest]

Ron
I just tried booting my laptop on Safe Mode and I had no problems.
Sadly when I got back to Normal mode, the problems reappear.
I have deleted anything I can possibly carry a virus, and right now I have
83% free space on my HD. I have cleaned it all (temp files, cookies, history,
form data, password) and emptied the trash... And I still have the same
problem: In about a minute explorer.exe runs out of VM and CPU storage.
Right now what I am doing is uploading iexplorer and
Task Manager as soon as they appear and shutting down explorer.exe from the
task manager. I don't have any other way to actually use internet or anything
else on my laptop. I am aware this is probably the worst possible solution

Can you point me to a safe site to do a test and see if I have something so
hidden that Mcaffee nor Geek Squad detected?

Thanks

Lilia

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Lilla

That kind of behaviour of behaviour is symptomatic of a corrupt file.
Not explorer. exe or necessarily the application which is running
explorer. However, if you can identify the application it narrows the
search for the cause of the problem.

Does the problem appear if you start your computer and allow your
computer to boot to the Desktop or within 5 minutes of the Desktop
establishing itself. When you conduct this test it is important that
you do not touch your keyboard or mouse as that will destry the
purpose of the test. If the the symptoms fail to appear start one only
of your typical activities and if the symptom fails to appear after
five minutes stop that activity. Test each of your normal activities
in turn until you find which activity starts the problem.

How do you know explorer.exe is implicated with the problem? If it is
Task Manager, opened by depressing Ctrl+Alt+Del, then click on the
Application tab in Task Manager when explorer.exe is using 100% CPU
and make a note of all applications listed. Please note that this does
not immediately identify the application causing the problem but it
might. Not all running applications are displayed on the Applications
tab and it could be one of those which is using explorer.exe. Commonly
spyware runs explorer.exe and will not appear listed on the
Applications tab. However, I would expect spyware to run as soon as
you connect to the Desktop, although establishing an internet
connection later might trigger spyware activity.

It would help to know what you use the computer for. What are the main
programmes you use?


--

Hope this helps.

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

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Lilia

You are placing too much reliance on an automated quick fix. It could
lead you into all sorts of problem. Ron is extremely knowledgeable and
a far safer way to resolve your problem.

Does the problem appear if you stay offline? Also look at the
suggestions in my earlier post.


--

Hope this helps.

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

 

[Guest]

Gerry
The problem appears as I turn on my computer.
I did your tests and within a minute I could hear the circuitry going on and
on, and by minute 2 the Message stating Virtual Memory: Minimum too low
appeared. At that moment I was not even able to upload Task Manager.
The only program that runs in the background is Mcaffee

I re-started the computer and as soon as I could uploaded Task Manager to
keep track of the programs and this is what I wrote down

VM Size
explorer.exe 832,520K
iexplore.exe 9,248K
svhost.exe 10,500K
winlogon.exe 6,356K
VentC.exe 5,432K

Did a new test (to get Mem Usage)
Mem Usage
explorer.exe 122,000K
svhost.exe 2,652K
Taskmgr.exe 1,644K
lsass.exe 832K
iexplore.exe 1,012K

I mainly use the computer to collect data from different sites, and use MS
Office to work with the data collected. Sometimes I download pictures from
the webpages (secure sites) and every so often I do a PrtSc and use Paint to
cut and paste.
I have licenses for all my programs (they are all legit).
Really, I try to be as careful as I can, and not open anything suspicious.
But I am sure something got thru and I have no idea what it could be.

The reason why I think is explorer.exe is because I have seen it increase
non stop

Thanks

Lilia

 

[Guest]

Gerry/Ron

I will wait for your input.
And yes the problem shows up even if I am not online.
I wish I could sent you the PrtSc of what is happening but everytime I click
on it, the system dies even faster (because is already out of VM)

Ron: I did run the test you suggested, and sent you the info on a previous
post.

Thanks for all your help guys! At least I don't feel like I am going nuts
all alone!

Lilia

 

[Chip]

Hi,
If you kill the process that is associated with VentC.exe does it make a
difference?

 

[Elmo]

Hi,
If you kill the process that is associated with VentC.exe does it make a
difference?

Here's a Google Groups thread on VentC.exe that suggests you "hit the
nail on the head".

http://groups.google.com/group/alt....d6?lnk=st&q=ventc.exe&rnum=6#615668245b026ad6

 

[Chip]

Lets hope so.
Chip

 

[Guest]

Hello again

I have tried getting rid of VentC.exe and nothing happen, the problem
persisted

Lilia

 

[Guest]

I am still fighting over this. What I have come up with since my last post is
after shutting down explorer.exe from the Task Manager, I re-started it
(explorer.exe) from the File/run dropdown at Task Manager, and everything
starts working fine....
I still would love to fix the initial problem and not do the run around, but
at least I am now able to use all my computer.
Please let me know if I should do something else besides going thru this
whole process.

Thanks

Lilia

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Lilia

Your list does include an unusual item. Do you use Fourelle Systems
Venturi software - see link for description of technology involved:
http://www.venturiwireless.com/solutions/technology.html

Some malware can camouflage itself as VentC.exe.

What MS Office components do you use?

Your comment about the Print Scrn key is interesting.However, if you
only use it after the problem has already arisen then this would seem
to rule it out. The same would seem to rule it out. The problem would
seem to relate to something loading in normal mode which doesn't in
safe mode.

Are you able to download and install HijackThis (Freeware)
http://tomcoyote.com/hjt/

This programme produces a list of running process which you can post
here. If this list is compared with a list when run in safe mode we
have a list processes to be investigated. Please do not post the
remainder of the list after the list of running processes as this part
is intended for detecting malware and it is customary to post these to
a specialist forum for analysis.

--

Hope this helps.

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

 

[Ron Martell]

Ron
I just tried booting my laptop on Safe Mode and I had no problems.
Sadly when I got back to Normal mode, the problems reappear.
I have deleted anything I can possibly carry a virus, and right now I have
83% free space on my HD. I have cleaned it all (temp files, cookies, history,
form data, password) and emptied the trash... And I still have the same
problem: In about a minute explorer.exe runs out of VM and CPU storage.
Right now what I am doing is uploading iexplorer and
Task Manager as soon as they appear and shutting down explorer.exe from the
task manager. I don't have any other way to actually use internet or anything
else on my laptop. I am aware this is probably the worst possible solution

Can you point me to a safe site to do a test and see if I have something so
hidden that Mcaffee nor Geek Squad detected?

Hi Lilia

1. Start up the computer and do the F8 trick again only this time
choose "Safe Mode with Networking". That will give you access to the
Internet from that computer. Go to one of the following free online
scanning sites and do a complete scan of your computer:
Bit Defender http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html
Trend Micro http://housecall.trendmicro.com
Kaspersky Online Scanner http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner
Panda ActiveScan http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan
WindowSecurity.com TrojanScan http://windowssecurity.com/trojanscan
Webroot http://www.webroot.com/

2. If the online scanner does not find anything amiss with your
computer go to http://www.aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.exe
Save the file in a separate folder on your hard drive (I suggest that
you create one named HiJackThis for it) then run it and save the log
file that it creates. You can then email the log file to me and/or
post it to http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=30 Do not post the
log file to this newsgroup - it is quite large and you may get some
misdirected advice in response.

The fact that the problem appears on a normal startup but not in Safe
Mode indicates that it is something that is being loaded at startup
that is causing the problem. The HiJackThis log file should show all
of the startup items so that the culprit(s) can be identified.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[PA Bear]

Run a /thorough/ check for hijackware.

Checking for/Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=5878
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

When all else fails, HijackThis v1.99.1
(http://aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.zip) is the preferred tool to use.
It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware. **Post
your log to http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html,
http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showforum=7, or other appropriate
forums for expert analysis, not here.**

If the procedures look too complex - and there is no shame in admitting this
isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a local, reputable and
independent (i.e., not BigBoxStoreUSA) computer repair shop.