GUI features disappear and programs won't launch

[Dane]

I've been having a problem with Windows XP for the past
few months in which programs will stop opening and
certain GUI features will start disappearing. It's as if
my system is completely out of memory or system resources
(even though I have 512mb of RAM and the task manager
will show that there is still plenty of memory to spare).

This problem usually occurs when my computer has been on
for a while, or when I have several windows open (but by
no means an excessive amount). Here are the symptoms that
I've noticed:

- Internet Explorer icons will disappear, or the toolbar
layout will change itself to a more minimal display.
- Programs will refuse to launch. They will just issue
a "Windows error" sound when I click their icon, and will
give no other notification.
- Sometimes the task-list that usually pops up on a right-
click will simply not show up.
- Sometimes even the task manager will refuse to launch
on a Ctrl+Alt+Del.

It's as if my computer is at it's absolute breaking point
in terms of system resources, and simply cannot afford to
create one more process. And yet I do not have a
tremendous amount of processes running, and there is
still plenty of unused physical and virtual memory! I've
run memory diagnostic utilities such as MemTest86 and
Windows Memory Diagnostic, but they don't find any errors
in my RAM. So now I think is more a Windows XP issue. Any
ideas what the deal is?

 

[Lester Stiefel]

I've been having a problem with Windows XP for the past
few months in which programs will stop opening and
certain GUI features will start disappearing. It's as if
my system is completely out of memory or system resources
(even though I have 512mb of RAM and the task manager
will show that there is still plenty of memory to spare).

This problem usually occurs when my computer has been on
for a while, or when I have several windows open (but by
no means an excessive amount). Here are the symptoms that
I've noticed:

- Internet Explorer icons will disappear, or the toolbar
layout will change itself to a more minimal display.
- Programs will refuse to launch. They will just issue
a "Windows error" sound when I click their icon, and will
give no other notification.
- Sometimes the task-list that usually pops up on a right-
click will simply not show up.
- Sometimes even the task manager will refuse to launch
on a Ctrl+Alt+Del.

It's as if my computer is at it's absolute breaking point
in terms of system resources, and simply cannot afford to
create one more process. And yet I do not have a
tremendous amount of processes running, and there is
still plenty of unused physical and virtual memory! I've
run memory diagnostic utilities such as MemTest86 and
Windows Memory Diagnostic, but they don't find any errors
in my RAM. So now I think is more a Windows XP issue. Any
ideas what the deal is?

Before opening anything do a ctrl-alt-del and check all
processes. Usually between 32 and 50. It sounds like you
have some "gremlins" (worms, trojans, etc). Look for
anything outlandishly weird in the list.

Also, if you have some picture folders open in thumbs view,
the processor time will go way up during the time windows
tries to modify or write the thumbs.db file for movie and
picture folders.

 

[Dane]

Before opening anything do a ctrl-alt-del and check all
processes. Usually between 32 and 50. It sounds like you
have some "gremlins" (worms, trojans, etc). Look for
anything outlandishly weird in the list.

Also, if you have some picture folders open in thumbs view,
the processor time will go way up during the time windows
tries to modify or write the thumbs.db file for movie and
picture folders.
--
Lester Stiefel
God lists qualities of the people in the days before
judgement in Romans ch1 --
Is your description there?
.

OK first off, I rarely have a window open in thumbnail
view, so I know the problem doesn't have anything to do
with that. Secondly, I doubt if I have any "gremlin"
processes running since I have Ad-Aware and check my
system regularly for viruses and spyware. But here is a
snapshot of my Task Manager list just after a fresh
reboot:

AcctMgr.exe 1336 C:\Program Files\Norton
SystemWorks\Password Manager\AcctMgr.exe
acrotray.exe 1688 C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe
Acrobat 6.0\Distillr\acrotray.exe
Ad-watch.exe 1636 C:\Program Files\Ad-Aware\Ad-
watch.exe
ccApp.exe 1648 C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
ccEvtMgr.exe 1388 C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
ccSetMgr.exe 1364 C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
csrss.exe 680 C:\WINDOWS\system32\csrss.exe
ctfmon.exe 1660 C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
CTHELPER.EXE 1628 C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTHELPER.EXE
DUMeter.exe 1316 C:\Program Files\DU
Meter\DUMeter.exe
Explorer.EXE 476 C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
inetinfo.exe 1764 C:\WINDOWS\System32
\inetsrv\inetinfo.exe
jusched.exe 1328 C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_03
\bin\jusched.exe
lsass.exe 764 C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
MDM.EXE 1780 C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft
Shared\VS7DEBUG\MDM.EXE
NOPDB.EXE 1928 C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NORTON~2
\SPEEDD~1\NOPDB.EXE
NPROTECT.EXE 1792 C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NORTON~2
\NPROTECT.EXE
nvsvc32.exe 1856 C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
point32.exe 1292 C:\Program Files\Microsoft
IntelliPoint\point32.exe
PowerMenu.exe 2000
C:\Applications\PowerMenu\PowerMenu.exe
PrcView.exe 2068 C:\Program Files\Norton
SystemWorks\Process Viewer\PrcView.exe
services.exe 752 C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
smss.exe 608 C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
spoolsv.exe 1544 C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
svchost.exe 920 C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
svchost.exe 976 C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
svchost.exe 1128 C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
svchost.exe 1152 C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
svchost.exe 2004 C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
symlcsvc.exe 2028 C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Symantec Shared\CCPD-LC\symlcsvc.exe
SYSDOC32.EXE 1916 C:\Program Files\Norton
SystemWorks\Norton Utilities\SYSDOC32.EXE
taskswitch.exe 1284 C:\WINDOWS\System32\taskswitch.exe
trillian.exe 2076 C:\Program Files\Trillian
Pro\trillian.exe
type32.exe 1304 C:\Program Files\Microsoft
IntelliType Pro\type32.exe
vsmon.exe 148 C:\WINDOWS\system32
\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe
Winampa.exe 1348 C:\Program
Files\Winamp\Winampa.exe
winlogon.exe 704 C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
wrap.exe 2112
C:\Applications\WinSSLWrap\wrap.exe
zlclient.exe 1576 C:\PROGRA~1\ZONEAL~1\zlclient.exe

Nothing in that list seems particularly suspicious to me.

 

[shardik10]

*>

OK first off, I rarely have a window open in thumbnail
view, so I know the problem doesn't have anything to do
with that. Secondly, I doubt if I have any "gremlin"
processes running since I have Ad-Aware and check my
system regularly for viruses and spyware. But here is a
snapshot of my Task Manager list just after a fresh
reboot:

AcctMgr.exe 1336 C:\Program Files\Norton
SystemWorks\Password Manager\AcctMgr.exe
acrotray.exe 1688 C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe
Acrobat 6.0\Distillr\acrotray.exe
Ad-watch.exe 1636 C:\Program Files\Ad-Aware\Ad-
watch.exe
ccApp.exe 1648 C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
ccEvtMgr.exe 1388 C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
ccSetMgr.exe 1364 C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
csrss.exe 680 C:\WINDOWS\system32\csrss.exe
ctfmon.exe 1660 C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
CTHELPER.EXE 1628 C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTHELPER.EXE
DUMeter.exe 1316 C:\Program Files\DU
Meter\DUMeter.exe
Explorer.EXE 476 C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
inetinfo.exe 1764 C:\WINDOWS\System32
\inetsrv\inetinfo.exe
jusched.exe 1328 C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_03
\bin\jusched.exe
lsass.exe 764 C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
MDM.EXE 1780 C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft
Shared\VS7DEBUG\MDM.EXE
NOPDB.EXE 1928 C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NORTON~2
\SPEEDD~1\NOPDB.EXE
NPROTECT.EXE 1792 C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NORTON~2
\NPROTECT.EXE
nvsvc32.exe 1856 C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
point32.exe 1292 C:\Program Files\Microsoft
IntelliPoint\point32.exe
PowerMenu.exe 2000
C:\Applications\PowerMenu\PowerMenu.exe
PrcView.exe 2068 C:\Program Files\Norton
SystemWorks\Process Viewer\PrcView.exe
services.exe 752 C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
smss.exe 608 C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
spoolsv.exe 1544 C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
svchost.exe 920 C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
svchost.exe 976 C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
svchost.exe 1128 C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
svchost.exe 1152 C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
svchost.exe 2004 C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
symlcsvc.exe 2028 C:\Program Files\Common
Files\Symantec Shared\CCPD-LC\symlcsvc.exe
SYSDOC32.EXE 1916 C:\Program Files\Norton
SystemWorks\Norton Utilities\SYSDOC32.EXE
taskswitch.exe 1284 C:\WINDOWS\System32\taskswitch.exe
trillian.exe 2076 C:\Program Files\Trillian
Pro\trillian.exe
type32.exe 1304 C:\Program Files\Microsoft
IntelliType Pro\type32.exe
vsmon.exe 148 C:\WINDOWS\system32
\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe
Winampa.exe 1348 C:\Program
Files\Winamp\Winampa.exe
winlogon.exe 704 C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
wrap.exe 2112
C:\Applications\WinSSLWrap\wrap.exe
zlclient.exe 1576 C:\PROGRA~1\ZONEAL~1\zlclient.exe

Nothing in that list seems particularly suspicious to me. *

I have been working on a computer here that has a similar problem. I am
not sure if this is the problem, but it seems to be a problem with
Ad-Watch. I work on many systems, and we install Adaware Pro on a lot
of them, but we have never had a problem like this. This person was
having this problem and I thought it was a trojan or spyware that we
couldn't get rid of, so I wiped out the system and loaded a fresh load
of Windows, then I installed Adaware pro. A few days later, the system
is back with the same problem. This person blames Adaware for the
problem. I got the registry fixed so the files would open, but as soon
as I ran Ad-Watch, the problem started again. Also, I ran several
updated virus scanners and updated Ad-Aware on this system and no
objects were found at all.

This may not be the same problem. Does anybody know what is causing it?