IE6 slow, CPU utilization high

[Michael Taylor]

Since the recent critical updates, Internet Explorer is now very slow. When
html pages are requested, there is a noticable pause, the CPU goes up to
100% for about 5 seconds, and then the page is rendered, with the CPU
dropping to normal levels. This happens on every page I look at.

I've posted in the IE6 browser newsgroup but no one has offered any ideas.

I'm running XP Pro (OEM version). I have SP1 installed, with all the
crititical updates installed too. I use Norton AV 2004, have run Ad-aware
and Spybot to detect and remove anything nasty - there is nothing on my
system.

Even applications like Quickbooks, which use IE6 to render some of its
pages, is also affected.

I believe the problem is caused by Windows Update KB828035 which was
installed on 15th November. Clearing the temp cache has had no effect.

Is it worth uninstalling this one and re-applying it, or perhaps doing a
system restore? I'd rather keep critical updates installed.

Thanks
Mike

 

[lavenham]

I had a similar problem with high cpu usage.The only
solution that worked was the drastic step of a total
reformat and reload of all my software. One hell of a
step but it did cure the problem.took 2 days to reinstall
all my data!

 

[Michael Taylor]

I was worried someone might say re-format/re-load! I didn't want to do that
until it was time to make major changes to my PC, however, if after removing
the update or doing a system restore it still doesn't work then I guess I
have no other choice. There goes my weekend :-(

 

[Michael Taylor]

I decided to do a System Restore. That fixed the problem. Then I re-applied
all the changes I had made until the problem returned. The culprit was
Norton AV 2004. I found this article on Symantec's web site....

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...Document&prod=&ver=&src=sg&pcode=&svy=&csm=no

It says they haven't got a fix, but there are some workarounds, one of which
worked for me. In summary, you can try deleteing windows temporary files,
temporary internet files, turning off "scanning within compressed files" in
auto-protect, or adding *.js to the list of excluded files under
auto-protect. The last one is what worked for me - instant improvement, no
re-boot required.

So my apologies to Microsoft. I should keep a better log of activity. I
might have realised the cause much sooner.

Mike