Very Slow CPU...

[JP]

I didn't know where to post this question, but hopefully this is an
appropriate place.

I have an old PC running XP strictly to serve as a printer server. It's
slow but adequate. Apart from installing Slingbox software in the last 24
hours, I've done nothing to it. For reasons I can't fathom, the CPU is now
running at 100% and is running VERY slowly.

Any thoughts on how to "unstick" whatever program is running in the
background and causing it to come to a crawl? FYI, I scan with AVG Antivirus
every night.

 

[Ghostrider]

I didn't know where to post this question, but hopefully this is an
appropriate place.

I have an old PC running XP strictly to serve as a printer server. It's
slow but adequate. Apart from installing Slingbox software in the last 24
hours, I've done nothing to it. For reasons I can't fathom, the CPU is now
running at 100% and is running VERY slowly.

Any thoughts on how to "unstick" whatever program is running in the
background and causing it to come to a crawl? FYI, I scan with AVG Antivirus
every night.

Task Manager should provide a clue, from the processes tab. What file,
other than System Idle, is showing as hogging the system? If information
is skimpy, then there is always the alternative of shutting down the
computer and doing a cold re-start. Flushing the memory never hurts.

 

[JS]

You need to find the specific sub-process or application that's taking all
the CPU resources and slowing down your PC.

To do this try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/SystemInformation/ProcessExplorer.mspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and 'Show Lower
Pane' options.
Then expand the process named 'Explorer' (click on the + sign)
In the column on the left named 'CPU', look for any high CPU usage.
Next click on the CPU column to sort the processes by %CPU usage (Highest to
Lowest).
Then click on the process that's using most or all the CPU % to highlight
it,
Now that it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
Search Online
This should display what out there on the web about that process.
You can also double click on any process to open up a more detailed
'Properties' window.

Note: some entries like Explorer, System/Services, Svchost may need to be
expanded to show the detail,
(sub processes), in this case click on the + located to the left of the
entry.

JS

 

[JP]

Ghostrider:

Very decent of you to comment so quickly.... Anyway, there are 40 *.exe
programs listed as running in Task Manager/Processes along with System and
System Idle. The big hog in terms of "Mem Usage" are GoogleDesktop,
explorer, and svchost. In terms of CPU cycles, it's taskmgr.exe,
svchost.exe, alg.exe, GoogleDesktop.exe, lsass.exe, and McciTrayApp.exe.

Note that I've rebooted the machine several times now, but it's not helping
at all: CPU usage remains 100%.

 

[JP]

JS:

Thanks for the advice. Process Explorer is a neat utility. After running
it, it's clear that svchost.exe is chewing up the CPU. I also note that
there are about 10 versions of it running....

The web is full of advice on this particular file, so I'm not sure where to
turn next....

Thoughts?

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Ghostrider:

Very decent of you to comment so quickly.... Anyway, there are 40 *.exe
programs listed as running in Task Manager/Processes along with System and
System Idle. The big hog in terms of "Mem Usage" are GoogleDesktop,
explorer, and svchost. In terms of CPU cycles, it's taskmgr.exe,
svchost.exe, alg.exe, GoogleDesktop.exe, lsass.exe, and McciTrayApp.exe.

If you're using this as a print server, I can't imagine why Google Desktop
is installed. It's probably also indexing and that is eating cycles.

Process Explorer will give you a *lot* more information about what precisely
is chewing on the CPU than Task Manager.

Also, on older systems, Microsoft Update set to automatic can impose a huge
performance penalty.

Note that I've rebooted the machine several times now, but it's not
helping
at all: CPU usage remains 100%.

If it's Windows Update, rebooting will sometimes just start the process over
again, it will not fix it.

HTH
-pk

 

[JP]

Patrick:

Thanks for the thoughts. I have Google Desktop running simply because the
monitor is in front of me and it's fun to have some of the information there.
However, my problems with the CPU started just today, long after I installed
GD (indeed, it was the system monitor widget in GD that alerted me to the
problem). Also, I've had it on auto MS Update for at least a year: once
again, the slow problems started just today.

As I posted to JS, the problem via Process Explorer appears to be a
hyperactive svchost.exe, but I have no idea what to do about it....

 

[Daave]

The big hog in terms of "Mem Usage" are GoogleDesktop,
explorer, and svchost. In terms of CPU cycles, it's taskmgr.exe,
svchost.exe, alg.exe, GoogleDesktop.exe, lsass.exe, and
McciTrayApp.exe.

See "How do I fix this high CPU usage svchost virus or whatever it is?":

http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_fix_this_high_cpu_usage_svchost_virus_or_whatever_it_is.html

 

[Jim]

JS:

Thanks for the advice. Process Explorer is a neat utility. After running
it, it's clear that svchost.exe is chewing up the CPU. I also note that
there are about 10 versions of it running....

The web is full of advice on this particular file, so I'm not sure where
to
turn next....

Thoughts?

10 processes running svchost does seem a bit excessive. Find the process
that is 1) running svchost and 2) has the highest cpu usage.
Verify that the rogue process is in fact running the svchost.exe that
resides in \windows\system32. If it is running a program called svchost.exe
from any other folder, you have malware.
It still might be a rogue process even if it is running the correct version
of svchost.exe. In that case you could report the name of the
process here so that someone might know if that is a rogue process or not.
You could stop that process and see what happens next.

Jim

 

[JS]

Expand the Process tree until 'Services.exe' has been expanded.
Next move the mouse cursor over the Svchost.exe process that you are
interested in.
Or expand the Svchost entry if you see a + sign to the left of Svchost
entry.
(You should now see a pop up with a list of services associated with the
Svchost.exe you chose)
Next double click on the Svchost.exe process that you are interested in (the
High CPU Usage ones).
The 'Properties' Window should now be displayed with numerous tabs
available.

JS

 

[Lord Turkey Cough]

Ghostrider:

Very decent of you to comment so quickly.... Anyway, there are 40 *.exe
programs listed as running in Task Manager/Processes along with System and
System Idle. The big hog in terms of "Mem Usage" are GoogleDesktop,
explorer, and svchost. In terms of CPU cycles, it's taskmgr.exe,

The problem is taskmanager which is of course a Microsoft piece of sh*t.
It is supposed to deal with 'problems' with running tasks but of couse
actually
makes them a billioin times worse is is to be expected from Microsoft.
Ofcourse there is an underlying problem but you need to kill the piece of
***
called task manger first to get an idea of what is going on.
When you kill it you mayget some indicatin of what the underlying problem
is.
That's my experience anyway.
Presumable it is to do with Slingbox, but you don't seem to have listed
that?
You can kill the google thing OK and the McciTrayApp.exe is not important
either
I would think so kill them.

 

[Lord Turkey Cough]

10 processes running svchost does seem a bit excessive.

I bet slingbox spawned them, however I currently have 8 svchosts running (
and I ain't doint too much) there do tend to be a few of em running.

 

[HeyBub]

Ghostrider:

Very decent of you to comment so quickly.... Anyway, there are 40
*.exe programs listed as running in Task Manager/Processes along with
System and System Idle. The big hog in terms of "Mem Usage" are
GoogleDesktop, explorer, and svchost. In terms of CPU cycles, it's
taskmgr.exe, svchost.exe, alg.exe, GoogleDesktop.exe, lsass.exe, and
McciTrayApp.exe.

"I" (as in Indian)sass.exe or "L" (as in London)sass.exe?

"L"sass.exe is a Microsoft module Local Security Authentication Server

"I"sass.exe is a trojan.

 

[John John]

"L"sass.exe is a Microsoft module Local Security Authentication Server

Local Security Authority Subsystem Service