Ok, I like to think I'm decently knowledgeable about computers, but this has me stumped.
At certain random points (irrelevant of the RAM intensity of what I'm doing at the time) my computer will lag up a maaaassive amount. The amount that it does if my CPU is maxed from an infinite loop or my ram is maxed from a memory leak. If I press CTRL Alt Delete it brings up task manager, which at first will show something dangerously near my maximum commit charge (2020/2153M approx usually) for a fraction of a second then it drops down to the appropriate value for whatever I was doing, usually around 1.3M.
I have absolutely no concept of what could be causing this, and the only thing I could think of is a virus that shuts itself off when taskman.exe is ran? If anyone else has any ideas about this please let me know.
ID:181974
 Apr 17 2009, 1:59 am
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The spike when you open the task manager is normal, and has nothing to do with a virus.
Have you run the most common anti-virus checks? AVG, Malware Bytes, that sort of thing? | |
Lummox JR wrote:
It's possible that a normal service is doing this. Since Windows 95 I've always had to shut down the indexing service (back then it was an app) that's used for quicker file searches; I believe it's installed with Office but it may come from other sources as well. In XP at least, that bugger is installed with the system, so generally everyone running it will need to get rid of it. One of the first things I do after a computer reformat/OS reinstall is tweaking the services, first getting rid of the 2 worst resource hogs: the Indexing Service and the System Restore Service. If you're running a service you definitely don't need (sources online can tell you for sure what's safe to shut down), kill it and don't let it start with the system. Yeah, I recommend to everyone to tweak his services as well as startup items. Windows comes with a [expletive deleted] of services that you don't even need, and not only just sit there taking resources but doing nothing, but even pose possible security risks (o thank you for your existence Remote Registry service). But a misc advice for those planning to do it after installing the OS: when you install Service Packs on XP (should be similar with Vista as well), it actually disables a bunch of the useless services, and modifies some services, but it also overwrites some of your settings for them. So tweak the services startup only after installing SP3 (technically SP2 may be enough as SP3 is more of just a pack of updates together than an extensive SP like those before it, I don't think it touched this when I installed it). This also goes for startup programs as well, but I assume you've already gone through msconfig there. I'll take the time to recommend one actually doesn't use msconfig for these things, other than as a "last resort" type of thing when you don't have different options. It doesn't catch all the types of startup items and it doesn't really remove them, but softly disables them as it switches your configuration to 'exclude' them (or something to a similar extent). I'd rather just purge them completely (not necessarily with no backups) so I don't ever hear from them again. Also, when editing services in msconfig it allows you to freely disable services essential to the system... yeah, bad move. There are even idiotic 'Disable All' and 'Enable All' buttons, which would mostly do you more harm than good. Anyway, there's a different built-in tool for this that gives you more info and control of services, and doesn't allow killing services if that may kill the functionality of your OS: 'services.msc'. A nice small freeware program I like to use for these things is Starter. It allows rather flexible editing of both startup items and services. | |
Alathon wrote:
The spike when you open the task manager is normal, and has nothing to do with a virus. Correct, but that one should be very visibly momentary and not problematic, so I'm pretty sure this isn't the case here. Further proof is that he also says his memory is maxed out, which wouldn't be caused by just opening task manager. | |
You know the oddest thing? When I first bought my PC, it came with a free keyboard and mouse. For some reason when I got it, the memory would be maxed out, and I could watch it in the task manager just go up to 100% down to 90% constantly and I couldn't figure it out.
So I was going to return the computer. But the day before I went to return it, I tried a different keyboard. I know know why I even though of doing that. But as soon as I replaced the keyboard and mouse, the computer started running normally and I never had a problem since. Keep in mind I had re-set the PC several times before then and tried to re-install the ram and all sorts of other things. The problem just didn't seem to fix itself until I used a different keyboard. Oh well. | |
Sometimes PCs will do such things that will allow you to justify trying to pronounce and shouting "ZOMGz WTF". ;D But sometimes you'll also keep wondering if that was really the cause of the problem, or that it happened to be fixed at that same time. The fix might've even been a random setting a user changed without thinking much of it, and sometimes it looks like 'computers fix themselves'. A memory-sucking keyboard? If that's true then ZOMG WTF, fun rare defection there.
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Kaioken wrote:
Sometimes PCs will do such things that will allow you to justify trying to pronounce and shouting "ZOMGz WTF". ;D But sometimes you'll also keep wondering if that was really the cause of the problem, or that it happened to be fixed at that same time. The fix might've even been a random setting a user changed without thinking much of it, and sometimes it looks like 'computers fix themselves'. A memory-sucking keyboard? If that's true then ZOMG WTF, fun rare defection there. True story #1: USB Keyboards can stop computers from booting. I discovered this the hard way while wracking my brains trying to fix my computer when I first became an enthusiast. What a pathetic reason for your computer to be malfunctioning. True story #2: You can fry your entire motherboard by unplugging/plugging in/touching a PS2 port with enough static electricity built up. I discovered THIS the hard way as well, and it made me very sad. To this day many people argue with me on this fact... | |
AJX wrote:
True story #1: USB Keyboards can stop computers from booting. I discovered this the hard way while wracking my brains trying to fix my computer when I first became an enthusiast. What a pathetic reason for your computer to be malfunctioning. This happens when the keyboard has its internal software (most USB devices have some kind of internal software) loaded in a way that makes the computer think it's a bootable USB device. True story #2: You can fry your entire motherboard by unplugging/plugging in/touching a PS2 port with enough static electricity built up. I discovered THIS the hard way as well, and it made me very sad. To this day many people argue with me on this fact... This can be said for any device you connect to your computer, USB devices have been known to fry your entire USB setup if something causes a shock to run back up the line. I think the only ports on a motherboard that have any kind of feedback protection are the VGA and LPT1 ports since the devices connected to those can be pretty big power hogs depending on the device. | |
I wouldn't rule out a virus, but do check on your services and see if any are running that might have this kind of undesirable background behavior. If you're running a service you definitely don't need (sources online can tell you for sure what's safe to shut down), kill it and don't let it start with the system. This also goes for startup programs as well, but I assume you've already gone through msconfig there.
Lummox JR