Little bit of HELP needed!!

[bhanvra]

hey guys, i have been facing a problem from past one week while using my computer. My computer has gone "slow". It boots slow, runs slow and all the applications take a lot of time after i click them. First, i thought it was an issue with Norton 2012( with all the reviews heard of this version) but even after uninstalling it, the situation remains the same.

After that, i scanned my computer with the spybot-search and destroy and malwarebytes anti-malware, but found no security issues.

A peculiar thing that i observed is that after accessing task manager, i see the CPU usage associated with system idle process to be 99, but even then overall cpu usage is more than 10. Is it normal? Kindly guide me!!!!




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[Christy]

The System Idle process being 99% is normal. It means your system is idle using only 1% of your CPU. So having the System Idle Process using 99% of your CPU is a good thing ... it means that that 99% is readily availble should there be any real work to do."Think of it as your computer just twiddling its virtual thumbs, waiting for something more important to do."
Its a scheduling technique. In the attached pic u c, it uses only 28kb of memory.
To know the basics about System Idle process :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Idle_Process


1. Now coming to the slowing down part, chances of it being a virus is low, since CPU activity is <1%.
just to be sure try Avira or Kaspersky, (Full Scan).

Avira (77mb installer-Use trial): http://professional.avira-update.com...premium_en.exe

2. Then try running a Ccleaner. (For: file cleaner, registry cleaner,removing unwanted apps from startup, removing unwanted backups, &2 uninstall unused apps)
Ccleaner: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download/standard

Alternative Tune up 2012:http://www.tune-up.com/download/archive/


Offtopic Note:
Apparently even great columnists don't seem to understand System Idle process.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1304348,00.asp

Quoting him

This week's column is about exploring the commonly observed problems that crop up with each new release. Maybe Microsoft should patch the patches once in a while.

Here are a few of my gripes – most of them a result of excessive patching.

IDLE-TIME PROCESS. Once in a while the system will go into an idle mode, requiring from five minutes to half an hour to unwind. It's weird, and I almost always have to reboot. When I hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete, I see that the System Idle Process is hogging all the resources and chewing up 95 percent of the processor's cycles. Doing what? Doing nothing? Once in a while, after you've clicked all over the screen trying to get the system to do something other than idle, all your clicks suddenly ignite and the screen goes crazy with activity. This is not right.

REBOOT DISABLED. Starting some months ago, hitting Ctrl-Alt-Delete twice would no longer reboot my system. Now I get a dialog box and have to reboot from inside that or not at all. Often I have to shut down a bunch of programs one at a time, and I've noticed they no longer close as easily as before. Each one struggles.

He's a columnist for pcmag.com
http://www.pcmag.com/author-bio/john-c.-dvorak

John Dvorak is a columnist for PCMag.com and the host of the weekly TV video podcast CrankyGeeks. His work is licensed around the world. Previously a columnist for Forbes, Forbes Digital, PC World, Barrons, MacUser, PC/Computing, Smart Business and other magazines and newspapers. Former editor and consulting editor for Infoworld. Has appeared in the New York Times, LA Times, Philadelphia Enquirer, SF Examiner, Vancouver Sun. Was on the start-up team for CNet TV as well as ZDTV. At ZDTV (and TechTV) was host of Silicon Spin for four years doing 1000 live and live-to-tape TV shows. Also was on public radio for 8 years. Written over 4000 articles and columns as well as authoring or co-authoring 14 books.

2004 Award winner of the American Business Editors Association's national gold award for best online column of 2003. That was followed up by an unprecedented second national gold award from the ABEA in 2005, again for the best online column (for 2004). Won the Silver National Award for best magazine column in 2006.

The articles still up on their site ,14 books, lmao.

[sujay]

I wouldn't suggest using any Registry Cleaner. You should use CCleaner to clean temporary junk files.
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds
Tune UP utilities is needless to use.
Sometimes disk fragmentation slows things so you can download Auslogics Disk Defrag.
http://www.auslogics.com/en/software...frag/download/
That's all...

You need to mention your OS, RAM, CPU information.

For virus issues, you can use Hitman Pro for free scanning. If it finds threat you will have to activate the trial.
http://www.surfright.nl/en/hitmanpro
But I wouldn't suggest to remove threats. Better let us know its findings.
You can also use Malwarebytes Free Antimalware for on-demand scanning.
www.malwarebytes.org/
Install it and run a full scan. Don't remove any threats. Cancel the scan results if any and it will open a log file. Attach that with your next reply.

[brightspark]

Hey bhanvra - Some good advice here already.

Four main reasons for a slow computer: malware infection(s), software conflicts (particularly security software), needs maintenance - clean, defrag, etc., too many programs auto-starting with Windows.

1) Scan the hard drive with good reputable scanner/remover software - Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is one of the best.
2) Make sure your installed security software is not conflicting - i.e. you don't have more than one of the same type installed which include real time protection. You don't have more than one security product actively monitoring each other. You don't have more than one security product which share the same modules (functions).
3) Clean and defrag - as already mentioned, CCleaner and Auslogics Disk Defrag will do nicely.
4) Check your start-up processes and disable all those which are unnecessary.

If you need assistance with number 4, please let us know and we shall guide you through.

Cheers...Jim

[bhanvra]

Thank you all for your wonderful replies.

The System Idle process being 99% is normal. It means your system is idle using only 1% of your CPU. So having the System Idle Process using 99% of your CPU is a good thing ... it means that that 99% is readily availble should there be any real work to do."Think of it as your computer just twiddling its virtual thumbs, waiting for something more important to do."
Its a scheduling technique. In the attached pic u c, it uses only 28kb of memory.

Christy, the system idle process being 99% is ideal but if you see in the attached screen-shot, at the same moment the CPU usage is 18%. I think, that is not ideal. If i am not wrong, both the things cannot happen at the same time

You need to mention your OS, RAM, CPU information.

My OS is Win XP pro SP3, ram is 2 gb, and cpu is Intel Dual core based processor(2.80 ghz), although it is now 5 years old.

You can also use Malwarebytes Free Antimalware for on-demand scanning.
www.malwarebytes.org/
Install it and run a full scan. Don't remove any threats. Cancel the scan results if any and it will open a log file. Attach that with your next reply.

Already did that, it said no issues found after scanning.

Hey bhanvra - Some good advice here already.

Four main reasons for a slow computer: malware infection(s), software conflicts (particularly security software), needs maintenance - clean, defrag, etc., too many programs auto-starting with Windows.

1) Scan the hard drive with good reputable scanner/remover software - Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is one of the best.
2) Make sure your installed security software is not conflicting - i.e. you don't have more than one of the same type installed which include real time protection. You don't have more than one security product actively monitoring each other. You don't have more than one security product which share the same modules (functions).
3) Clean and defrag - as already mentioned, CCleaner and Auslogics Disk Defrag will do nicely.
4) Check your start-up processes and disable all those which are unnecessary.

If you need assistance with number 4, please let us know and we shall guide you through.

Cheers...Jim

Hey Jim, completed all of the above steps except number 3. I will surely try that one.


once again, thanks to all of you


meanwhile, do let me know if there is any other step i need to follow!

[Christy]

Thank you all for your wonderful replies.




Christy, the system idle process being 99% is ideal but if you see in the attached screen-shot, at the same moment the CPU usage is 18%. I think, that is not ideal. If i am not wrong, both the things cannot happen at the same time

Ooh, missed that , my bad. Weird...

1.Use Process Explorer to further inspect processes: Process Explorer

2.Used a program called RATT to actually see what was requesting so many CPU cycles: RATT
Check RATT log: Column labelled IRS- Interrupt Service Routines.
If you find any file requesting a staggeringly higher amount of CPU cycle, there lies your problem.
If u find a *.sys file doing the hogging, its a device driver , try disabling it in the Device Manager and check again.

3.Reseat loose components (hardware),just to be sure.

4. Check if problem persists in Safe Boot mode. (Then its probably hardware)

[richie1913]

Download process explorer(free from sysinternals)
This will show the tree of processes launched by applications,and any running dll's.

Will give you a much better idea of what is causing the difference between idle and cpu usage.

[Networx]

If it was working fine before, you can also try a System restore. If you are not using Ccleaner, start using it. Very nice app, helps you get through most issues. Also try Glary Utilities, it has memory optimization and auto / scheduled system clean up (I think). Using Ccleaner, remove unwanted items from startup (you can still use them) and check.

[bhanvra]

If it was working fine before, you can also try a System restore. If you are not using Ccleaner, start using it. Very nice app, helps you get through most issues. Also try Glary Utilities, it has memory optimization and auto / scheduled system clean up (I think). Using Ccleaner, remove unwanted items from startup (you can still use them) and check.

thanks for your reply dear, will definitely try it!!!


will post my results back soon....[COLOR="Silver"]

---------- Post added at 08:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:45 PM ----------

hey guys, as per your advice, i used process explorer. it shows the reason of CPU usage as hardware interrupts.

Attachment 1460Attachment 1461.

after that, i also used RATT but could not understand the logs. can somebody please have a look at it and let me know what is bugging my lovely machine???

P.s. : If you notice, the value of system idle process is shown different in both process explorer and task manager!!!!

[bhanvra]

here is the file :

Desktop.zip