Continued problem with Slow System

[bgaard]

On 5/25 I wrote:

"I have a problem with Windows ME. After a couple of
hours of use the system slows way down. The cursor is
jerky when it moves and system sounds become "echo'y".
Even the clock falls way behind actual time. It acts like
a resource problem but when I close all of my open
applications, the available resources seem to be restored
to an acceptable level without a corresponding recovery in
system performance, the clock will not even catch up. I
have run both scan disk and defrag. I also have an up-to-
date virus checker and have specifically scanned for
sasser. The problem goes away after a re-boot only to
return after another couple of hours. Heavy internet
usage (on line gaming or streaming audio) seem to cause
this to happen more quickly. I do not believe that
hardware is the problem as this is a fairly recent
phenomena. Any advice?"

Noel Patton was kind enough to point me towards several
utilities to run to detect possible viruses/hijackers.

First off, thanks everyone for all the advice. I was
hopeful that we got this nailed, especially when AdAware
detected some possible browser hijack attemps. However
after cleaning my system the problem has not gone away.
What would be my next step?

[Mike M]

> What would be my next step?

Download and use a process viewer which will tell you which processes are
running and how much cpu time each is using, both instantaneous and
cumulative. Knowing such details will then help in establishing the cause of
the slow down.

Suitable viewers include the old but still functional WinTop (part of the
equally old Win95 Powertools available from
http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/contents/WUToys/W95KernelToy/Default.asp)
through TaskInfo 2003, unfortunately no longer free, (www.iarsn.com) to
SysInternals Process Explorer (www.sysinternals.com where you will also find
many other useful tools and utilities).
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



bgaard > wrote:

> On 5/25 I wrote:
>
> "I have a problem with Windows ME. After a couple of
> hours of use the system slows way down. The cursor is
> jerky when it moves and system sounds become "echo'y".
> Even the clock falls way behind actual time. It acts like
> a resource problem but when I close all of my open
> applications, the available resources seem to be restored
> to an acceptable level without a corresponding recovery in
> system performance, the clock will not even catch up. I
> have run both scan disk and defrag. I also have an up-to-
> date virus checker and have specifically scanned for
> sasser. The problem goes away after a re-boot only to
> return after another couple of hours. Heavy internet
> usage (on line gaming or streaming audio) seem to cause
> this to happen more quickly. I do not believe that
> hardware is the problem as this is a fairly recent
> phenomena. Any advice?"
>
> Noel Patton was kind enough to point me towards several
> utilities to run to detect possible viruses/hijackers.
>
> First off, thanks everyone for all the advice. I was
> hopeful that we got this nailed, especially when AdAware
> detected some possible browser hijack attemps. However
> after cleaning my system the problem has not gone away.
> What would be my next step?

[bgaard]

OK, what am I looking for? I don't see anything that
looks like it is grabbing and keeping resources, by and
large system idle is above 95% but my PC is really
dragging. There are a couple of processes (Explorer.exe
and a couple of Symantec programs) that have a relatively
large number of threads, but nothing that is using a lot
of CPU time.
>-----Original Message-----
>> What would be my next step?
>
>Download and use a process viewer which will tell you
which processes are
>running and how much cpu time each is using, both
instantaneous and
>cumulative. Knowing such details will then help in
establishing the cause of
>the slow down.
>
>Suitable viewers include the old but still functional
WinTop (part of the
>equally old Win95 Powertools available from
>http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/contents/WUTo
ys/W95KernelToy/Default.asp)
>through TaskInfo 2003, unfortunately no longer free,
(www.iarsn.com) to
>SysInternals Process Explorer (www.sysinternals.com where
you will also find
>many other useful tools and utilities).
>--
>Mike Maltby MS-MVP

>
>
>bgaard > wrote:
>
>> On 5/25 I wrote:
>>
>> "I have a problem with Windows ME. After a couple of
>> hours of use the system slows way down. The cursor is
>> jerky when it moves and system sounds become "echo'y".
>> Even the clock falls way behind actual time. It acts
like
>> a resource problem but when I close all of my open
>> applications, the available resources seem to be
restored
>> to an acceptable level without a corresponding recovery
in
>> system performance, the clock will not even catch up. I
>> have run both scan disk and defrag. I also have an up-
to-
>> date virus checker and have specifically scanned for
>> sasser. The problem goes away after a re-boot only to
>> return after another couple of hours. Heavy internet
>> usage (on line gaming or streaming audio) seem to cause
>> this to happen more quickly. I do not believe that
>> hardware is the problem as this is a fairly recent
>> phenomena. Any advice?"
>>
>> Noel Patton was kind enough to point me towards several
>> utilities to run to detect possible viruses/hijackers.
>>
>> First off, thanks everyone for all the advice. I was
>> hopeful that we got this nailed, especially when AdAware
>> detected some possible browser hijack attemps. However
>> after cleaning my system the problem has not gone away.
>> What would be my next step?
>
>
>.
>

[Mike M]

> OK, what am I looking for?

I thought you were looking for what was causing you your problems. :-) Next
time your system "slows down" and "drags" check what is using the cpu cycles
at the time or perhaps even post details of exactly what you are doing at the
time.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



bgaard > wrote:

> OK, what am I looking for? I don't see anything that
> looks like it is grabbing and keeping resources, by and
> large system idle is above 95% but my PC is really
> dragging. There are a couple of processes (Explorer.exe
> and a couple of Symantec programs) that have a relatively
> large number of threads, but nothing that is using a lot
> of CPU time.

[bgaard]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I reported above is what I
saw when my system slowed down. My clock was an hour
behind, cursor movement was jerky, everything was slow and
Wintop indicated that the CPU was 95% idle. I had 1 or 2
browser windows open at any given time, a word document,
and outlook express. My son encounters the same problem
when he plays on-line games (Warcraft). Shutting all of
the applications down does not improve performance - once
this behavior starts it continues until I reboot.


>-----Original Message-----
>> OK, what am I looking for?
>
>I thought you were looking for what was causing you your
problems. :-) Next
>time your system "slows down" and "drags" check what is
using the cpu cycles
>at the time or perhaps even post details of exactly what
you are doing at the
>time.
>--
>Mike Maltby MS-MVP

>
>
>bgaard > wrote:
>
>> OK, what am I looking for? I don't see anything that
>> looks like it is grabbing and keeping resources, by and
>> large system idle is above 95% but my PC is really
>> dragging. There are a couple of processes (Explorer.exe
>> and a couple of Symantec programs) that have a
relatively
>> large number of threads, but nothing that is using a lot
>> of CPU time.
>
>
>.
>

[Mike M]

If your clock is an hour slow and it was correct when you booted your system
then you have an application running that is stealing clock cycles and this
same application could be what is causing you to have problems with your
mouse. As I said perhaps you should think about posting details of the
applications you have running on your PC when this happens.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



bgaard > wrote:

> Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I reported above is what I
> saw when my system slowed down. My clock was an hour
> behind, cursor movement was jerky, everything was slow and
> Wintop indicated that the CPU was 95% idle. I had 1 or 2
> browser windows open at any given time, a word document,
> and outlook express. My son encounters the same problem
> when he plays on-line games (Warcraft). Shutting all of
> the applications down does not improve performance - once
> this behavior starts it continues until I reboot.

[bgaard]

Booted system and verified clock was set to current
correct time. Ran AdAware and Spybot to verify system was
clean (it was).

Worked for about an hour, had Outlook Express, several
Word documents (no more that 2 at any given time, closed
when done working), and two Internet Explorer windows (one
for general browsing, one for streaming audio) open.
After about an hour, I noticed that my system clock had
lost 8 minutes. My cursor was jerky and system sounds
were echoing. I closed all open applications and checked
system resources. System properties indicated 512 MB of
RAM available and system resources were 61% free. WinTop
indicated the following 27 programs:

Idle
KERNAL32.DLL
MSGSRV.EXE
SPOOL32.EXE
MPREXE.EXE
MSTASK.EXE
CCEVTRMRG.EXE (Firewall/Virus scanner)
NISUM. EXE (Firewall/Virus scanner)
CCPXYSVC. EXE (Firewall/Virus scanner)
mmtask.tsk
STMGR.EXE
DEVLDR16.EXE
EXPLORER.EXE
TASKMON.EXE
SYSTRAY.EXE
WMIEXE.EXE
DDHELP.EXE
LOADQM.EXE
CCAPP. EXE (Firewall/Virus scanner)
AHQTB.EXE
WKCALREM.EXE
WMENCAGT.EXE
WINTOP.EXE
PSTORES.EXE
TAPISRV.EXE
WEBSHOTSTRAY.EXE (screensaver)
RUNDLL32.EXE

The Idle process had used about 1 hour of CPU time,
DEVLDR16 had used about 1 minute of CPU time and Explorer
had used about 4 Minutes CPU time (Cumulative). Idle was
consistently using 95% or more of the CPU except for brief
intervals (a second or so). Nothing else was using
significant CPU time.

The close program dialogue box indicated the following 10
programs:
WinTop
Explorer
Ccapp
Webshotstray
Loadqm
Wmencagt
Wkcalrem
Devldr16
Systray
Ahqtb

I then walked away from me PC and left it alone for an
hour (67 Minutes actual). No applications were running
during this time except WinTop, my screensaver (Webshots),
and my Firewall/Virus Scanner). When I returned, I
noticed that my system clock had lost an additional 26
minutes and was now 34 minutes slow. System properties
indicated 512 MB of RAM available and system resources
were still 61% free. WinTop indicated that 26 programs
were running, PSTORES.EXE was no longer on the list, the
balance matched the list from above. The Idle process had
used about 1 hour and 42 minutes of CPU time, DEVLDR16 and
Explorer remained at about 1 Minute and 4 Minutes
respectively. Idle continued to use 95% or more of the
CPU except for brief intervals (a second or so).


The close program dialogue box indicated the same 10
programs.

Can anyone tell me what is going on here?

>-----Original Message-----
>If your clock is an hour slow and it was correct when you
booted your system
>then you have an application running that is stealing
clock cycles and this
>same application could be what is causing you to have
problems with your
>mouse. As I said perhaps you should think about posting
details of the
>applications you have running on your PC when this
happens.
>--
>Mike Maltby MS-MVP

>
>
>bgaard > wrote:
>
>> Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I reported above is what I
>> saw when my system slowed down. My clock was an hour
>> behind, cursor movement was jerky, everything was slow
and
>> Wintop indicated that the CPU was 95% idle. I had 1 or
2
>> browser windows open at any given time, a word document,
>> and outlook express. My son encounters the same problem
>> when he plays on-line games (Warcraft). Shutting all of
>> the applications down does not improve performance -
once
>> this behavior starts it continues until I reboot.
>
>
>.
>

[Mike M]

The first place I'd be looking is at your screensaver (Webshotstray) as this
could be what is stealing clock cycles. I'm also not clear as to why you have
the Windows Media Encoder (Wmencagt) loaded and running all of the time and
this is something I would disable and only run when required. Personally I'd
also be looking to dump the Symantec malware you have running and look for an
alternative less operating system hostile firewall but then again that's very
much a personal opinion and I don't think that this is the cause of your
problems but can't discount it without further testing.

So how to proceed? You are going to have to run your system with each of
these various applications disabled in turn until you find the once that is
causing you your problems.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



bgaard > wrote:

> Booted system and verified clock was set to current
> correct time. Ran AdAware and Spybot to verify system was
> clean (it was).
>
> Worked for about an hour, had Outlook Express, several
> Word documents (no more that 2 at any given time, closed
> when done working), and two Internet Explorer windows (one
> for general browsing, one for streaming audio) open.
> After about an hour, I noticed that my system clock had
> lost 8 minutes. My cursor was jerky and system sounds
> were echoing. I closed all open applications and checked
> system resources. System properties indicated 512 MB of
> RAM available and system resources were 61% free. WinTop
> indicated the following 27 programs:
>
> Idle
> KERNAL32.DLL
> MSGSRV.EXE
> SPOOL32.EXE
> MPREXE.EXE
> MSTASK.EXE
> CCEVTRMRG.EXE (Firewall/Virus scanner)
> NISUM. EXE (Firewall/Virus scanner)
> CCPXYSVC. EXE (Firewall/Virus scanner)
> mmtask.tsk
> STMGR.EXE
> DEVLDR16.EXE
> EXPLORER.EXE
> TASKMON.EXE
> SYSTRAY.EXE
> WMIEXE.EXE
> DDHELP.EXE
> LOADQM.EXE
> CCAPP. EXE (Firewall/Virus scanner)
> AHQTB.EXE
> WKCALREM.EXE
> WMENCAGT.EXE
> WINTOP.EXE
> PSTORES.EXE
> TAPISRV.EXE
> WEBSHOTSTRAY.EXE (screensaver)
> RUNDLL32.EXE
>
> The Idle process had used about 1 hour of CPU time,
> DEVLDR16 had used about 1 minute of CPU time and Explorer
> had used about 4 Minutes CPU time (Cumulative). Idle was
> consistently using 95% or more of the CPU except for brief
> intervals (a second or so). Nothing else was using
> significant CPU time.
>
> The close program dialogue box indicated the following 10
> programs:
> WinTop
> Explorer
> Ccapp
> Webshotstray
> Loadqm
> Wmencagt
> Wkcalrem
> Devldr16
> Systray
> Ahqtb
>
> I then walked away from me PC and left it alone for an
> hour (67 Minutes actual). No applications were running
> during this time except WinTop, my screensaver (Webshots),
> and my Firewall/Virus Scanner). When I returned, I
> noticed that my system clock had lost an additional 26
> minutes and was now 34 minutes slow. System properties
> indicated 512 MB of RAM available and system resources
> were still 61% free. WinTop indicated that 26 programs
> were running, PSTORES.EXE was no longer on the list, the
> balance matched the list from above. The Idle process had
> used about 1 hour and 42 minutes of CPU time, DEVLDR16 and
> Explorer remained at about 1 Minute and 4 Minutes
> respectively. Idle continued to use 95% or more of the
> CPU except for brief intervals (a second or so).
>
>
> The close program dialogue box indicated the same 10
> programs.
>
> Can anyone tell me what is going on here?
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> If your clock is an hour slow and it was correct when you booted your
>> system then you have an application running that is stealing clock
>> cycles and this same application could be what is causing you to have
>> problems with your mouse. As I said perhaps you should think about
>> posting details of the applications you have running on your PC when
>> this happens. --
>> Mike Maltby MS-MVP
>>
>>
>>
>> bgaard > wrote:
>>
>>> Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I reported above is what I
>>> saw when my system slowed down. My clock was an hour
>>> behind, cursor movement was jerky, everything was slow and
>>> Wintop indicated that the CPU was 95% idle. I had 1 or 2
>>> browser windows open at any given time, a word document,
>>> and outlook express. My son encounters the same problem
>>> when he plays on-line games (Warcraft). Shutting all of
>>> the applications down does not improve performance - once
>>> this behavior starts it continues until I reboot.
>>
>>
>> .

[PSYCHOPIXIE]

I read something about a memory leak recently could that be your problem?
I always have media encoder thingy running too, should I not have?


The first place I'd be looking is at your screensaver (Webshotstray) as this
could be what is stealing clock cycles. I'm also not clear as to why you have
the Windows Media Encoder (Wmencagt) loaded and running all of the time and
this is something I would disable and only run when required. Personally I'd
also be looking to dump the Symantec malware you have running and look for an
alternative less operating system hostile firewall but then again that's very
much a personal opinion and I don't think that this is the cause of your
problems but can't discount it without further testing.

So how to proceed? You are going to have to run your system with each of
these various applications disabled in turn until you find the once that is
causing you your problems.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



bgaard wrote:

Booted system and verified clock was set to current
correct time. Ran AdAware and Spybot to verify system was
clean (it was).

Worked for about an hour, had Outlook Express, several
Word documents (no more that 2 at any given time, closed
when done working), and two Internet Explorer windows (one
for general browsing, one for streaming audio) open.
After about an hour, I noticed that my system clock had
lost 8 minutes. My cursor was jerky and system sounds
were echoing. I closed all open applications and checked
system resources. System properties indicated 512 MB of
RAM available and system resources were 61% free. WinTop
indicated the following 27 programs:

Idle
KERNAL32.DLL
MSGSRV.EXE
SPOOL32.EXE
MPREXE.EXE
MSTASK.EXE
CCEVTRMRG.EXE (Firewall/Virus scanner)
NISUM. EXE (Firewall/Virus scanner)
CCPXYSVC. EXE (Firewall/Virus scanner)
mmtask.tsk
STMGR.EXE
DEVLDR16.EXE
EXPLORER.EXE
TASKMON.EXE
SYSTRAY.EXE
WMIEXE.EXE
DDHELP.EXE
LOADQM.EXE
CCAPP. EXE (Firewall/Virus scanner)
AHQTB.EXE
WKCALREM.EXE
WMENCAGT.EXE
WINTOP.EXE
PSTORES.EXE
TAPISRV.EXE
WEBSHOTSTRAY.EXE (screensaver)
RUNDLL32.EXE

The Idle process had used about 1 hour of CPU time,
DEVLDR16 had used about 1 minute of CPU time and Explorer
had used about 4 Minutes CPU time (Cumulative). Idle was
consistently using 95% or more of the CPU except for brief
intervals (a second or so). Nothing else was using
significant CPU time.

The close program dialogue box indicated the following 10
programs:
WinTop
Explorer
Ccapp
Webshotstray
Loadqm
Wmencagt
Wkcalrem
Devldr16
Systray
Ahqtb

I then walked away from me PC and left it alone for an
hour (67 Minutes actual). No applications were running
during this time except WinTop, my screensaver (Webshots),
and my Firewall/Virus Scanner). When I returned, I
noticed that my system clock had lost an additional 26
minutes and was now 34 minutes slow. System properties
indicated 512 MB of RAM available and system resources
were still 61% free. WinTop indicated that 26 programs
were running, PSTORES.EXE was no longer on the list, the
balance matched the list from above. The Idle process had
used about 1 hour and 42 minutes of CPU time, DEVLDR16 and
Explorer remained at about 1 Minute and 4 Minutes
respectively. Idle continued to use 95% or more of the
CPU except for brief intervals (a second or so).


The close program dialogue box indicated the same 10
programs.

Can anyone tell me what is going on here?

-----Original Message-----
If your clock is an hour slow and it was correct when you booted your
system then you have an application running that is stealing clock
cycles and this same application could be what is causing you to have
problems with your mouse. As I said perhaps you should think about
posting details of the applications you have running on your PC when
this happens. --
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



bgaard wrote:

Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I reported above is what I
saw when my system slowed down. My clock was an hour
behind, cursor movement was jerky, everything was slow and
Wintop indicated that the CPU was 95% idle. I had 1 or 2
browser windows open at any given time, a word document,
and outlook express. My son encounters the same problem
when he plays on-line games (Warcraft). Shutting all of
the applications down does not improve performance - once
this behavior starts it continues until I reboot.


.

[Jack E Martinelli]

In his earlier post to you, Mike M wrote," I'm also not clear as to why
> you have the Windows Media Encoder (Wmencagt) loaded and running all of
the time
> and this is something I would disable and only run when required. "

What part of this do you not understand?
There is only one known memory leak, involving ATM services, under WinME,
which is almost not certainly your problem.

--
Jack E. Martinelli 2002-05 MS MVP for Shell/User / DTS
Help us help you: http://www.dts-L.org/goodpost.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx
Your cooperation is very appreciated.
------
"PSYCHOPIXIE" > wrote in message
...
>
> I read something about a memory leak recently could that be your
> problem?
> I always have media encoder thingy running too, should I not have?
>
>
> Mike M Wrote:
> > The first place I'd be looking is at your screensaver (Webshotstray) as
> > this
> > could be what is stealing clock cycles. I'm also not clear as to why
> > you have
> > the Windows Media Encoder (Wmencagt) loaded and running all of the time
> > and
> > this is something I would disable and only run when required.
> > Personally I'd
> > also be looking to dump the Symantec malware you have running and look
> > for an
> > alternative less operating system hostile firewall but then again
> > that's very
> > much a personal opinion and I don't think that this is the cause of
> > your
> > problems but can't discount it without further testing.
> >
> > So how to proceed? You are going to have to run your system with each
> > of
> > these various applications disabled in turn until you find the once
> > that is
> > causing you your problems.
> > --
> > Mike Maltby MS-MVP
> >
> >

<SNIP>