[lilxkid24]

Well one reason for your freezing is probably lag. Since your system specs aren't so good especially your processor, you shouldn't really multitask. Just run one thing at a time. See if that helps. You dont need more ram i used to have 256mb ram and i just lagged in games mostly, i really never had any other problems other than that. Can you show us a pic of the process running? Alt+prntscrn on the window to take the ss, then go to mspaint>edit>paste>save upload on image shack or photobucket.

[autiger]

Hello, Susan here, I am having problems with my PC. It seems to be busy running something in the background that causes whatever I'm trying to do to repeatedly freeze up or stop running. Sometimes the page I have open will even disappear and be sent to the bottom bar and I have to reopen it. I've taken the CPU to a repair shop and he checked it out and replaced the cooling fan, but he found no malware, viruses or problems. I've run several different scans including Panda, Zone Alarm Checkup, Spybot, CCleaner and Windows Defender, and have done everything they suggest and all needed updates, but I still have the same problem. In your magazine there is an article about using task Manager to check performance. When I did this, I found that my processor was running at 60 to 100 % capacity and according to the article this could mean a problem. I looked at the list of list of processes and the two that were busy were - System and Idle System processes. Why would these be so busy and how can I get them under control? I also took the CPU to a retired computer Geek and He kept it for three days, cleaning out any junk and checking out my software. He said he had no problems with it, but now it is doing the same freezing up again. It doesn't do it all the time there are bad sessions and good ones. Right now I have had your page to close down twice and have had to reopen it and type slowly because of the cursor freezing. Oh yes when using task manager to check on how busy my CPU is, when I check on the Kernel times the whole bar turns red, so Windows seems to be very busy. I have XP with Serv. Pk 2. running on a HP pavilion 513n, with 504 mb RAM. It has an Intel ® Celeron 1.8GHz. If anyone can help me get my machine back to normal I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

[snorg]

Hi & welcome Susan. :)

You should Defrag the hard drive and see if that helps.

[SpiritWind]

:D Hi Susan :





There are lots of sub processes present under the System Process,so you have to find out what specific sub process is consuming maximum CPU%.To do this you have to expand System Process and identify the sub process causing the problem. Download and install -"Process Explorer": this is a very good FREE program available from technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx . A "Tutorial" along the same vein is located at [http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial129.html] ; in place of "SVCHOST.EXE", use "System" . Process Explorer has a Support Forum staffed by Volunteer Helpers at [http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_topics.asp?FID=2] to answer any questions you may have .

[VladTheImpaler1990]

Hey well i would suggest the first thing is for you to upgrade your memory, it is recommended to have 1 gig of ram for XP. The other thing is you can go to:
* Run
* msconfig
and then go to services and then you can see the programs running in the background, but remember do not do anything with the programs that are running with windows.

[snorg]

YES Vlad is right.

If you get 1GB of memory it will make a BIG difference for you.

[autiger]

Hi, people, first I'd like to say thank you for all the suggestions. I really appreciate all your time and effort trying to help me. I've done the de-frag of drive C and was surprised that it needed it. I just did one back in Nov. but I guess with all the cleanup work and new downloads it needed de-fraging again. Drive C is 58% free. I am still having the freeze up problems as we speak even my screen saver will freeze up and Zone Alarm's scanning will stop. The very helpful computer "Geek" who checked out my machine, downloaded "Process Tamer" and it is running. I downloaded "Process Explorer" as advised and I read over the tutorial. I think I understand what it is showing me but I don't know what to do to decrease any of the processes it shows are running. System is at the top of the list when I open the program and under the CP column it has a high percentage ranging from 75 to 99%, but the sub-systems listed under "System" don't show any high amounts. So what is adding up to the high usage? When I click on System and the property box comes up there is no "Service" tab to open as mentioned on the tutorial page. This all started just before Thanksgiving when my mouse started acting up and became very sensitive. I have my sytem set up to work with single clicks not double ones, but when I would right click once, it was as if I had clicked twice and the application would open and shut quickly. Or if i was trying to put a check in a box one would appear and disappear like I had clicked twice. This is when I took it in to the repairman and he fixed it and replaced a fan (I got a message on booting up there was a CPU error that needed immediate service attention). After getting it back and shelling out 100 bucks I was busy over the holidays but started noticing more and more freezing and stops. The pages going down are maddening and once it froze up totally. The screen went black except for the cursor in the middle and it couldn't be moved. The CPU showed no sign of activity and after 15 minute I pressed the off button but it wouldn't shut down. I had to unplug it to get it to shut down. That is when my friend the Geek, looked at it for me. With my system being some 58% free do you still think I need more RAM? Thank You Again. Susan

[SpiritWind]

:D Hi Susan :


I have done a little more "researching" your high "System" process and wonder IF you could possibly

post a "screen shot" of the top pane of the "Process Explorer" program AFTER having "expanded" the

"System" process !? If not, I would like you to give me the "CPU Number" for "DPCs", also known as

"Deferred Procedure Calls" !? While you are at it, the "CPU Number" for "Hardware Interrupts" !?

The Names of all the entries under the "expanded" System Process may help as well !? IF any have

a high CPU Number, ( 50% + ) its Name, please !?

The problem MAY be associated with an antiVIRUS program; which ONE do you have ?

Is your mouse still "sensitive" ?

[autiger]

Hi Spirit Wind, I ran Process Explorer and took three different snapshots. The first was taken only 15 minutes after turning on the machine and I wasn't having any problems yets. The next two were after an hour or so and after I had gone online to check my mail. I was offline at the time though and the freezes had started. My anti virals are: Zone Alarm (free program), AVG (free program), Windows Defender, Spyware Blaster(My friend just downloaded this last week, so it hasn't been onboard long enough to have caused the problems to start with), Spybot, and while I have the Windows firewall, I keep it turned off because it interferes with the others. I hope I am able to download the pages on Process Explorer to this site correctly, but I'm afraid I did it wrong. I see them listed at the start of my post but can't open them. I couldn't find an icon on the rich text page for inserting pages only images so I changed to plain text but couldn't find one there either. I used the insert image icon and got them listed on the page but now can't go back to rich text and when I try to preview my post they don't show. Are they too large and what should I do get them posted? Sorry about the trouble I"m not a computer wiz as you all have guessed by now.
Sincerely Susan

[snorg]

Hi Susan
When the Windoze defragmenter says "you dont need to defrag" thats almost always a lie.
The Windows System files always get used allot, but they are only a small percentage so many of them can be badly fragmented & Windoze will say "you dont need to defrag".

You should defrag once a week.

[techie4fun]

Susan,

You don't have to do anything else. We as the helpers can simply right click and download your photo and view it on our own computer's normally regardless of the blurry viewing here in the forums.

Anyway.

[SpiritWind]

:D Hi Susan :


I want to thank you for the extraordinary effort you put into posting those time-sequence Screen Shots ;

I doubt I could do as well since I'm "computer-challenged" when it comes to Screen Shots . There was

little Info there I could use . I was looking for a screen shot when your "System" process was running

close to 99%, although the 1st One shows 91%; does that "process" run that high any more ? Or does

the "Process Tamer" prevent that !? I went to the Author's Site of that program and spent some time

there ; do you get frequent PopUp "alerts" from that program ? IF Yes, what is usual "Message" ?

I had mentioned that I wanted a screen shot after "expand(ing) the System Process"; from your posted

screen shots that was NOT done. This is accomplished by clicking the box to the left of "System" that

has the minus sign in it ; after doing so, a lot of "sub" systems will suddenly appear and the box will

now contain a "+" .

I had asked about IF your mouse was still "sensitive" !?

And I assume the FREE Zone Alarm program you have is their FIREWALL ( ONLY ) !? If true, then

your "built-in" Windows Firewall should be turned OFF or "Disabled" .

"SpywareBlaster" IF it is the One from javacoolsoftware.com is very good; I have it on my computer.

It has Updates about once every 2 weeks.

[autiger]

Hi Guys and Gals, Susan here and yes I am still having the same problems and am still very interested in any and all help you are giving me. I'll try to answer some of the questions now. First for Vlad: I ran the msconfig and under the service tab all the ones listed with checked boxes(some were running and some were not) were manufactured by Microsoft except: AVG (three listings) manf. by Grisoft, Logical Disk Manager Ad. which lists Microsf. and Veritas software as the manufacturers, NVIDIA Driver Helper by NVIDIA Corp., True Vector Int. Mon. by Zone Labs LLC., and Windows Defender whose manufacturer was listed as unknown. I unchecked the Automatic updates box because I like to control when I run updates. I have a program, Secunia, that scans my programs and lets me know if they are in need of updates or are outdated. I run updates on all my security programs every week and scan my computer weekly with them. I thought it odd that Windows Defender is not listed as a Microsoft product. Is my copy a ripoff and should I uninstall it? Now for Spirit's questions. The Zone Alarm is just the free firewall and my windows firewall is shut off. I'll try to get a snapshot of the system page in process explorer when it is up to 99% but it may be frozen then and keep me from doing it and I'll be sure the system menu is expanded this time. Sorry about that I thought it was when I took the snapshot. The process tamer was just put in by my computer Geek friend about a week ago. I haven't had any popup ads dealing with it yet. If you mean the little warning boxes that show at the bottom of the screen when it is working then yes, it is doing its job and those come up all the time. None of the programs that it has had to control are unknown to me. I recognize them all and when they are mentioned in the box they are actually running. So I have had no surprise programs pop up that it is trying to control. My mouse is alright now with no more super sensitivity. I just checked with process explorer and the menu under System is expanded when the box shows a (-) sign. If I click on it then the subheadings under System will disappear and the box shows a (). There are no other () boxes under System to check.

[snorg]

autiger said:

The Zone Alarm is just the free firewall and my windows firewall is shut off.

Hi Susan
Dont let ZoneAlarm turn off windows firewall.

Double click on ZoneAlarm in the system tray.
Click on Firewall, main, click on advanced
under "general settings" uncheck "disable windows firewall"

[autiger]

I just checked the snapshots that I posted in this forum of the process explorer pages. I saved them in my documents. It looks like to me that the Systems heading is expanded with all the subheadings showing. I can't look at the downloaded shots in my forum listing for some reason. They show up as blank spaces and I tried to open them by left clicking but nothing happens. When I right click and try to save the picture a file is created and sent to my pictures but when I try to preview it there is only a blank screen on the preview page. I am assuming you guys can open and see the picts but weather on not they are what I sent completely, I don't know. I have a program -Gadwin Print Screen- that I used to get the images and save them. How should I send them to the forum in the future?

Thanks Susan

[david19125]

Hi I use Zonealarm and avg also and have not ever had any trouble with them but I know that people have had trouble with Zonealarm using a lot of CPU and doing slow downs to there systems. Also you do not want to run two or three programs that do the same thing at one time it can slow down a computer and make if freeze up like you have. So I would try to turn off windows dender or uninstall it all to gether and make sure the windows anit virus software is turn off. Then it would see how it works on line if it still hange us on you try to reboot the computer and then turn off Zonealarm and go on line to see what happens if it doesn't freeze up on you then you will know it is the zonealarm software. Go to there web page and you can log on to there bog and ask the people there for help on how to fix your problem with zonealarm. Hope this help you out.

[SpiritWind]

:D Hi Susan :



Your explanation about the "workings" of the "+" and "-" sign in the box to the left of the "System"

Entry may be caused by us using 2 different Versions of Process Explorer !? I am using Ver 9.25

that I downloaded several yrs ago while you are using the latest Ver 11.04 and perhaps there was a

programming change. Regardless, I took a 2nd Look and found something very interesting in the 2nd

Screen Shot ( apparently you were on the net at the time !? If yes, all future screen shot(s) you Post

here about this Issue should be while on the net ) ; in the "section" that begins with "explorer.exe",

there appears to be a "SJapphk.exe" with no name for a manufacture . Very suspicious. I got out my

magnifying glass and still could barely see it; if you could give me the correct spelling, it would be

very helpful. In fact, in that 2nd Screen Shot, that "section" was cut off; there appears to be a slider on

the right side of screen that should be moved to the bottom, so I could see that entire "section" .

Regarding Process Tamer ; looks like I used incorrect language when I said "PopUp messages" ;

I would like to know what those "little warning boxes that show up at bottom of the screen" usually

say, even though you recognize the "Name" .

As far as posting Screen Shots in this forum, just continue with the previous "Method" that you used.

[snorg]

david19125 said:

turn off windows dender or uninstall it all to gether

>make sure the windows anti virus software is turn off
>turn off Zonealarm

Quote

It is ok to do this when you are not on the internet, but NEVER do this when you are on the internet, that would be foolish & dangerous.
DO NOT uninstall Windows Defender!

[lilxkid24]

uninstalling windows defender is no big deal, it doesnt pick up crap anyway, virtually useless in my eyes. Just replace it with something better like superantispyware, avg antispyware, or spybot search and destroy, those are way better than windows defender.

[autiger]

Hi, Susan here, It is odd how erratic these freeze ups are. I was online this morning doing some copies of forms and it was freezing all the time every few minutes for 10 sec. to minutes at a time. The light on my CPU doesn't blink when they happen like it is busy and usually the cursor can be moved, but none of the buttons will work and I can't click on anything. It took me forever to print out just three pages and all I had going was Windows explorer and my printer. I don't click on more than one action when these freezes happen because I know that will make it hang longer. I don't run several programs -applications- at a time and close everyone I'm not using before opening another. Spirit - the application is S3apphk.exe. I am posting two screenshots. One shows the bottom half of process exp. with everthing expanded, the second is where I clicked on the app. and opened the page about its properties. Let me know if you or anyone needs to see the other tabs. The alert boxes for process tamer state that it is either "Lowering" or "Increasing" "Process Priority" for various programs. Some of the ones I have seen listed are: WgaTray.exe, firefox.exe, and iexplore.exe. It doesn't come on nearly as often as it did the first week that I had it. I'll keep Windows Defender because it hasn't caused me any problems and seems to be good for checking my system. I do have Spybot destroyer and run it evey couple of days with weekly updates. When I first got this computer, just over two years ago, -I bought it used-, Spybot found two Trogens running on it and locked them up. Well I downloaded the two images from my documents just the way I did the others but as you can see they don't show up just like them. Am I doing something wrong?