[skicrazer]

Hi,

I have a Systemax Venture PC with a Celeron 2.53 GHz processor, 608MB of RAM, and XP Professional ver 2002 SP3. When I received the PC a few months ago, I wiped it clean with "Derek's boot and nuke" then loaded the OS needed software, inclusing Office XP Developer, free AVG antivirus (also does the spyware detection), ZoneAlarm firewall, and SpyBot S&D. So, my problem is that performance on this machine, basically, sucks! Even when I'm not using all of the memory, the CPU utilization frequently kicks up to 100% and I sit and wait. I have not added any unusual hardware other than an additional USB card in a PCI slot, but that's it. Since the SW on the machine is pretty fresh and I have not uninstalled many programs (none? ... can't remember), I'm thinking it's probably not the registry (?).

...

Can anyone give me more ideas on where to look for the problem? I moved to this one from a 700MHz machine and have not seen much of an improvement, if any at all. I have no warning indicators in my Device Manager list, but other than that, I'm not sure where to look to find the problem (like, when I'm typing now, the CPU is maxing out at times and doesn't keep up with my backspacing, etc.)



Thanks!

[ARock84]

I would say to first try and go to your Task Manager and see how many proceess are running and what the top Using Processes are... Many you can shut down that don't need to start when the computer starts. Check this and let us know what you find.

[SnyperTodd]

Hi skicrazer, first of all, you're on the low end when it comes to RAM, but that's probably not your problem. Press CtrlAltDel to bring up the task manager. Click on the "Processes" tab. In the "CPU" column, find the highest value, and look in the "Image Name" column. Let us know what image(s) are using the highest amount of CPU time and we can start to diagnose the issue from there. Make sure you note this while the CPU is being maxed out by something other than "System Idle Process."

[skicrazer]

ARock, thanks for the suggestion. I neglected to say in my post that it's always the web browser that's hogging the memory. I'm using Firefox 3.0, but also have this problem with Safari and IE 7.0. But, it definitely seems to be centered around the browser...which would lead me to think it's a SW prob, though I can't imagine why.

[ARock84]

So when you use your computer you have normal activity and usage levels until you use your Web Browser?

Do you have any of those stupid toolbars installed? Such as Yahoo or Google?

[Tech4me]

The Wds you installed might have lot of Crapwares.....(As factories call it bonus)

Use Pc.Decrapifier to clean them out ...: www.pcdecrapifier.com/download

Turn OFF all svc that you DON'T need ...: [http://www.blackviper.com/]

Uninstall that AVG AV ....see if it helps ....Use Avast..: [http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html]

My son has HP with Celeron 1.6GHz /80GB.HDD and 512MB but runs like a charmp.

Good luck.

[skicrazer]

"So when you use your computer you have normal activity and usage levels until you use your Web Browser?" Yes

"Do you have any of those stupid toolbars installed? Such as Yahoo or Google?" No



On my old 700MHz pc, I had performance issues when Time Warner Cable introduced the CA security suite, which ended up dogging my PC. It was fine with the AV they offered and ZA firewall before that. That was one reason I switched to this PC (which was given to me by my mother in law...virtumonde virus and all - the reason for the nuke and boot). But, I also ditched cable internet for DSL - same speeds, trained down to 1.5 for lower cost.

I've been thinking it could be an add-on...actually, playing flash web pages absolutely kills it ( www.mammothmountain.com for instance). Why? I don't have the slightest idea.

[skicrazer]

Thanks Tech4me. I'll give those solutions a try. I switched to AVG because someone said it would provide better performance than the CA suite or Norton.

Sorry...what are "Wds"?

(Amazing...it maxed out while pushing and holding the delete key to erase a few words in this post "

As far as the services go, I can watch the CPU utilization for the browser peak into the 90's, so not sure if the other processes are the problem. (?)

I do appreciate the help - believe me! (I'm tired of the waiting...)

[ARock84]

If you have normal performance during operation it wouldnt be other programs. Are you running the newest versions of the web Browsers? Such as IE 7 or Firefox 3.0.6 I beleive it is!

[skicrazer]

Yes, the most current browser versions.

Baffled

Maybe I should uninstall and re-install them. Thing is, they all have the same issue, which, to me points to the OS or hardware. ??

[ARock84]

IMO its something different and underliying!

Are you sure you dont have any malware or anything on your computer? I know some attack when you open up a Web Browser. My sister had one years ago that would open 100's of IE Windows and would crash the computer!

IMO This is 100% a WB Isssue... Not a hardware or OS issue!

[skicrazer]

FWIW:


My Firefox plugins are:



Adobe Acrobat

iTunes Application Detector

Java Platform SE 6 U11Platform SE binary

Java Platform U11 1.6.0_11 for Netscape Navigator (DLLHelper)

Microsoft DRM Netscape Network Object

DRM Store Netscape Plugin

Mozilla Default Plugin

Quick Time Plugin 7.5.5

Shockwave Flash 10.0 r12

Windows Media Player plugin DLL - Npdsplay dll



Extension: Java Quick Starter 1.0



UPDATED:

The other common component between the 3 browsers would be the security SW I have - maybe they don't play well together. all free versions - AVG AV, ZoneAlarm firewall, Spybot S&D

[Tech4me]

"Sorry...what are "Wds"? Its Windows Cd from factory.

For now....You should pick one.....only one browser see if it help...I think you over loaded celeron which is slower than most cpu out there.

www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/beta/ This IE 8 RC....runs very smooth so far.

[coastie65]

Hi, One thing that jumps out at me is AVG & SpyBot S&D. If you are running both of those things actively, youare using a lot of resources. You should only run 1 antivirus & 1 Anti spyware app actively at one time.You can have others installed for redundant scans, but should not be active. Also, you appear to be a little light on memory. You have enough to run the OS and stuff, but it wouldn't take much to start stressing the memory. I would recommend at least 1 Gb. coastie65

[skicrazer]

Hi Coastie65,

I thought you had nailed it with the 2 anti-spyware programs running simultaneously, but the problem is still there after I closed SypBot. (dang)

Verified the issue was still present by going to the Mammoth Mountain web site, http://www.mammothmountain.com and the flash loaded slowly, then clicked on the snowfall totals, and the window took @ 3 seconds to go all the way up, and the numbers didn't show for another 10-15 secs. Then went to Youtube and watched an A-11 football video, http://www.youtube.c...pyMn8lgA&fmt=18, and it was jittery at times. Each time the abnormal behavior happened was with the CPU maxed out (brought up task manager then minimized and watched the meter in the active icon tray). The typing in this discussion box is also frequently delayed, especially the backspace key.

I'll try to disable the AVG anti-spyware and see what happens.

[coastie65]

Hi Ski, First, I don't put a lot of stock in the YouTube videos as they tend to be all over the boards as far as quality and how they run. I have had then where they were constantly buffering and I can assure you, the problem was at the other end, not mine. That having been said, I remeber when i had that issue, it was with Norton. My sister said it scanned fast on her machine, but I would invariably cut it off after hours of scanning on mine as it took too long. I didn't check CPU usage though. As has been suggested, I would try Avast! for your antivirus. It is free and doesn't use a lot of resources. One thing I did notice was the amount of ram. It should be fine for XP Pro, but with little headroom to spare. I would most definitely upgrade to 1 or 2 Gb. I haven't used AVG since they went to 8.0 as it tended to be a little intrusive. My last computer was running a Celeron D @ 2.53 Ghz until I upgraded it to 3.2 Ghz. Another thing to check when you are using that much CPU is to go to Task manager and check the processes and see what is using a lot CPU on the list. coastie

[skicrazer]

I guess I'll have to try Avast! and see if it gets better. It appears that there's no way to disable anti-spyware component of AVG AV. ??
The Image Names with the high CPU usage are always the web browsers - doesn't matter which one, and with one at a time - Safari, IE 7.0, or Firefox 3.0.
You know...as I've said in other posts, this discussion board editor has caused the PC to max out the CPU, especially while backspacing, but this time I'm on Safari and the CPU's chillin. ... ... Interesting. Guess I'll go play in Firefox and see if it does the same thing.

Updated while using IE - very slow backspace response to the backspace key. Safari was OK with that.

Thx again

[SpiritWind]

:D Hi :


The antispyware "component" ( which I used to have a while back ) of AVG is no longer

One of the Best ; IF you do decide to "try" Avast, you should completely remove AVG,

including use of the appropiate "Removal" Application at avg.com/download-tools .

I found your List of Firefox Plugins "puzzling" !? Why would it include 2 netscape Applications ?

The One Firefox Add-On should include "No Script" .

[coastie65]

That is unusual. I just checked and I am using 0 CPU in IE7, in fact the only thing using CPU is system idle. I am strting to suspect a browser set up issue of some sort. coastie

[skicrazer]

I uninstalled AVG (using the uninstaller site) and installed Avast! and still the same problem. (drat!)

Even after clicking Reply on Coastie's 2/15 message, it clocked for more than just a few seconds before presenting the page. Would it help to provide a screen shot of my task manager task list, showing the high CPU usage?

I also just removed the Netscape add-on's from Firefox (hoping for anything!), but the problem still is present in IE and Safari. I also have CyberDefender MyIdentityDefender on IE, but not on Firefox nor Safari. MIght uninstall that and see if it's bleeding to the other browsers.

Still at a loss.

As far as behavior between the browsers, Safari has the best performance, but video playback is still jerky and not smooth due to high CPU utilization. IE and Firefox are even worse. Like I said before, Safari has no problems with this editor, but IE and Firefix do. I tried to view a couple of videos on FoxNews last night and they were basically so jerky that it wasn't worth watching them. It isn't the video stream buffering, as I can see the progress bar is always ahead of the playback indicator (same on youtube), but the CPU is always showing 100% utilization when playing video from the web. I also played back a couple of video files on my PC in windows player and quicktime and they were fine, though the CPU utilization did get pretty high (into the 80%'s, with the players using between 40-60% of the CPU), but still a smooth playback.



Maybe I should download the google browser and see if it has th e same problem. (??)