Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

The box was checked, but unchecking it and letting it do its thing didn't help, and I there was no cisvc.exe running.

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

IB Mac Elitists

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

i agree with all the "Norton is bad and such" posts. Norton is nothing but trouble when it comes to system load (especially at boot). i'd say get rid of everything norton and symantec and install something such as AVG Free or the like.

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

Norton is... interesting. For getting a job done, it does its job. It just does it in a very slow, and not cool manner.

The nicest thing I can do for my computer is keep my processes list shorter than the default window size of the Task Manager (ctrl+alt+delete window). You know pretty quickly if you have some nasty viruses/programs installed on your computer.

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

First, I've seen many computers that slow down because they have norton running. Between the antivirus scanning every file that is modified on the comptuer and things like the firewall and spyware protection constantly running, it can quickly bog down a system. However, if you say you disabled all startup items, I assume that includes norton, so that's probably not your problem.

One possability is that you have a virus or spywre which has installed itself as a rootkit. A Rootkit modifies the way your computer access teh hard drive and memory so that is is almost completely hidden. You can detect (although not remove) rootkits using Sysinternals' free RootkitRevealer.

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

Download CCleaner and clean the registry.
Then download abexo free registry cleaner and run it.
Finally defrag everything.

Norton is actually rated one of the best utilities out there but I think it's to bloated (designed for the average person).

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

Uhm...How about you leave your registry alone?
Most registry "cleaning" programs, again do more damage than they fix.
--
Anyway, what steps have you taken to correct this problem? *just so we're not all here telling you the same thing over and over again...*

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

Sanddrag, could you post a HijackThis (http://www.merijn.org/files/hijackthis.zip) logfile for everyone to see? It'll give us a better idea of what possibly might be causing the problem on your computer. Thanks!

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

I am actually surprised no one has said this.

Here's an old windows trick. Run Scandisk.

• In XP, open up my computer.
• Right click your main drive (usually says local disk (C:)).
• Click on properties.
• Click on the tools tab.
• Click within the Error checking divided window, the button "check now" then click start, let it run until complete you should get some prompts.

I had the EXACT same problem you are having, come to find out during a reboot or power outage windows did a weird remirror of most of the harddrive. All of the files were copied but hidden so there were 2 of nearly every file. I figured this out, some other way than running scan disk but it solved the problem, after I had reinstalled windows on another harddrive thinking the drive was shot.

-Mike

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

The registry fills up with too much grabage(links that lead to to know where)

The usual spyware and virus cleaning never really sped up system anymore.

Its was only when after cleaning the registry and doing heavy defraging using Diskeeper 10 ( trial version) that I really started noticing a difference.
Only thing better is a full reinstall. I haven't had any problems with these two programs I am using right now. CCleaner seems to be the less intrusive ones(finds fewer problems than the abexo one)

How much RAM are you running?

If it was a sudden drop in performance then it could be something more serious...

Only after heavy defraging did I notice a drop in the amount of suttering in Battlefield 2.

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

If it truely is just access to the internet, then do the following:
1> In addition to deleting the temporary internet files, also delete the cookies (this may lose your passwords if you've saved them on your PC) and the history.
2> If you have any toolbars added (MSN, Google, Yahoo, etc) remove them. Dont just disable them, delete them (add/remove programs) since some still load into memory and send data to the internet even while disabled.
3> search through your windows directory for a temp directory. Sometimes windows creates temp files and then 'forgets' to delete them (loading them every time. Inside that temp directory there may be some folders (might be inside the folder Content IE5) with odd names such as 'G7IFEZO5'. Delete them (this will not harm your system and if IE needs it windows will recreate it). *NOTE* there will still be cookies and temp internet files even if you deleted them in step 1. Delete all these too.
4> check your connection speed at http://reviews.cnet.com/7004-7254_7-0.html and match it against your expected connection speed. If it is not where it should be then check your (DSL/Cable/telephone) modem or your ISP.

If it's not just the internet then:
1> Run disk cleanup
2> Run scandisk.
3> Run defrag.
4> Check available space on the drive (too small will cause difficulty caching)

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

what worked for me were three programs from PC Tools, spyware doctor, anti-virus and registry mechanic all of which offer 30 day full function free trials.

The big name Norton products obviously were not catching some spyware and it was busy working away and slowing my machine down to the point I was thinking it might be time for a new computer.

I ran the Pc tools products and solved the problem and then ran a little utility called CW shredder and solved a few more problems.

Then after doing a little google searching I found that you can go into RUN and type SERVICES.MSC and turn off certain things that you don't need and let me tell you after do that this old laptop is running with more speed and power than I need.

Of course now I have a new problem, can't run defrag, window pops up and says to run chksdk /f and running that doesn't make the problem go away....so I have a little problem of my own to solve.

but really I suspect you have a spyware infestation....those symptoms are identical to what I had and that spyware stuff accumulates over time and it uses up resources...not to mention the risks.

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

It turned out to be Symantec Realtime Protection slowing everything down for some odd reason. So, I'll reinstall Symantec and hopefully that'll fix that. :)

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

May I suggest replacing your current Virus software with ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite?

It is a VERY nice all-around computer protection program, and I think that it only costs something around $15/Yr for updates. If you don't like paying anything, they have a free 15-day trial for download that you can install and run every once-in-a-while to clean up your computer, and then just go back to using your old virus coverage.(If you do this, make sure the programs aren't running at the same time)
Also, Defrag regularly and try to avoid messing with registry cleaners, as there is a possibility of them harming your computer more than it already is, although if you invest in a very useful program called TuneUP Utilities, It makes registry backups and gives you the ability to boot windows directly from the backups, which is useful indeed.
If your computer stays slow after you run a trusty Virus/malware program, and you know approximately when your problems started occurring, you can always do a search yourself:
Open the windows default search utility and search for "*.exe" under the advanced tab,set the "Created" date to just before you first started having problems and search. If your search returns a number of programs with names such as "aaaaaaaa.exe", or "555555555.exe" in your Windows or System folders,then you are probably still infected with some virus or malware, in which case you should look for a better virus removal program. You probably don't want to delete random files from your hard drive, however... so trying to take care of it yourself may not be a great Idea.

Sorry if this is a little late, But ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite Has never let me down...

Re: CPU easily maxes out in WinXp Pro, IE slow loading
 

Heck no. Absolutely not. I hate Zone Alarm with a passion and I'm sure I'm not the only one.