Weird Memory Usage (Pro)

**Cah** · 2003-01-08 22:44

Suddenly Windows seems to be using 43% of my system resources with the only application running being startup. This is worrying since I have I GB of Ram. I've scanned for viruses and trojans and my system is supposedly clean. What could be causing this? - Oh! As I type this I'm watching the Task manager and usage has just dropped to 5-10%. What could it have been? I logged on and logged off and the usage remained high. Could system restore have been the culprit. I don't have any tasks scheduled. also I notice that Windows Explorer is constantly using around 20,000 k and I have 4 instances of svchost.exe (2 system, 1 local service and 1 network service) - is this normal and would you expect one of the system svchost.exe's to be using around 15500 k?

Thanks,

Chris (Hunt)

**kaplinb** · 2003-01-09 16:59

See this thread, for example

**Cah** · 2003-01-09 23:11

That thread gave me a nasty scare! The name of the board is "Svhost.exe - Linkbyte Message Board" and that names shows up in Task Manager. At first glance I thought I had Svhost.exe on my system! But I don't (unless it's well hidden). The information is interesting though, thanks.

Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing such a high CPU usage? Would it help to post a screenshot of the processes tab of task manager - I think I can work out how tod do that.

I'm feeling a little paranoid at the moment.

Chris (Hunt)

**DaveA** · 2003-01-10 01:24

Give us a listing ( or a couple of screen shots) of what is shown in the Task Manager, the list of processes may help us.

***JoeP517*** · 2003-01-10 01:36

Yes, posting a screen shot from when the high usage is happening would be a big help. Also, do you have indexing on or off?

Joe

**DaveA** · 2003-01-10 02:40

Capture.exe could be a Modem Optimizer, do you have one running?

Also "APAS DV_Capture ", "AnalogX Capture " and etc, I get 700+ hits on "Capture.exe" at Google.

**Cah** · 2003-01-10 02:58

I should have said - capture is CorelDRaw11 capture - I used it to do the screenshot! Is there another way to do screenshots from within XP with no program running? As far as I know I don't have any modem optimizer running. I never installed one.

Thanks,

Chris

**WyllyWylly** · 2003-01-10 03:28

Chris,

Take a look at this post for my preferred method. 16MB of memory for screen captures is WAY too much!

**Cah** · 2003-01-10 07:34

<P ID="edit" class=small>(Edited by Leif on 10-Jan-03 08:34. to reduce the attachment size a touch.)</P>Thanks, below is a screenshot. I'm not hooked up to any network at the moment and there are no other users. I have the indexing service disabled.

Chris

edited: - I should say that this is without any applications running after startup.

***JoeP517*** · 2003-01-10 12:17

Chris, You screen shot does not show anything out of the ordinary. In fact it shows your CPU to be 89% idle. What do you mean by 43% of your system resources?

Joe

**Cah** · 2003-01-10 13:20

Dear Joe, perhaps I do not understand what I am looking at! I'm looking at the bottom figures. Processes running 28, CPU 37%. This figure fluctuates - often it's in the high 40's. When I took the screen shot I think it dipped!. Surely this figure would be near nothing if the computer is at rest. What makes you say the CPU is 89% Idle? - Arh I get it the system idle process. But now there appear to be two contradictory figures? Here is another screen shot. I don't get this at all.

Chris

***JoeP517*** · 2003-01-10 13:23

Chris, It would be helpful to see the processes tab when the utilitzation is high. Remember, there is always a spike in utlization when you start the task manager. Best to wait a few seconds after start task manager befroe capturing screen.

Joe

**Cah** · 2003-01-11 05:49

I'm not sure what caused the dip in the graph but I did wait for a few seconds before taking the screenshot. Can anyone explain why the CPU usage is at 37% (first screen shot) and the system idle Process shows 89. What do these figures mean?

Thanks,

Chris

**bigaldoc** · 2003-01-11 11:11

Since you made that post yesterday, Chris, I've had my Task Manager screen open, taking a look at it "every once in awhile" to see what gives when I'm running different stuff. I don't seem to be able to duplicate what's happening to you at all. On my system, when I click from the Processes Tab to the Performance Tab and back and forth, there is only a momentary blip of the usage and the numbers always stabalize VERY quickly. Seems like if your performance tab shows like that (in the 40s% or higher) and you tab to the processes tab we ought to be able to see what's going on. In other words tabbing to the processes window alone shouldn't make the CPU drop down to single digit (unless of course there's something none of us has ever seen before). See what happens if you try to do what I've done in this attachment. I'm pasting two screenshots into one.

**Cah** · 2003-01-11 13:59

Thanks, for all the trouble you are taking, Big Al. I'm not sure exactly what you did but I took a screenshot of the performance tab first followed by one of the processes tab a few seconds later. Both show CPU usage of 40 odd percent but the System Idle process is showing 87. I don't know what these figures mean. when I took the screenshots I had the following running: Keiro Personal Firewall, AVG anti virus, Ad-watch, dirkey, Winkey, Creative Element Power Tools, WordWeb Pro and I also have a Wacom tablet (I think that's all)

Chris

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