[baltclown]

The other day my computer started skipping and pausing when it played music or movie files. They used to play smoothly but now they act as if the computer was really busy even if I've just restarted the computer and playing the file is the first thing I try.

I have 512 MB of RAM. When I look under Performance in task manager the CPU usage randonly spikes. It can be at 5% or lower and then all of a sudden shoot up to 90-100% for a few seconds when I dont have any programs actively doing anything. There are a ton of processes running and I dont know if they're all necessary or what they all do. There are 6 instances of svchost.exe (not sure if that is normal or not).

I have Trend Micro virus software and run Adaware regularly.

Is this a memory problem and if so there anything I can do to free it back up? Let me know what other information you need as I'm not sure what is and is not necessary to know.

Thanks!
Chris

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Hi baltclown, welcome to Geeks To Go Forums.

You may be infected with malware. At the same time Hijackthis can log your running process and let you know what is running.

So please read this: Read This Before Posting A Hijackthis Log (Click on the link)

That will give you steps that will help you clean up 70% of the problems yourself. Then please download "Hijackthis" and run Hijackthis with log. Save the log file here: Malware Removal - HiJackThis Logs Go Here

When you have followed all these steps. And posted your log, dont forget to mention the problem you are having now. (Let them know you might not have malware but you want to your computer to run faster)Then a Geeks To Go Staff Member will help you fix your problem.

(Note: Please be patient, the "Malware Forum" is a very busy place and a two or three day wait is not unusual.)

Thank you and goodluck.

[Spike]

Hi baltclown, welcome to Geeks To Go Forums.

You may be infected with malware. At the same time Hijackthis can log your running process and let you know what is running.

So please read this: Read This Before Posting A Hijackthis Log (Click on the link)

That will give you steps that will help you clean up 70% of the problems yourself. Then please download "Hijackthis" and run Hijackthis with log. Save the log file here: Malware Removal - HiJackThis Logs Go Here

When you have followed all these steps. And posted your log, dont forget to mention the problem you are having now. (Let them know you might not have malware but you want to your computer to run faster)Then a Geeks To Go Staff Member will help you fix your problem.

(Note: Please be patient, the "Malware Forum" is a very busy place and a two or three day wait is not unusual.)

Thank you and goodluck.

[baltclown]

I am clean according to the malware forum (http://www.geekstogo...opic=100893&hl=)

They sent me back here to try and troubleshooting the problem.

Any other thoughts?

[Retired Tech]

The Svchost.exe file is located in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. At startup, Svchost.exe checks the services part of the registry to construct a list of services that it must load. Multiple instances of Svchost.exe can run at the same time. Each Svchost.exe session can contain a grouping of services. Therefore, separate services can run, depending on how and where Svchost.exe is started. This grouping of services permits better control and easier debugging.

Click start then all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, then also from system tools, run disc defragmenter

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, (all files will highlight), right click any file, click delete, confirm then reboot.

Download, install and run Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run Tune Up disc clean up

Run Tune Up registry clean up

Click Optimize and Improve to run Reg Defrag, the screen will lose colour during the process which can take a few minutes and then needs a reboot

Those will have cleared the drive of obsolete software errors

These are suggestions for making the most of the free trial

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot.

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

[baltclown]

It seems like that made it a bit faster. I don't see those abnormal spikes in memory usage when nothing is running.

I am getting occassional skips and sometimes full stops when I play songs in Itunes but maybe that is an Itunes problem

Also when I click on a new song to play the memory usage jumps up to anywhere between 60-80 pecent for a second and then falls back down. Is this normal?

[Retired Tech]

Are the skips with streams or files on the drive

The fact that the memory is adjusting back down is the good thing

[baltclown]

Files on the drive.