[buice]

Hello,

My computer has been having performance issues lately. Programs take much longer than usual to open, and everything is just running slowly. Today I checked the performance tab of Task Manager and noticed that my computer is consistently running at 100% CPU usage. Searching through past threads, I see that you have helped people with this problem in the past, so I'm hoping you can help me as well.

Thanks in advance!

[Advertisements]

Please go to the Malware forum and follow the instructions at the top....Especially the Instructions to do before posting in the malware fourm.

That will give you several steps that will help you clean up 70 percent of all problems by yourself. If at the end of the process you are still having difficulty--and you may not be-- then post a hijackthis log in THAT forum.

If you are still having problems after getting a clean bill of health from the malware expert, please return to this thread.

[Titan8990]

Please go to the Malware forum and follow the instructions at the top....Especially the Instructions to do before posting in the malware fourm.

That will give you several steps that will help you clean up 70 percent of all problems by yourself. If at the end of the process you are still having difficulty--and you may not be-- then post a hijackthis log in THAT forum.

If you are still having problems after getting a clean bill of health from the malware expert, please return to this thread.

[buice]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I have already run all of the initial malware steps, and very recently received a clean bill of health from the malware forum:
http://www.geekstogo...-S-t170469.html

I thought it was appropriate to post this topic here, because I saw similar posts like: http://www.geekstogo...age-t18838.html

Speaking of that post, I followed the instructions to uninstall the Yahoo Toolbar. I restarted my machine, and for now the CPU usage percentage is down. Do you suspect that was all I needed, or do you think there may be additional issues?

Edited by buice, 07 November 2007 - 09:25 AM.

[buice]

My mistake, this was the topic that recommended uninstalling the Yahoo toolbar: http://www.geekstogo...ge-t174662.html

[Titan8990]

Do you suspect that was all I needed, or do you think there may be additional issues?

It would never hurt to check it out.

Right click on your taskbar and select "Task Manager". From there click on the process tab. What processes appear to be using the most CPU and RAM?

Edit: That was a nasty infection you had.

Edited by Titan8990, 07 November 2007 - 01:58 PM.

[buice]

When I was experiencing 100% CPU usage, explorer.exe was taking up the most resources. However, I haven't had the issue appear since I uninstalled the Yahoo toolbar.

[wannabe1]

Why have you posted to the Waiting Room? From what I'm seeing here the issue has been resolved.

If you are still having problems, please restate the symptoms for us.

[buice]

Based on what I have seen in other posts, I thought I would get a response like:

a) "looks like the problem is solved; I'm going to close this thread"

or

b) "even though uninstalling the Yahoo toolbar helped, I still would like you to ______________"

Since I didn't get any response at all, I posted this in the Waiting Room. I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't forgotten or overlooked (I know how busy you all can get). If you think that I am good to go, then great! Everything is fine on my end with this issue, so I am happy to have the thread closed. However, if there are some additional things that I should check, please let me know.

Thanks!

[wannabe1]

Ah...ok. We don't usually close topics in the Tech forums...I can understand your confusion.

The Yahoo toolbar can definitely be a source of problems on some systems, as can the Google toolbar. Those are add-ons I generally avoid. If your machine is running good I'd say you're good to go. If you have further problems, you know where to find us...

[buice]

Strangely enough, the problem is back! I am having 100% CPU usage again.

Looking at Task Manager, I see the following processes with the highest amount of CPU usage:

WINLOGON.EXE
zlcient.exe
vsmon.exe

Also, I have to keep my computer muted, because the error sound loops endlessly.

Any suggestions?

[latigid]

Here are the most common areas of high CPU usage:

http://www.delete-co...-cpu-usage.html

Zlclient and vsmon are related to zone alarm and are necessary.

The services.msc list should be looked at.

The number of processes running is important. (I usually have less than 30)

Edited by latigid, 30 November 2007 - 11:40 AM.

[buice]

Thanks for the link.

WINLOGON is the main culprit, I think. My CPU usage will be normal until I open up Internet Explorer, and then the CPU usage shoots up (mainly from WINLOGON).

[Titan8990]

In many cases increased demand from Winlogon is from malware. It has been a while and I believe you have picked up another infection. Check back with the malware experts again.

Edited by Titan8990, 06 December 2007 - 04:55 PM.