[RKinner]

Big difference in

these two:

Interrupts n/a 0 K 0 K Hardware Interrupts
DPCs n/a 0 K 0 K Deferred Procedure Calls

vs

Interrupts n/a 2.97 0 K 0 K Hardware Interrupts
DPCs n/a 0.99 0 K 0 K Deferred Procedure Calls

System Idle is also looking much better:
System Idle Process 0 97.03 0 K 16 K

vs

System Idle Process 0 92.08 0 K 16 K

So I would say the wireless is at fault. It might be a hardware problem but I would uninstall the

Atheros AR5001X+ Wireless Network Adapter

(Look in Add/Remove programs and see if there is anything from Atheros or Toshiba wireless and uninstall it then go into device manager and uninstall it. Have it delete the drivers. Reboot. When it finds new hardware cancel it out. Download the latest Atheros AR5001X+ Wireless Network Adapter software and install it.)

If the slowness comes back then I would try a USB wireless adapter. They make mini ones that can be used with a laptop. Not too expensive.

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i contacted atheros several days ago and didn't get any response so i don't think they are offering any customer support.

there are a number of drivers on the toshiba site including LAN drivers. i don't know which ones to select, if i need more than one or if there is an order to follow if i need to install more than one. if you could help me out with this that would be appreciated.

http://www.csd.toshi...mily=1073768663

Edited by benny_b, 17 February 2012 - 09:46 AM.

[benny_b]

i contacted atheros several days ago and didn't get any response so i don't think they are offering any customer support.

there are a number of drivers on the toshiba site including LAN drivers. i don't know which ones to select, if i need more than one or if there is an order to follow if i need to install more than one. if you could help me out with this that would be appreciated.

http://www.csd.toshi...mily=1073768663

Edited by benny_b, 17 February 2012 - 09:46 AM.

[RKinner]

You want:

Toshiba ConfigFree Utility for Windows XP/SP2

http://www.csd.toshi...mily=1073768663

[benny_b]

i deleted everything named atheros and relevant{?}toshiba files then uninstalled the atheros device, but was unable to install the new drivers. when i rebooted, i got a new hardware icon in the bottom right. i tried to right and left click on the icon but it did nothing. there was no pop up window with new device detected. eventually the icon disappeared and my atheros device had been reinstalled, but not functioning. i don't know how to get around this.

[RKinner]

Have you tried installing the software after a reboot?

What happens when you try and install it?

[benny_b]

yeh that's what i said in my last post. maybe it wasn't clear. i deleted files, uninstalled wireless driver, rebooted, got the new hardware icon, tried to stop the installation, but wasn't provided with any option to do so and that is where i am.

Edited by benny_b, 17 February 2012 - 02:15 PM.

[RKinner]

So what happens when you try to install the download?

[benny_b]

Process PID CPU Private Bytes Working Set Description Company Name
System Idle Process 0 92.08 0 K 16 K
Interrupts n/a 4.95 0 K 0 K Hardware Interrupts
procexp.exe 3648 1.98 11,148 K 15,036 K Sysinternals Process Explorer Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com
services.exe 720 0.99 3,892 K 7,172 K Services and Controller app Microsoft Corporation
wmiprvse.exe 2460 2,252 K 5,544 K WMI Microsoft Corporation
winlogon.exe 676 6,388 K 2,276 K Windows NT Logon Application Microsoft Corporation
System 4 0 K 228 K
svchost.exe 1036 15,416 K 27,012 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 1492 2,712 K 4,708 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 984 1,972 K 4,624 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 880 1,536 K 3,856 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 1076 2,612 K 3,768 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 1164 5,284 K 7,740 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 1200 1,712 K 4,256 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
svchost.exe 1340 1,516 K 4,116 K Generic Host Process for Win32 Services Microsoft Corporation
spoolsv.exe 1264 3,700 K 5,716 K Spooler SubSystem App Microsoft Corporation
smss.exe 432 172 K 416 K Windows NT Session Manager Microsoft Corporation
lsass.exe 732 3,928 K 924 K LSA Shell (Export Version) Microsoft Corporation
explorer.exe 1784 26,156 K 34,952 K Windows Explorer Microsoft Corporation
DPCs n/a 0 K 0 K Deferred Procedure Calls
ctfmon.exe 184 1,140 K 3,596 K CTF Loader Microsoft Corporation
csrss.exe 652 1,552 K 3,320 K Client Server Runtime Process Microsoft Corporation
CFSvcs.exe 464 1,548 K 4,128 K Service of ConfigFree. TOSHIBA CORPORATION
AvastUI.exe 2036 4,648 K 4,324 K avast! Antivirus AVAST Software
AvastSvc.exe 1400 12,176 K 1,128 K avast! Service AVAST Software
alg.exe 904 1,408 K 3,984 K Application Layer Gateway Service Microsoft Corporation

it's actually worse now.

[benny_b]

i did a system restore today. the desktop came up completely blank except for the xp text in the lower right. i rebooted in safe mode and everything showed up correctly, so i rebooted normally again and my desktop was back although it took several minutes for the network connections and avast to start. i looked around and that configfree is already in my toshiba program files. it's some sort of diagnostic scanner. i don't think it loads wireless drivers, but what do i know. it doesn't show up in my programs so i probably uninstalled it years ago, but it left some junk behind. there is a wireless driver on the site and it's version numbers match the atheros wireless device, so i have a hunch this is the correct driver, but i'm just guessing. i also don't seem able to effectively and completely uninstall this wireless driver.

i had a look at process exp and everything is back to it's state prior to the configfree install.

do you think i should move to the networking forum as this seems to be more networking than malware related? i feel like i've been taking up your time and we don't seem to be getting anywhere with this.

[RKinner]

I think we have narrowed it down to the wifi. When you disable it things apparently work OK.

You never said what happened when you tried to install the software.

I think I'd try the windows XP forum rather than the networking.

[benny_b]

i installed the software yesterday and it led to a big drop in performance. the whole system got really slow. i looked at process explorer and everything was constantly moving up and down the list, so i figured that it had screwed things up. i posted a process explorer log yesterday after i made the installation. this morning i ran a system restore which eventually got things running again.

another of my bugs is my inability to install microsoft updates. that, along with my performance problems and my avast crashing was what prompted me to seek your advice. i can connect to the microsoft update site and download updates, but they never install. i don't know where to look for the downloads so i download them again and install them manually which seems to be working. it's been a problem since late last year after my product key failed and i had to get my key restored. i tried all the microsoft web site fixes and nothing worked. i found a post here to run "dial-a-fix" which i just did and it found a "restrictive policy" "HKEY_CURRENT_USER sofware\Microsoft\Windows\Currentversion\Policies\Explorer\NoInstrumentation 1 REG_DWORD". are you familiar with this tool? it's a bit advanced for me and i probably shouldn't be running this without some guidance. i was going to post this in the xp forum unless you think this "restrictive policy" looks suspicious.

[RKinner]

Things move up and down the Process Explorer list normally. If you want them to pause you can hit Space.

The policy seems harmless:

Disable User Tracking

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer]
"NoInstrumentation"=dword:00000001

The user tracking system built into Windows XP is useless to 99% of users (there are very few uses for the information collected other than for a very nosy system admin), and it uses up precious resources to boot, so it makes sense to disable this "feature" of Windows XP. To do so, browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer and find the DWORD "NoInstrumentation". You may need to create this key if it is not there. The default setting is 0, but setting it to 1 will disable most of the user tracking features of the system.

Since we know that installing the software cause the problem can you uninstall it?

[benny_b]

Things move up and down the Process Explorer list normally.

i've been monitoring process explorer a lot lately. with the wireless disabled the list was rock solid with very little movement. the current state shows a fair bit of fluctuation and after i installed the configfree package the list was moving dramatically more.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ Explorer and find the DWORD "NoInstrumentation". You may need to create this key if it is not there. The default setting is 0...

i found this key and it was already set to 1.

Since we know that installing the software cause the problem can you uninstall it?

i did a system restore yesterday and currently there is no program called toshiba configfree (or variation thereof) in my list of add/remove programs so as far as i can tell there is no program to uninstall. there is a configfree folder in program files with a bunch of program files inside.

[RKinner]

I suppose you could delete the folder to be sure.

If you disable the wireless and connect with a cable does Process Explorer settle down?

[benny_b]

as soon as i disable the wireless process explorer settles down. plugging in the ethernet doesn't make a difference one way or another.

there are a bunch of scanners on my desktop. do i need to do anything special to remove them or can they just be moved to recycle bin? i remember combofix was removed via cmd.
combofix
tdsskiller
kapersky av scan
icesword
gmer
dds (2 types)
rootrepeal
regseeker
hiren's boot cd

any other scans to do before i remove them?