Background Processes at Startup (1 Viewer)

[ajetrumpet]

Here are my specs folks:

*HP Pavillion dv6000
*1700 Mhz AMD Dual Core Processor
*4 GB RAM
*160 GB HardDisk
*Vista OS (using a "Classic Windows" GUI, set through the control panel)


I am having a severe problem with unnecessary processes running upon startup of windows. I have checked through the task manager, and through Uniblue's WinTasks5 program, and none of the running process names look suspicious (actually, I've shut off most of the ones that are necessary). Anywho, upon startup, the processing light will not shut off for about 5 minutes (at the very least; most of the time it takes longer). This computer is incredibly quiet, but by putting my ear to it, I can tell that the processor is running at full speed.

I'm not quite sure what is going on here, but it's more of a performance hinderance than a technical problem. I have reason to believe there are fragments (remnants, if you will) of files that have been left behind by very large programs being installed, and then uninstalled from my machine. Could this be a problem? Could there be something lingering in the registry that is causing this?

Also, when I was testing my "windows" timer event with an Access database, I did schedule an "open application" command upon "startup" of windows. When I did that (only did it once), the program never opened, and when I restarted windows (after deleting the task) and booted MS Access, I got a message saying: Access caused a serious error the last time it was opened. (Something else here, but I can't remember...). Anyone have any advice on this matter? I'd surely appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[RuralGuy]

...the processing light will not shut off for about 5 minutes...I can tell that the processor is running at full speed...

Is it a processing light or the HardDisk light? Is it the processor running at full speed or the HardDisk? I don't know if I can help but the answers might make a difference.

 

[ajetrumpet]

I have no idea Allan. The icon next to the light shows a tiny circular disk on top of the two "telephone earpieces" (separate icons). That probably doesn't help much, but that's what it looks like!

I just recently talked to an IT professional, and he says that he doesn't know which process it would indicate. Why would that make a difference? What's the difference between the hard disk being "on" and an actual process running in the shell?

Stuff like that confuses the heck out of me...

 

[RuralGuy]

Vista is known to try and keep things optimized when you are not doing anything else. There is also indexing of the hard disk. There are a number of operations performed by Vista when it is "idle" that could account for a DiskLight being on. Have you applied SP1 yet?

 

[ajetrumpet]

There are a number of operations performed by Vista when it is "idle" that could account for a DiskLight being on.

Yeah, I know. But this only started happening last week, and I've had the machine for months now. There have been no major changes to the internal workings. Just by judging this situation with my god-given common sense, I'd say that there is something going on here that shouldn't be. The bottom line is that its slowing the damn machine down, and it's probably not necessary.

Have you applied SP1 yet?

No, when did it come out? I doubt I will give that ago for at least another year. Microsoft's reputation of SP competence is not good at all, and I absolutely don't trust the first release of any of their SP's unless a year or so goes by without any news stories (if you know what I mean).

To me, jumping on the bandwagon and immediately trusting a product from any multi-billion dollar company is a mistake. Yeah right...like they've really thought it through. HA! I'll wait on that one...

 

[Ron_dK]

I am having a severe problem with unnecessary processes running upon startup of windows. I have checked through the task manager, and through Uniblue's WinTasks5 program, and none of the running process names look suspicious (actually, I've shut off most of the ones that are necessary).

I'm not familiar with WinTasks, but use autoruns.exe

Download available at bottom of this :
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Running this autorun you'll see all programs being started up etc etc.
This really is a usefull tool where it comes to disabling or even deleting
of executables and such. Even in the registry.

Hth

 

[RuralGuy]

Adam,
Is it safe to assume that you have already checked for virus infections and malware? Do all of the normal tools run on Vista? SpyBot S&D, AdAware, AVG etc.

 

[ajetrumpet]

Do all of the normal tools run on Vista? SpyBot S&D, AdAware, AVG etc.

I've only checked the machine to the extent of the accompanying Norton program (symantec company, I guess?). I completely despise Norton. I don't think their product is worth a sh**. I'm a big fan of AVG though. As far as any other program like AdAware, AdSubtract, SpyBot, (Yahoo's wonderful pop-up blocker), etc..., I don't like having that stuff on here because it's more of annoyance than anything! Personally, I don't think they offer that great of protection anyway.

I ran a Norton scan yesterday and eliminated 1 tracking cookie that it found. That was all. But that can't possibly be the problem here, just one cookie? I doubt it...

And I didn't even have my hand inside the cookie jar yesterday! Hmmmm....

BTW you guys, what's the diff. between Norton and Symantec? Which one is the parent? Who owns who? I would assume that the word "Symantec" is the "trump card". It sound more professional.

 

[RuralGuy]

Actually, Peter Norton started the whole thing. AdAware and SpyBot take up no resources until you run them, which I do about once a week or so. They do find more than tracking cookies if then exist. How about an OnLine scan for problems? TrendMicro maybe.

 

[RuralGuy]

BTW, have you tried uninstalling all of the Symantec/Norton stuff? I stopped using their stuff with the 2003 version. It slowed down the LapTop I was working on dramatically and refused to uninstall completely. I did a scorched earth uninstall and have never looked back. I now consider it MalWare.

 

[ajetrumpet]

Allan,

Get this: I just ran a complete test with AVG and it found nothing. However, when I installed the program on my machine I got a registry error message that said something like this:

Cannot add/modify registry value HKLM/etc, etc.... Access is Denied.

Anyway, the program still installed successfully. That makes me think that I picked something up that has now written itself to the registry. Is that undetectable? Is it dangerous? Can I go into the keys and simply get rid of it (although that's dangerous, I know)? I have the key identifier. It was given with the error message...

Actually, this is really annoying crap. When I navigate in DOS, the command line disappears sometimes (until I type something). And, here on the internet, the screen jumps up and down sometimes...

 

[RuralGuy]

SpyBot S&D now has a free stay resident module that monitors registry change attempts. It works well and I keep it loaded all of the time. I would try uninstalling and reinstalling AVG while your machine is in SAFE mode. That should eliminate that registry problem. Have you tried http://housecall.trendmicro.com/?

 

[ajetrumpet]

I'll see what I can do with that. And yes, I've already been to the TrendMicro site, and tried to run a free scan (using the HouseCall thing), but I got an error there as well. Script error.

While we're on the subject of problems, the hotel I'm in right now either has crappy phone jacks, or very VERY bad internet service (I HOPE!):

I've got a connection issue that I can't nail down (and I think it might have something to do with this monster I've picked up). I'm getting only a local connection with the ethernet upstairs in the room, and when I plug the cord into the port, the sys. tray icon shows 2 different networks that I'm connected to. I was on the phone (for two hours!) with the foreign company that handles the service, and the Sup's there say they have no idea. But, we did figure out that something on my machine is blocking the actual internet connection. They worked with the proxies, checked the IP, watched my movements on their end, and couldn't come up with a solution.

BTW, what is a default gateway? I'm not a huge network person, and I think I get the concepts of it (I can certainly pull it up in DOS), but explaining it in words is another story. I suppose it's just the "portal" that you need to go through in order to communicate with other servers. Is that right? That my be where the problem lies. My machine has no problem locating the hosts, but stalls during the next process - contacting.

Anyway, an interesting delimma I thought you might want to contemplate...

 

[RuralGuy]

I'll bet you have some sort of nasty in your system. Any luck installing AVG in SAFE mode? It might be tricky getting the latest signature file from AVG.

 

[ajetrumpet]

Allan,

AVG in safe mode was not successful. But, I did talk to HP and they said that the hard drive might be bad. And actually, a new symptom appeared today: Upon login of windows, I saw a solid blue screen for about 1 minute before the wallpaper started to fill in. Strange, huh?

Something's going on here...it's been about 2 weeks now of this stuff, so I must have picked something up on the net....

 

[RuralGuy]

There should be a diagnostic from the HD mfg that will test your HD. Maybe even from HP. Sorry Adam but I'm pretty well out of ideas here.

 

[ajetrumpet]

That's alright. I'm gonna run an HD check first from this machine, and then Restore the Registry from a previous time period. That will fix it for sure...

 

[RuralGuy]

Let us know how that turns out.

 

[ajetrumpet]

Hey Allan,

I got a big problem. I performed all of the following on my machine:

**HD quick test (passed)
**HD comprehensive test (passed)
**Disk Defragmentation
**CCleaner maintenance
**Norton Removal Tool Scan
**AdAware/Spybot Search & Destroy Scans
**AVG Scan (normal / safe modes)

Nothin' doin. AND...for some stupid reason, I had the automatic backup utility turned off! So, I only had restoration points back one week. The only other solution I have here is to restore the computer back to factory settings, which I am going to do tomorrow. If that doesn't fix the random SPINNING of the hard drive (yes, RANDOM. It ran for a good 5 minutes today, after uninstalling a factory-setting program), then something (undetectable) is wrong with this machine. If it keeps up, I will have to send it into HP for replacement parts or something.

Lucky for me, there is an extended warranty package for the machine model that I have, because there are known issues with motherboard failures.

Anyway, just thought I would let you know. I have no idea what the problem is, but I am getting quite a few unexpected shutdowns of windows, and complete lock-ups of various running programs...

 

[RuralGuy]

That is certainly a stubborn and elusive problem. Did you ever get your system to do an OnLine scan at TrendMicro?