9 replies to this topic

[braveheart_lynch]

I seem to have quite a lot of processes running in the background using up my CPU % and main memory. How do I know what to end/delete and what not to? Is there a program I can use that can help delete all unneccasry processes running in the background from the startup?

Had a quick search but ended up more confused on where to start.

[Big Col]

What OS are you running and how many processes?

[braveheart_lynch]

Running on Vista. There are about 45-50 processes running. I've took a screenshot:

http://s148.photobuc...nt=Proceses.jpg

Usually about 35-40% of physical memory is being used and quite often CPU usage can go as high as 99% from doing basic stuff such as moving files and opening folders. You may tell me otherwise, but I don't think this is normal. It would certainly appear more sluggish than it used to be.

[Big Col]

explorer.exe is using more than I would expect.

How much memory have you got? How much space is left on your hard drive? Windows OS's slow down with age. If the OS install is over 3 years old then I'd advise a reinstall.

Alternatively, install and run ccleaner and defraggler. Don't expect these to work wonders but they do generally tidy things up.

http://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER

http://www.piriform.com/defraggler

[braveheart_lynch]

I have 4GB RAM and there's currently 30GB free on C: Drive and 70GB free on D: Drive.

Another mate has also recommended reinstalling, it is at least 3 years old. It's something I have never really done before. I don't think I have the installation disc (it is a genuine copy) of Windows. Is it possible to do without the disc?

Thanks for the help.

[Big Col]

Do you have any of the documentation or discs from when it was new?

Sometimes instead of supplying discs the manufacturer installed a hidden restore partition on the hard drive.

[braveheart_lynch]

Not that I can find unfortunately. Going by your suggestion, I have a feeling there was no disc supplied.

[braveheart_lynch]

I seem to have narrowed down whats causing the problem.

I reset the explorer.exe file in the task manager and the cpu usage returns to a normal value (1% or so).
If I open up C: Drive, the value remains low.
If I open up my External Hard Drive labelled as J: Drive, the value remains low.
If I open up D: Drive, suddenly explorer.exe starts using up 25-30% of my CPU and continues to do so until I reset explorer.exe

So it must be something to do with the D: Drive. Any ideas? I have quite a few files in there, so I will back them up and delete them later on. Could it be a corrupt file within the drive causing it?

[Big Col]

I've never seen that before.

Is the D: drive physically a 2nd drive or is it a partition on the same drive as C:?

Also what's on the drive? If it's lots of pics or videos in one huge folder then windows might be trying to load previews of these files.

[braveheart_lynch]

I've just checked. It's a partion on the same drive as C: that was already set up with the PC.

There's quite a lot of video footage on it but not as much as what's on the other drives.