comp hitting 100% processrate

Superfly · May 29th, 2007, 11:19 AM

My sis had a problem with her computer so I formated it and thought that was the case...if she had lots of viruses that were causing this or such but no, didn't help it at all. It uses 100 percent of horsepower and the mouse becomes 'laggy', so I opened the process management and apparently svchost.exe uses the 100 percent all the time....and before you tell me, I know that it's an very important thing to make the puter run at all so, anyone got a clue? Can it be a virus that can't be erased with format c:?

Lyno · May 30th, 2007, 03:50 AM

I have this problem sometimes, can you see what process is doing it in the task manager? The process that does it to me with svchost.exe whenever windows update is running. I've installed patches that are supposed to fix it but they don't seem to have done a great job.

-Lyno

lumo · May 30th, 2007, 08:06 AM

using windows xp sp2?

Superfly · May 30th, 2007, 08:57 AM

Yeah sp2...hmm it could be only doing that whilst windows update.

>GSXR<mrbusa · May 30th, 2007, 02:09 PM

Are there any other extended partitions that she might have ran an infected exe from?
Maybe try to do a low level format from a 98 boot disk. Google fdisk and you will find many guides for low level formatting.
Does her copy of XP have sp2 slipstreamed? If no, then are you installing sp2 from M$ update or the developers redist? It is recommended to download the redist and install it before connecting your fresh install to the net. If you have a slow connection and do not want to download the large redist then at least install an updated version of a good antivirus program before connecting to the net and updating window$. On a fresh install of an OS there are only a couple things that can cause 100% cpu usage, a virus, hardware conflict or failure. Window$ or M$ will not cause this under normal circumstances. You should hardly even notice your system updating while during the download stage or install stage.
You can download a program called process manager that will list anything drawing on the svchost.exe. Keep in mind that any virus doing so will be masked as a system file and are designed to look normal to the average user. I find that if you look at the dates these files were created or modified then it is easy to detect which one is infected if it is a virus.

Superfly · May 30th, 2007, 02:52 PM

Yes it has sp2 integrated...and just remembered, norton found a virus from another partition, but it was only a song. Can that do so much damage?

>GSXR<mrbusa · May 30th, 2007, 03:17 PM

I have never seen a virus embedded in media before. If there are viruses on other partitions then bad things usually happen. There are so many different types of viruses that it is hard for me to say. I would suspect and evaluate any file that is detected as a virus under these circumstances. I would also suspect any Norton product because there are the most intrusive and buggy programs ever made. I have seen Norton antivirus cause way more problems than any virus it finds.
Since sp2 is slipstreamed in her install disk then did you configure the firewall before connecting to the net. Do not allow exceptions and if M$ update requires an exception then it will ask for one.
My first suggestion is to completely uninstall Norton and any reference left behind from the registry and any files left behind from the installer. Unless you are running unknown exe's and clicking links in spam emails or popups then there are really no reasons to have a antivirus program running in the background eating up system resources.

>GSXR<mrbusa · May 30th, 2007, 03:45 PM

I looked around a little and finding a true virus embedded in audio is pretty much nonexistent. Most everything I found was related to some mythical MPAA planted viruses in pirated songs a long time ago. Most people say it was a hoax and I didn't see anybody that actually had there whole music collection deleted which was the intended purpose of the virus if it was indeed true.
I would say that unless there are other culprit files on other partitions that look suspicious then the most likely candidate for your problems are related to Norton.

EDIT: Am I stupid or is there a time limit for editing posts? I hate having to double post.