can't go on the internet

  • Thread starter Thread starter Latrice
  • Start date Start date
L

Latrice

i checked my computer for viruses and i don't have any.
but internet explorer is taking up 99/100% of my cpu
usage. is there anything that i can do?
 
mmmmm

They can't both be using 100% of the cpu.

Do you update your virus definitions regularly, I found a virus on my
system this morning, and its only 3 days since I last updated, it gets
scanned every night automatically.

Paul
 
well, i don't know what virus definitions are but i just
recently got anit virus software installed in my
computer. well if i use internet explorer or go here
then my iexplorer.exe takes all of my cpu time but if i
go onto "my computer" or control panel or search then the
explorer.exe takes up all of the cpu time. so it's not
both at the same time. i did delete the file that was
taking up all of my cpu time when i first started my
computer so i don't have that problem anymore. well what
are virus defintions and how often should i have my
computer scanned?
 
Hi Latrice,

When you installed your anti virus software, it woudl have come with a set
of definitions which told it about the characteristics of hopefully all know
viruses at the time you got it, so that it knew what to scan for.

Unfortunately new viruses are comming out all the time, so the makers of the
anti virus software software release updated definitions, descriptions if
you like, so that your antivirus software knows to look for the new viruses
aswell.

Thats why you have to keep the definitions up to date, otherwise it just
keeps scanning for the ones that were known about when you first got your
software.

Most av s/ware can be set to get new definitions automatically. What make of
antivirus do you have ?

Aslo from the cpu usage side , what sort of pc do you have, what size
processor and memory ?

Paul
 
hi paul,

i my anti virus software is syematic (not sure how to
spell it) but my school gave it to me because it caught
that big virus that was going around in the summer. well
my computer is an emachines w2260. it has 256MB of memory
(i think it is RAM) and i have a 2200+ anthlon proccessor.

Latrice
 
Hey There.

Ok, well your pc is pretty powerful, so shouldn't have a problem running
windows xp.

Have a look at the symantec web site, they have all the info you need about
keeping whichever one of their products you have, up to date.

This is a link to their download page

http://www.symantec.com/downloads/

Paul
 
Do you have enough virtual memory ?

Run task manager

ctrl-alt-del

Click Performance Tab

Post the values of

Commit Charge (k)
Total
Limit
Peak

Physical Memory
Total
Available
System Cache

Kernel
Total
Paged
NonPaged

Get the values when you see explorer using 100% cpu

Paul
 
ok,

commit charge
total-164884 (this goes up and down)
limit-560284
peak-211728

physical memory
total-228848
available-79500 (this goes up and down too)
system cache-105904

kernel memory
total-27340
paged-22236
nonpaged-5104

latrice
 
Hey Latrice,

You page file may be a little small, this isn't going to necessarily fix
your problem, but I have seen several sites on the web saying increasing
virtual memory is one possible fix.

How is your page file set up ?

Go into control panel/system/advanced/peformance settings/Advanced tab

Make sure that Processor Scheduling and Memory Usage, are set to Adjust For
Best Performance of PROGRAMS

Then under Virtual Memory click change

If there is only one drive letter showing in the windows then its probably
drive C:
If there is more than one, select the letter that contains windows xp.

If there is sufficient space on the drive, set the pagefile to custom, and
set minimum and maximum size to 512MB, and click the SET button. Then
reboot.

What this does, is get windows xp to do a one off allocation of 512MB of
disk space to the pagefile. If you leave set to System Managed Size, windows
xp will grow it as it needs it, and this adds additional strain to the
system.

There are a lot of articles on the web about explorer using 100% cpu and a
lot of recommended fixes which are reported by various people to work.
Clearly there are a lot of different reasons why explorer, and indeed
internet explorer use 100% cpu, and its going to be a question of finding
the one relevant for you.

First check is what patches have you got on windows xp.

Did I ask if you are running Windows XP Professional or Home edition. Please
specify

Lets checkout what updates you've applied, as one or two are known to cause
performance issues.

Go to a command prompt

start/run
cmd

(Thats a quick way, or you could go start/all programs/accessories/command
prompt)

and run the command

systeminfo

As you can see this gives lots of information about the system, redirect it
to a file

systeminfo > C:\sysinfo.txt

or specify wherever you want to put it,

Then open it with notepad, select all the text by dragging the mouse down
the page, and then right click on the highlighed text and select copy,

You can then paste it into a reply, so I can see exactly what patches you
have applied.

Paul
 
hi paul,

well i did everything but the command prompt. systeminfo
was not seen as an internal or external command, operable
program or batch file and that /run was an invalid switch.
i did the cmd one and it only told me that i had windows
xp version 5.1.2600 if that's any help. i have windows xp
home edition.

latrice
 
Sorry,

start/run

is a recognised abbreviation for

hit the start button and select run

So if you go to a command prompt

click start, click all programs,click accessories,click command prompt

And at the command prompt, type in the command

systeminfo

You get an error ?

From the command prompt

cd \windows\system32

dir sys*.*

Do you see systeminfo.exe ?

Paul
 
Latrice,

If you can't find the systeminfo command, it may be because its not in
windows xp home.

If thats the case, go here

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

And download the belarc advisor.
Its a little report program.

When you run it, theres a list of all microsoft updates applied at the
bottom of the screen to the left. Drag over this area with the mouse and cut
and paste it into a post,

Paul
 
hey paul,

guess what? all of the sudden the iexplorer.exe and the
explorer.exe processes are being normal and not making my
cpu usage 100% anymore. i don't know what happened but i
guess that doesn't matter now. well, thank you so much for
helping me!

latrice
 
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :-)

You must have done something surely.

I'm glad its working ok, anyway.

Paul
 
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