Strange Happenings

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dwayne
  • Start date Start date
D

Dwayne

Hello folks,

I have a very strange question concerning the recent behavior of Windows XP.
It all began a few days ago with my noticing that on occasion when
"right-clicking" on anything, whether it be on the desktop, or in Explorer,
would cause my machines CPU usage to go to 100%, or just "temporarily" make
the machine unusable.

Now, and even stranger thing is going on. This is the scenario:

I just boot up the Computer. I go online to the Internet. If I try to open
any program or file, and I do mean anything, including my Antivirus, my
computer goes out to the internet and does something for a few seconds
before the file or program is allowed to open. It can be a rather long and
irritating pause. I have wathed my "network traffic meter" and nothing
appears to be going out, but some sort of data is being downloaded at a
pretty good clip. If I do not go online before trying to open a file or
program upon "first boot" then everything is fine. This only occurs once
every reboot or fresh boot.

I have scanned for trojans, adware, and viruses. Nothing is showing up.


Can someone PLEASE help me.

Dwayne
 
The fix outlined in this bulletin may be applicable if you have Norton installed:

After updating to the January 7th or 8th virus definitions, your computer slows
down and Microsoft Word and Excel will not start
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/sharedtech.nsf/docid/2004010810205113

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| Hello folks,
|
| I have a very strange question concerning the recent behavior of Windows XP.
| It all began a few days ago with my noticing that on occasion when
| "right-clicking" on anything, whether it be on the desktop, or in Explorer,
| would cause my machines CPU usage to go to 100%, or just "temporarily" make
| the machine unusable.
|
| Now, and even stranger thing is going on. This is the scenario:
|
| I just boot up the Computer. I go online to the Internet. If I try to open
| any program or file, and I do mean anything, including my Antivirus, my
| computer goes out to the internet and does something for a few seconds
| before the file or program is allowed to open. It can be a rather long and
| irritating pause. I have wathed my "network traffic meter" and nothing
| appears to be going out, but some sort of data is being downloaded at a
| pretty good clip. If I do not go online before trying to open a file or
| program upon "first boot" then everything is fine. This only occurs once
| every reboot or fresh boot.
|
| I have scanned for trojans, adware, and viruses. Nothing is showing up.
|
|
| Can someone PLEASE help me.
|
| Dwayne
|
|
 
Saying the 'CPU usage goes to 100%' doesn't help at all unless you list
which processes in Task Manager are causing that usage.

'I have scanned for trojans, adware, and viruses. Nothing is showing up'
also doesn't help unless you include which programs & AV you ran to
ascertain this.

Have you done a FULL search to see if you have 'dialer' somewhere on your
drive?

More info, please.
 
re:

I always do a full scan, and the program taking 100% of the cpu is
Explorer.exe. This is a known issue, and Microsoft is aware of it.
 
re:


Hi Carey,

I did as you suggested and took a look at the Norton Antivirus issue. I am
using that Antivirus software. However, upon following your instructions and
theirs the problem is still there. There is a difference, however. The pause
is not as bad. I don't understand why my computer would need to access the
internet at all when opening a file on my hard drive. It can be any file or
program, and it is just that one time. If I reboot it will do it again, and
so on.

If I am "offline", the computer does not exhibit this issue, nor does it try
to go online when accessing my files.
 
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