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DonationCoder.com Software => Mouser's Zone => ProcessTamer => Topic started by: BlackAle on October 05, 2005, 06:58 AM
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I've just installed ProcessTamer, upon launching the Configuration it'll say the Tray program is running but then instantly says it isn't, despite that fact that it is.
Does ProcessTamer require and specific services to be running? as my XP is highly optimised in that regard, as it is ProcessTamer doesn't seem to be doing anything.
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process tamer does not require any specific background processes to be running.
the configuration tool and the tray tool are separate processes in order to maximize efficiency (i.e. the tray utility is tiny and includes no configuration user interface).
there seem to be some people for whom the configuration tool does not properly locate the running tray process.. i'm not entirely sure why. i'm assuming that you haven't renamed either of them.
if the configuration tool doesnt detect process tamer, the consequence will be that the tray utility won't be informed of changes to configurations.
to test if it is working run the cpueater test (there is a shortcut to it in the process tamer start menu group).
after a few seconds of it running process tamer should tame it. if not, something is definitely not working.
let me know your results. it should still tame it (tray icon should change a little and a balloon should pop up if configured to) even though the configuration tool doesnt see it.
if this behavior of the configuration tool persists (ie it never thinks the program is running) let me know and i will make a debug version that we can use to help find out what's going wrong.
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Thanks for the quick reply, I tried what you suggested but unfortunately no joy, after running cpueater, processtamer doesn't do anything.
I've tried on my notebook aswell, doesn't work on there either.
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it sounds like the problem is that the program is not able to get a list of running processes on your computer, or something else which is completely rendering the program inoperable.
ill bet its not finding a dll or something that it needs and yet is not complaining but is just silently failin.
maybe i can make a test program to list processes running and you can try it and let me know what it displays?
i will try to add some error reporting to help find such problems in the next version which should be out in the next week or so.
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I think I've found the cause of the problem, I use XPlite to remove components I don't use, one component is 'Performance Monitor' if I reinstall that using XPlite, ProcessTamer works, so yeah like you say most likely some DLL issue.
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ok great to know - thanks for reporting that and letting us know the issue.
i'm sure it will come up again and this may save some time troubleshooting issues in the future.
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I'm experiencing this exact problem. Except I don't use XPlite. And have no idea what program or dll might be missing. Any updates on this, or new advice?
Really hope to get this working.
Thanks,
kwc
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Let me add to my earlier post:
I don't know what "Performance Monitor" Black Ale is referring to. When he re-enabled it, Process Tamer started working for him.
I'm experiencing the same behavior of Process Tamer as he described, since I installed it. If I doubleclick on it, it says it is running, for about a second, and then it says Not Running. Same thing when I try to configure it.
I'm on XP Home edition with an Athlon Mobile 2800 CPU that far, far too frequently is pegging out at 100%. The most common offenders are WindowsSearchIndexer.exe and SystemIdleProcess, both of which like to grab upward of 96% of the processor time. But at other times, it's a combination of five to 15 processes using from about 7% each up to 20-some percent.
Really slowing down my ability to work. Hoping Process Tamer will do what it is supposed to do and solve this for me. First, I've got to get IT working. Need some help, please.
All suggestions welcomed.
Thanks,
kwc
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i think the first thing to figure out is whether the main process tamer tray util works.
so just start it and then run the cpueater test, and watch to see if the process tamer tray icon changes and says its taming it.
that will give us a starting point.
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I've tested several times now with Process Tamer running and then started CPU Eater. CPU Eater definitely eats the CPU and Process Tamer doesn't seem concerned at all. When I right click on Process Tamer, "enabled" is checked.
Glad to hear from you, Mouser. If you see a solution, let me know. Or something else to try. In the meantime, I downloaded Priority Master and it seems to be working for me. So my CPU problem may be under control.
Thanks,
kwc
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The most common offenders are WindowsSearchIndexer.exe and SystemIdleProcess-ken winston caine
Only to give you one less thing to worry: SystemIdleProcess isn't actually a process, it only represents the amount of processor capacity remaining, which means that if it's at 100%, your processor almost isn't being used ;)
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Wow. I DIDN'T know that. Makes perfect sense now, of course, that 100% idle process means 100% idle.
What I don't get, though, is why when it is giving that reading (or 92% System Idle Process), the computer is non-responsive. (Keyboard click, mouse, programs opening, etc., non responsive.)
Still interested in getting Process Tamer working on this computer.
This a.m. my Priority Master trial did not work for me. My computer booted up at full speed and 98% to 100% processor and wouldn't let go of that until I was able (after about 10 minutes to get Windows Task Master to open and) to stop Priority Master. So, I may not have a solution after all. Was hoping to get Process Tamer working in time to take advantage of your Charter Membership deal, but now it's April 2, so I guess I missed that.
If you have ANY more troubleshooting tips for me, I'd welcome them. Will be away from the computer for about 8 hours ('til late afternoon, U.S. Mountain Time). But really, really need to get this CPU hogging problem resolved.
Thanks,
kwc
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About you having the computer slow, even when the idleprocess is close to 100%, it could have something to do with memory, don't you have any process using too much memory?
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I'll monitor memory next time I see this happening. I boosted memory to a gig hoping that would solve my problem. But it did not. And in the first few days after installing that, I did monitor memory use and rarely saw it get above about 500 mb when the CPU was pegging 100%.
Thanks,
kwc
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Sorry by my poor english....I'm brazilian, with me the problem was in the software "XP Smoker", it have a option relative to the "performance monitor" service...
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thanks for letting us know about that clue efoxweb!
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Even though this topic is fairly old, I ran into the same problem as described here, but for the life of me I could not get Performance Monitor to start, and also had not used any of the tweaker programs...
daft me had forgotten I'd done this manually, so, if a tweaker tool don't do it for you, and you are confortable with RegEdit, navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib
and in all likelyhood you wil find an item named "Disable Performance Counters" in the right hand pane, set it to 0 and everything should be right as rain the next time you boot.
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Thanks for your post JarC.
I'm actually going to be updating Process Tamer in the next couple of weeks and I think I will add code to check this value and report to the user if it's disabled.
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Mouser,
Process Tamer V2.08.02, d/l'ed and installed yesterday (June 7, 2007). It ran ok, showing which processes were running and changing their priorities on the fly.
I started my (Vista) computer this morning and found PT reporting that it's enabled, but when the Configure screen is opened, PT reports that the Tamer Tray is "Not Running" and no processes are listed in the Processes window.
Rebooting didn't solve the problem.
If PT would work, I'm sure it would help solve the lockup (100% cpu usage for 5-15 minutes) I experience at every boot up. Likely caused by Webroot's Spy Sweeper and Novatix's Cyberhawk fighting over who's going to protect the computer, with maybe Iolo's Personal Firewall getting into it, too.
Joe35
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OOhhh Cyberhawk, i had that installed for a day or 2, caused so many problems, particularly i found when trying to run java applets, they wouldnt work properly at all.
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I changed both Cyberhawk and Spy Sweeper so they wouldn't start at boot up. Booting was a lot quicker, but it made no difference to Process Tamer... it's still Not Running.
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Does Process Tamer really need to depend on Performance Monitor?
I used nLite to remove it and I dont want to recreate my CD and reinstall just to get this program working.
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Finally back to trying this again. And it's working for me. Which is good news.
The balloons never pop up, even though I have them set to do so so that I can monitor which processes it is that are the hogs. And that has me wondering if this was working for me last year and I just assumed it was not because I never saw the balloons.
I don't know. Don't recall all the specifics of my trial last year.
But it was not immediately apparent to me this time that on the configurator I could tick a "processes" tab on top and see what was actually happening. Once I discovered that, I realized that the thing IS working. And it does seem to be keeping my CPU from pegging out at 100%.
I AM experiencing one weirdness and am pretty sure it is because of some process being tamed, but I don't know which:
Sometimes when typing, the letters quit appearing on the screen. Or ... a ... letter ... will... appear ... in ... about ... five ... seconds....... And then another, but not necessarily the next one that was typed.
I'm running Windows XP. Any idea what process might control the keyboard? The name of it? So that I can force it to normal? Is that something that I can find in the log?
If this thing really starts doing what it says it does, you're going to have a happy donater in a few days. I have had something wrong on this computer (and I'll bet it's some dumb registry entry mistake somewhere) that has had the CPU pegging out constantly for 2 of the 2-1/2 years that I've owned it. I upgraded ram to the max and that did nothing to solve the problem.
Thanks,
kwc
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when the thing with the slow letters starts happening, quickly bring up the process tamer config and switch to the process view and see what process is using a lot of the cpu.
the problem could be
1) a misbehaving process on your computer
2) a high-cpu using process on your computer that doesnt respond well to being tamed by ProcessTamer.
but in both cases you'd see it having very high cpu usage at the time of the slow characters, so try to catch it when that happens.
one common type of program that can do that is a low-level security program like an Antivirus tool or similar thing.
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Hi Mouser:
I think the process was explorer.exe. And I think I had the tamer set to be too aggressive and had way too much else going on when that happened. I've adjusted the aggressiveness way down and don't seem to be experiencing that any more. And am extremely pleased with how this is helping. Wish I'd gotten it to work for me last year!
So, a grateful (though small) contribution is on its way.
Thanks!
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Hello, I just want to place here that I had the exactly same problem than "BlackAle", y all the ones that "ken winston caine" had :( Thanks to JaRC for the super important code he placed here: :up:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib
and in all likelyhood you wil find an item named "Disable Performance Counters" in the right hand pane, set it to 0 and everything should be right as rain the next time you boot.
Thanks to this info. PT is working properly now, and making my PC run faster than ever.
Very Good job Mouser ! :Thmbsup:
God bless all of you, bye :D
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great :)
Thanks for that reminder that i need to add a check for that from within the program so that i can warn people when it's not set.
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Thanks to JaRC for the super important code he placed here: :up:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib
and in all likelyhood you wil find an item named "Disable Performance Counters" in the right hand pane, set it to 0 and everything should be right as rain the next time you boot.
-JesusInsideMe
This message from several years ago proved invaluable to me just now. I had tried Process Tamer briefly in the past, but yesterday I decided to use it again. To my dismay, I couldn't get it to run. Same story as so many other messages in this thread, but I wasn't using any of the programs mentioned. However, when I came upon JesusInsideMe's message, I went into RegEdit and gave it a try. Bingo! All is now well.
I now realize why PT had worked when I tried it earlier but hadn't this time until I made the registry change. A week or so ago I tried JV16PowerTools' settings to speed up my computer. Sure enough, one of them had to do with disabling performance counters. None of what I did made much difference in my computer's speed, and I simply forgot about it. But I'm almost certain that that was what blocked PT from running.
Anyway, many thanks to JarC and JesusInsideMe (who called my attention to JarC's message).
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now the right thing for me to do is check this registry setting and warn the user if its disabled.
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now the right thing for me to do is check this registry setting and warn the user if its disabled.
-mouser
Good idea, but you already get good points for including a link to this thread in the Help file! That's how I found it.
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I'm New To This Site And I Too Had Trouble With "Process Tamer" Not Running And It's Oct.2012,I Went To The Registry And Made The Change Found In This Forum-And It Worked!! Thanks Guys! :Thmbsup: