Process Tamer and Svchost

[jcmn]

Hello

I'm new here and I just begun using process tamer.
It seems that PT doesn't adjust priority of SVCHOST. In my PC it usually hogs resources for 1-2 minutes when Microsoft Updates launch. How to change this?

[mouser]

are you using the latest beta (v2.06 beta)?

One of the things that was changed with that version was to give pt the ability to tame stuff it couldn't beforehand, like svchost.

[jcmn]

Nope
I'm using 2.05.02 Where can I download the beta version?

[mouser]

http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/proctamer/index.html

it's the *second* download on the left sidebar.

[jcmn]

Thanks

I'll see if this version is able to control Microsoft Updates and SVCHOST. I'll tell something back.

[jcmn]

Coming back..

After a normal boot SVCHOST loads Microsoft Update and it begins readings in disk taking all the CPU for 1-2 minutes. PT "tells" me that SVCHOST level was lowered but unfortunately it didn't get results. Any ideas?

[mouser]

unfortunately it didn't get results

Do you mean to say that it didn't change the priority, or that it changed the priority but it didn't really help your system performance?

[jcmn]

I mean it changed priority but with no visible results.

[f0dder]

If it's doing heavy disk I/O, changing it's priority won't help that much.

Sounds like something is wrong with your system anyway, you shouldn't have that heavy disk activity for that long at startup. Do you have any heavy antivirus package? Do you have antivirus at all? Is your disk in DMA or PIO mode?

[jcmn]

Hello again

I have only for 1-2 minutes this heavy burden on CPU while Microsoft Update is reading in disk. If this is usuall I don't know.
I have an antivirus but it is very light.
To what relates to disk it is in DMA mode.

I think this has to do with what is installed by Microsoft mainly related with OS copy validation ( windows genuine validation(?)). But this is my opinion. I'm not an expert.

[f0dder]

To what relates to disk it is in DMA mode.

If your disk is in PIO mode, disk I/O will be very CPU heavy. Windows XP will revert a disk from DMA to PIO if it senses errors, which usually means your disk is dying (or that you have a faulty optical drive on the same IDE cable).

I think this has to do with what is installed by Microsoft mainly related with OS copy validation ( windows genuine validation(?)). But this is my opinion. I'm not an expert.

The copy validation, silly as it is, should still be pretty light. You might want to use Process Explorer to find the svchost process that has high CPU load, then find which thread it responsible, and see which executable file this thread belongs to...

[jcmn]

I use Process Explorer from Sysinternals (it's one of the best), to track this kind of issues or malware running etc..

I began to have this CPU picks after install of the Windows Genuine Advantage tool.
Anyway it is not quite a big issue because it doesn't happen everyday and with the same extent.
For example, I had today an update, I think, related with the last VML exploit.

About my disk it is two months old only, it is in fact the newer part of my PC. The oldest is the motherboard and processor (Athlon XP 1.3).

Thanks for your ideas about this. If something goes odd I will open a new post.