100% cpu for several min to load a page?

[jak glass]

On almost any website's page, the page load is very slow...several minutes. This are trusted sites and on previous visits, the page load is almost instant. When it is slow, a the <Task Manager> <Performance tab> graph would show 100% CPU time. This is not normal when I am just viewing a webpage. Any ideas?

This seems to have started when I tried the Trial version of the Norton AV. I have since remove the AV but the problem is still there.

I use Windows XP and broadband to access the Internet

[Budfred]

Have you run any other malware scans?? If not, it would be a good idea to run Spybot and Ad-Aware after updating them... Then do an Ewido scan...

Please download, install, and update the NEW free version of Ewido trojan scanner (http://www.ewido.net/en/download/):

When installing, under "Additional Options" uncheck "Install background guard" and "Install scan via context menu".

When you run ewido for the first time, you may get a warning "Database could not be found!". Click OK. We will fix this in a moment.

From the main ewido screen, click on update in the left menu, then click the Start update button.

After the update finishes (the status bar at the bottom will display "Update successful")

Click on the Scanner button in the left menu, then click on Complete System Scan. This scan can take quite a while to run.

If ewido finds anything, it will pop up a notification. We have been finding some cases of false positives with the new version of Ewido, so we need to step through the fixes one-by-one. If Ewido finds something that you KNOW is legitimate (for example, parts of AVG Antivirus, pcAnywhere and the game "Risk" have been flagged), select "none" as the action. DO NOT check "Perform action with all infections". If you are unsure of an entry, select "none" for the time being. I'll see that in the log you will post later and let you know if ewido needs to be run again.

When the scan finishes, click on "Save Report". This will create a text file. Make sure you know where to find this file again.


And follow up with a HijackThis log...

To run HJT, extract it to a permanent folder such as one
you create like C:\HJT. Close all open windows and
browsers and make sure that all programs are enabled if
you use msconfig. Run it and Scan, then Save the log.
When the log window appears, Right click to Copy it, open
your browser and come here to Paste the entire log. Do
not make any changes until it is checked since most items
are either benign or essential to the computer.

http://www.downloads.subratam.org/hijackthis.zip

[jak glass]

Have you run any other malware scans?? If not, it would be a good idea to run Spybot and Ad-Aware after updating them... Then do an Ewido scan...

Please download, install, and update the NEW free version of Ewido trojan scanner (http://www.ewido.net/en/download/):

When installing, under "Additional Options" uncheck "Install background guard" and "Install scan via context menu".

When you run ewido for the first time, you may get a warning "Database could not be found!". Click OK. We will fix this in a moment.

From the main ewido screen, click on update in the left menu, then click the Start update button.

After the update finishes (the status bar at the bottom will display "Update successful")

Click on the Scanner button in the left menu, then click on Complete System Scan. This scan can take quite a while to run.

If ewido finds anything, it will pop up a notification. We have been finding some cases of false positives with the new version of Ewido, so we need to step through the fixes one-by-one. If Ewido finds something that you KNOW is legitimate (for example, parts of AVG Antivirus, pcAnywhere and the game "Risk" have been flagged), select "none" as the action. DO NOT check "Perform action with all infections". If you are unsure of an entry, select "none" for the time being. I'll see that in the log you will post later and let you know if ewido needs to be run again.

When the scan finishes, click on "Save Report". This will create a text file. Make sure you know where to find this file again.


And follow up with a HijackThis log...

To run HJT, extract it to a permanent folder such as one
you create like C:\HJT. Close all open windows and
browsers and make sure that all programs are enabled if
you use msconfig. Run it and Scan, then Save the log.
When the log window appears, Right click to Copy it, open
your browser and come here to Paste the entire log. Do
not make any changes until it is checked since most items
are either benign or essential to the computer.

http://www.downloads.subratam.org/hijackthis.zip

Internet page load is now normal. I switched off the Norton AV and the page load went back to normal. Something must have happened between the trial version of Norton AV and my re-installing the old working Norton AV.

I have since un-installed the Norton AV and used Regseek to clean up the Registry. I then checked the system applying your recommendations.

I will try installing the AV again later after I am done with my urgent project...right now don't have time to play with the system if something goes wrong after the installation.

Many thanks :) Quick Question: Is the Ewido trojan scanner compatible with the Norton AV. In other words, is it ok to run both scanners concurrently or would it be better to run Ewido trojan scanner ad-hoc?

[Sylvander]

Make a backup of your working partition as it now stands so that you can experiment, but if it all goes horribly wrong you can restore the present reasonably happy working state.

[Budfred]

There shouldn't be any problem running Ewido with Norton since they do very different things... However, if you are having problems with Norton and have uninstalled it, you may want to go with AVG, Antivir or Avast so that you have some protection at all times... They are all 3 free and they are much less likely to cause a problem than Norton which is kind of a bloated mess...

I suggest that you post your HJT log so we can check to see if you have malware causing the problem in the first place... If you have malware active, your project could quickly getted bogged down... If it involves personal information, you could be at risk of it being stolen...

[jak glass]

There shouldn't be any problem running Ewido with Norton since they do very different things... However, if you are having problems with Norton and have uninstalled it, you may want to go with AVG, Antivir or Avast so that you have some protection at all times... They are all 3 free and they are much less likely to cause a problem than Norton which is kind of a bloated mess...

I suggest that you post your HJT log so we can check to see if you have malware causing the problem in the first place... If you have malware active, your project could quickly getted bogged down... If it involves personal information, you could be at risk of it being stolen...

:) My system is running smoothly. Many thanks for all the advice. I have installed spybot, hijackthis, ewido and re-stalled the norton av too.