Annoying Problem

[Glen]

Sorry for the newbie question. The problem seems to be that about every 45 to 60 seconds my processor useage spikes to about 60% for no apparent reason. This happens in conjunction with a brief hard drive access. It does not seem to make any difference if I am connected to the internet or not. When the processor spikes, the windows pointer turns to an hourglass and freezes briefly. Having the pointer freeze when trying to move it across the screen is highly annoying. I am not sure what program or IBM service is causing this.
So my question is, does anyone know how I can tell what is causing this annoying problem and how I can fix it.

T23 2647-5ku, XP SP1

[jdhurst]

I think I may have posted a basic troubleshooting process for this a while back. You can try the following:

1. Shut down the machine.
2. Restart and log on.
3. Do nothing - wait for 5 minutes
4. Search for all files changed today, and then sort most recent to the top. That should shed some clues.

In my case, the Retail version of Norton Internet Security was fussing with Instant Messenger (that I had turned off) and writing to the log each minute. I disable IM checking in NIS and the problem disappeared. I now use the Corporate version of Symantec Client Security and it doesn't do this.

Hope that helps, ... JD Hurst

[Glen]

Wow, good call! I never would have figured that out. I just installed NIS recently and turning off IM checking seems to have done the trick. One further question if you don't mind. Can you disable Windows Messaging in Admin Tools--> Services in XP Pro? For extra security I would like to disable all the IM crap as I never use it. Thanks......Glen

[jdhurst]

There are settings in IM. I just tell it not to start. It is still there, but won't run, therefore does not attract malware. A recent fix from Microsoft to Outlook Express prevents it from running IM. Glad it worked for you.
... JD Hurst