long starting time, high CPU usage with AAWservice.exe & avgrsx.exe on startup

[Glenski]

Sorry for the long subject line, but that about sums things up.

Startup takes about 10-15 minutes before the hard drive settles down to no visible activity.  After the first 5 minutes, I expect little to no activity, but the task manager shows AAWservice.exe and avgrsx.exe each sucking 0-100% CPU.  That's with no program turned on/running.

Many / Most operations also seem to run slowly, including just opening My Computer, but also extending to things like browsing on Firefox (latest version, just updated today to 3.5.3).

And, the fan operation is incorrect.  It starts up all right with a surge, then dies down, but in a minute or so into startup, it ramps up to a high speed that remains constant while the computer is on.  It's not as high as the surge during startup, but still high, and SpeedFan program shows mild operating temps (35-45 degrees C).  I have already opened the case and blown dust clear.  The outside of the unit does not feel hot, and it is propped up anyway to allow for circulating air underneath.

I'm using a 5-year-old NEC LavieC with Windows XP home edition.  Service Pack 2 (although my Windows updater is set to automatic).  784.944kb RAM
AVG, Ad Aware Anniversary edition, Spybot, are installed, and Comodo free edition is my firewall.  I update the antimalware software every 2 weeks or so and run full scans, where almost nothing is found.

Using a Buffalo wireless router.
Have no idea about sound cards.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Allan]

http://www.exe-error-fixes.com/avgrsxexe/

The other is related to ad aware, which is an outdated product that you should uninstall.

[Broni]

I'd suggest, you get rid of AVG as well and switch to something lighter, like Avira, or Avast.

[Glenski]

Allan,
Thanks for the advice.  I went to that link and successfully did as steps 1 and 2 directed. 

For 2c it says only "Scans", but there were several sub-folders under it, so I just cleared everything in all the sufbolders.  Same for 2d Schedules.  I hope this was all right.

However, in step 3, I had problems.  AVGMfx86.sys was there, so I deleted it, but I could not find AVGrsstx.dll even though it was supposed to be in the WINDOWS/system32 folder.

Also, I do not know how to get rid of "all incidences of AVG(Shell Extension.  Can you explain how?

Broni,
I will take that suggestion under advisement, as I've heard good things about Avast, but for now, I want to see if Allan's fix works sufficiently.  Thank you for the suggestion.

Glenski

[Allan]

Glenski - actually I'd agree with Broni. Both Avast and Avira are higher rated than AVG. I'd suggest you download one of the two, uninstall AVG and then install the other. It will solve your problem AND give you a slightly better anti virus utility.

[Glenski]

Ok, Allan.  No offense intended towards Broni.  Will get Avast soon.

Now, about my fan problem, is this the right section of the forum to discuss fixing it?

[patio]

Depending on the CPU that fan behavior is normal for some of the newer dual/quad cores...

[Glenski]

patio,
I'm sorry, but I don't understand that terminology.

It just seems incredibly strange and abnormal for the fan to be on a high setting constantly after startup, even when I have not started any programs.  At that time, there is 10-15% CPU activity.  The fan speed does not waver one iota, and if it's based on CPU activity, I am very puzzled.

Allan,
You wrote that I should uninstall Ad Aware because it is an outdated product.  As far as I know, the version I have (8.0.7, anniversary edition) is the most up to date version.  Do you know another?  Thanks in advance.

[Glenski]

Hey, what happened to responses here?

I still have a fan problem.

And, despite removing Ad Aware and replacing AVG with Avast, I still have a very slow computer.  Some claim it was Firefox 3.0, but I have 3.5.3 with the latest updates, and today was incredibly slow with lots of stalls and freezes.

I look at the task manager, and although the graphics display is flatline maxed out at 100% (and the Idle process reads zero CPU usage), there doesn't seem to be any process sucking that much total CPU.

Please respond.

[patio]

Disk Cleanup...
Defrag...
Check the amount of free space on your drive...remove any unneccessary apps and data you don't need...
DLoad and install StartupCPL from Mike Lin...check it for any unneccessary startup items...do NOT disable anything if you don't know what it is...
Add more RAM...it's dirt cheap right now.

[Allan]

Sorry - forgot all about this thread.

Instead of AdAware you should use either Malware Bytes or Super Antispyware

Open Task Manager to the Processes tab and sort it on the cpu column with highest usage at the top (click the "CPU" title twice). You said System Idle is low or at zero - which process is eating all the cpu cycles?

[Broni]

To see it better...

Download Process Explorer: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
Unzip ProcessExplorer.zip, and double click on procexp.exe to run the program.
Click on View > Select Colunms.
In addition to already pre-selected options, make sure, the Command Line is selected, and press OK.
Go File>Save As, and save the report as Procexp.txt.
Attach the file to your next reply.

[patio]

Disk Cleanup...
Defrag...
Check the amount of free space on your drive...remove any unneccessary apps and data you don't need...
DLoad and install StartupCPL from Mike Lin...check it for any unneccessary startup items...do NOT disable anything if you don't know what it is...
Add more RAM...it's dirt cheap right now.

I guess this will be ignored...

[Glenski]

patio,
Why so negative?

I already have the max amount of RAM, and I think I've removed any obvious apps that I don't need (although who is to say when there are hidden things?).  I will look into eliminating the startup garbage, though.  Defragging has been on my mind, and since my OS is Japanese, it is not always easy to go through instructions, even with my Japanese wife, but I will try in the near future.

Allan,
Malwarebytes is already installed.  I used to have Superantispyware, too, but I felt I had too much protection at one time.

I'm sorry, but I didn't look today to see what was sucking all the CPU.  Will do that tomorrow.  What's weirder is that I set up 2 accounts (me, my wife) a couple of weeks ago, and there is a totally different number of items on the task manager when I check either account.  The original account I had (now my wife's) has about 40 items on it, including the system idle process, but my second account (mine) has about a dozen items and NO system idle process!

Broni,
Will post that with Allan's request on my next post.  Thanks for the instructions.

[Allan]

Glen - I wasn't suggesting running both spyware apps resident. There's no harm in scanning with both though, since no one utility gets everything.