Runaway PF usage

[JudgeGarth]

Starting this morning (it was fine last night and I haven't installed anything since then) when I log on to AOL, Task Manager shows the page file usage going up, up, and up even when I just let it sit there and don't do anything else! I can't do anything on the Internet because of this. I'm using a computer at the public library right now because I can't even get into VideoHelp from my computer at home to enter this post. I'm running Windows XP with Norton Antivirus and Spyware Doctor. I ran a quickscan with Norton but didn't turn up anything other than a tracking cookie which I deleted, but didn't fix the problem. I've reinstalled AOL, disabled Spyware Doctor, cleaned out the inside of the computer, but nothing seems to help.

Wouldn't you know it, but I have to leave town for a couple of days tomorrow morning (sick relative) and I have to leave the library soon. But I'll be back Saturday, so I'd appreciate any ideas. l'll check back then. Until that time I'll try some other things I've found doing searches here in my limited time at the library computer. One suggestion was to download SpyBot or Adaware and run them, but I have the problem that I won't be able to download anything with my Internet tied up!

[FulciLives]

I take it you have AOL dial-up ???

If so then you are using a modem ... probably an internal PCI type modem.

If that is the case then I would open up the computer and unplug the modem and plug it back in. Could be the modem jiggled out of it's PCI slot.

I used to have a PCI video capture card that didn't like staying put and if it had come out a bit and I tried to use it then the computer would go all haywire. I basically ended up leaving the side panel off so I could (constantly it seemed) get inside and reset the PCI card.

I have a funny feeling this could ... stress could ... be your issue.

I say it's worth a shot!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Make sure you turn off the computer before doing this and watch out for built-up electronic static. You don't wanna ZAP anything when in there.

[greymalkin]

I'm not sure if this is virus/spyware/malware/etc. related but I would try these steps in this order...

1) Check that suspicious applications aren't loading at startup. You can do this by going to Start - Run and typing "msconfig" then hitting enter. A window will pop up, go to the startup tab and uncheck anything that shouldn't be checked (if you know what that is!). If any AOL component is loading at startup, uncheck that box. You don't need it at startup, you can launch the program when you are ready for it.

2) If there is a later version of AOL I would uninstall the one you have now and install the later version. Uninstall - Reboot - Install new version.

3) A program that I've been very impressed with is malwarebytes anti-malware. You can download it here from another computer:

http://www.malwarebytes.org

Also download from another computer the database file here:

http://www.gt500.org/malwarebytes/database.jsp


Bring these files home and boot up your computer with the network connection unplugged. Install the antimalware application. After you install it it will want to connect to the internet and download updates. Since this is an issue for you, you will install manually install the database file you downloaded earlier. Then you should be able to open the program and do a full scan. Be prepared for it to take a while, possibly even a few hours depending on the speed of your machine.

When it's done it will show you what it has found..hit the "Remove All" button then reboot.

[greymalkin]

I used to have a PCI video capture card that didn't like staying put and if it had come out a bit and I tried to use it then the computer would go all haywire. I basically ended up leaving the side panel off so I could (constantly it seemed) get inside and reset the PCI card.

This reminds me...many years ago I was in a PC support position at a plant that had a 10mbit LAN, but certain hard to reach units were connected to the LAN by pairgain modems..which was barely more than glorified dial-up (something like 1-2mbps). Besides the fact that their profiles were constantly getting corrupted due to the slow/unreliable connection, every once in a while I would have to go to the server room and re-seat all the modems. It was so ghetto being in this big money making plant (OIL!) and I'm having to wiggle the modems to get people their lan connection

..perhaps if I did the old NES blow in the slot trick it would have worked longer

[JudgeGarth]

**UPDATE**
I'm back home now. I logged in to AOL and disabled the Welcome Screen and I'm not getting the runaway PF usage--so far! It's slower than before, but that might be because when I reinstalled AOL I had to do it from a 9.0 VR disk, so this version is downlevel from the AOL 9.1 I was on before. (I assume I'd gotten up to 9.1 via updates).

I'm downloading SpyBot StopZilla right now. I'll try the malwarebytes (and its database) Saturday when I get back if this doesn't do the trick.

Yes, I have a dial-up modem. I'm a little timid about reseating the modem plug because of the possible voltage zap, so I'll save that as a last resort. I did the 'msconfig' and didn't see anything suspicious, (but what do I know? LOL)

Thanks for your help, so far!

[FulciLives]

This is the official SpyBot website: http://www.safer-networking.org/

There are a lot of "fakes" out there!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[ahhaa]

I'm a little timid about reseating the modem plug because of the possible voltage zap

I'm thinking they meant re-seating the card itself on the mobo inside the case; not just the plug from the cord...

While you are in there, you could blow out the fuzzies, add RAM, add a HD, an extra USB card, etc.
These are all 5 minute jobs once you've done the hard part- getting the case open.

I'm not convinced that's the entire solution. I've friend on Verizon DSL with a HP with a 2 gig AMD cpu. She gets frequent low memory messages and screen freezes that make the machine unusable for anyone not as patient as her- they do resemble paint drying.

Her HD is only 1/3 full, not fragmented. Spybot & Mcafee don't find anything. The machine speeds up somewhat when the net connection is broken. The connection itself - as reported by a Firefox d/l- never seems to get above 90k/sec and drops to 40 now & then.
Task Manager reports CPU usage back & forth between 2% and 100% for no apparent reason.
Nothing particularly suspicious running in Processes.
Its a machine that ran fine on XPsp2 with 256M RAM; probs may be sp3 related as they started about the same time, and Adaware reported it couldn't install as it needs 256 available.

A puzzle; hope this helps. One further suggestion- the various Linux LiveCDs run right from the CD with no HD involvement. If you ran one and it worked fine you'd know that your prob is prob'ly software based.

oh yeah, on the voltage thing- if you mean static charges, you can mist the air in a room with water from a spray bottle, that helps for a bit, and touch not the contacts on the card! 8)

[JudgeGarth]

I'm back.

Like I said, when I disabled the welcome screen, I didn't seem to get the runaway PF usage. I downloaded and ran SpyBot and it found a 'Vundo trojan' which I deleted. I downloaded and upgraded back up to AOL 9.1 and everythng "seems" to be back to normal. (Fingers crossed).

It looks like I lost all my saved mail when I deleted and reinstalled AOL from the old disk, but I guess that's a small price to pay for (hopefully) getting things running again. Of course, I'll keep a wary eye out for any more problems. It does seem to be using more page space than before, but maybe that's because of StopZilla SpyBot running all the time. At least it's not runaway PF usage.

Thanks for all your help!