another Vista running slow thread.

[majorbriggs]

Hi all,
I'm running 32bit Vista, have done for 2 years now and personally I haven't had any problems at all with it. However, recently it's started running rather slowly. I have a Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 3ghz CPU and 2GB RAM. I have noticed, using resource monitor, that even in a settled state I'm using at least 50% RAM. I tried creating a new user and logging on but with the same result. I have read that searchindexer and searchprotocolhost should not be running, is this correct?

I have ran 'tasklist' and the results are below. I'd be grateful for any advice you can give me. (oh and I know I shouldn't use sidebar ) Many thanks.

Image Name                     PID Session Name        Session#    Mem Usage
========================= ======== ================ =========== ============
System Idle Process              0 Services                   0         28 K
System                           4 Services                   0     81,148 K
smss.exe                       368 Services                   0        628 K
csrss.exe                      432 Services                   0      4,744 K
wininit.exe                    472 Services                   0      3,216 K
avgchsvx.exe                   492 Services                   0      2,660 K
avgrsx.exe                     500 Services                   0        824 K
services.exe                   556 Services                   0      4,524 K
lsass.exe                      568 Services                   0      6,956 K
lsm.exe                        576 Services                   0      4,692 K
avgcsrvx.exe                   640 Services                   0      3,740 K
svchost.exe                   1016 Services                   0      5,464 K
svchost.exe                   1076 Services                   0      5,704 K
svchost.exe                   1216 Services                   0      9,324 K
svchost.exe                   1244 Services                   0     55,976 K
svchost.exe                   1260 Services                   0    120,560 K
audiodg.exe                   1380 Services                   0      9,656 K
SLsvc.exe                     1420 Services                   0      7,988 K
svchost.exe                   1476 Services                   0     10,880 K
svchost.exe                   1640 Services                   0     16,236 K
spoolsv.exe                   1864 Services                   0      6,996 K
svchost.exe                   1900 Services                   0     13,860 K
avgwdsvc.exe                  1188 Services                   0      2,980 K
CTSVCCDA.EXE                  1164 Services                   0      1,928 K
LVPrcSrv.exe                  1968 Services                   0      3,628 K
svchost.exe                   1572 Services                   0      4,176 K
svchost.exe                     12 Services                   0      4,960 K
svchost.exe                    292 Services                   0      1,992 K
SearchIndexer.exe             1372 Services                   0     17,180 K
SDWinSec.exe                  2316 Services                   0      6,136 K
avgnsx.exe                    2384 Services                   0        784 K
avgemc.exe                    2580 Services                   0      1,340 K
avgcsrvx.exe                  2688 Services                   0      3,620 K
taskeng.exe                   2828 Services                   0      4,568 K
WisLMSvc.exe                  4092 Services                   0      4,160 K
WmiPrvSE.exe                  2396 Services                   0      5,080 K
svchost.exe                   2544 Services                   0      6,076 K
SearchProtocolHost.exe        2304 Services                   0      9,316 K
WmiPrvSE.exe                  3800 Services                   0     14,228 K
csrss.exe                     1908 Console                    2      9,752 K
winlogon.exe                  1208 Console                    2      5,332 K
taskeng.exe                   2040 Console                    2      9,728 K
dwm.exe                       1024 Console                    2     86,428 K
explorer.exe                  2452 Console                    2     38,684 K
SynTPEnh.exe                  2812 Console                    2      6,132 K
HotkeyApp.exe                 4088 Console                    2      6,900 K
ipoint.exe                    4024 Console                    2     12,716 K
igfxtray.exe                  2200 Console                    2      4,364 K
hkcmd.exe                     3820 Console                    2      4,492 K
igfxpers.exe                   296 Console                    2      3,812 K
reader_sl.exe                 1200 Console                    2      3,556 K
wmdSync.exe                   3240 Console                    2      4,624 K
jusched.exe                   2884 Console                    2      3,148 K
LWS.exe                       2192 Console                    2     14,132 K
avgtray.exe                   3444 Console                    2      3,504 K
sidebar.exe                   2548 Console                    2     27,312 K
ehtray.exe                    3968 Console                    2        788 K
dpupdchk.exe                  3140 Console                    2      3,228 K
TrustedInstaller.exe          3548 Services                   0      9,624 K
ehmsas.exe                    4052 Console                    2      3,700 K
sidebar.exe                   3868 Console                    2     18,164 K
COCIManager.exe               3836 Console                    2      5,728 K
igfxsrvc.exe                  3552 Console                    2      4,808 K
firefox.exe                   3992 Console                    2     99,796 K
conime.exe                    4256 Console                    2      3,252 K
WMIADAP.exe                   4412 Services                   0      4,192 K
SearchFilterHost.exe          5088 Services                   0      4,496 K
cmd.exe                       5180 Console                    2      1,924 K
tasklist.exe                  5208 Console                    2      4,484 K

[spike2me]

Hit the Windows key+R in the Run box type msconfig and hit enter. Go to the startup tab choose Diagnostic startup. See if performance improves. Also go to Windows key+R and type eventvwr and hit enter. Under Application and System look for any Red X's and take note of the program that is causing the problem. Finally scan with Malwarebytes and do a manual Defrag.

[majorbriggs]

Thanks for the quick reply spike2me, will try those and do a full defrag tomorrow.

[majorbriggs]

Hello Spike,

I followed those steps today. Under the diagnostic startup performance was a fair amount better, RAM usage was around 32% with the following processes running (couldn't run tasklist in diagnostic mode):
system
lsm.exe
svchost.exe (DcomLaunch)
crss.exe
winlogon.exe
wininit
smss.exe

In eventvwr there were no items with red crosses. I did a scan with Malwarebytes, no infections. Did a full defrag. RAM still running at at least 50% when idle.
Is it this searchindexer.exe? If I understand it right, shouldn't this periodically index my files for seach reasons, but not be running all the time?
Thanks in advance.

[jcgriff2]

Boot into safemode w/ networking - any CPU/ RAM spikes there?