[Ham-Computers] Problem with XP

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

Aaron,

Sorry to be so long in responding.  But you nailed it in one.  I decided 
that if shutting down WUAU didn't drop the CPU usage and SVCHOST RAM usage, I 
could always simply reboot the machine.  So I started Task Manager and then 
brought up a Command Prompt window and stopped wuauserv.  Both parameters 
returned to normal.  Realizing that there are unlikely to be any more XP 
patches released, not having the automatic update service isn't a show stopper as 
I can always check for Office 2007 updates manually.  But is there a way to 
fix it short of reinstalling XP (which probably can't be done anyway)?

In a message dated 11/20/2017 19:06:36 PM Central Standard Time, 
nn6o.lists at pacbell.net writes: 
> SVCHOST is the Microsoft program that hosts Windows services.  Each 
> instance of SVCHOST can actually be hosting several services - exactly how a 
> service is attached to each SVCHOST instance, I don't know.  But, you can see 
> a breakdown of each SVCHOST instance using a utility such as Process 
> Explorer by SysInternals.  The SysInternals treasure chest of utilities is so 
> good that Microsoft acquired them several years ago and it's now under their 
> TechNet umbrella of things.  More on Process Explorer a little later...
> 
> Since each SVCHOST instance can host multiple services, it's hard to know 
> exactly what is taking up CPU time without the proper utility (such as 
> Process Explorer).   Also, without knowing what services each instance is 
> hosting, you could be killing several services by killing that one SVCHOST 
> instance.
> 
> But, being that the system is running Windows XP, I'm willing to bet that 
> it's the Automatic Updates service (WUAU) eating up CPU cycles.  WUAU is 
> known to cause high CPU utilization esp when the updates database is corrupt 
> or when one of the updates is doing some type of "telemetry" gathering.  To 
> find out if it's WUAU, next time you notice high CPU utilization in an 
> SVCHOST instance, try stopping the WUAU service.  To do this, open an elevated 
> Command Prompt (run as Administrator) and enter the following:
> 
>   net stop wuauserv
> 
> and press enter.  Wait a minute or two, and check the Task Manager - if 
> CPU utilization returns to normal, then the Windows Update service is the 
> culprit and more diagnosis is needed to determine exactly why.
> 
> Process Explorer - you can download Process Explorer or the entire 
> SysInternals suite of utilities here:
> 
>   http://www.sysinternals.org
> 
> Once you install either, run Process Explorer and it will show you a 
> window similar to Windows Task Manager, but in more detail.  If you click on the 
> "Process" column header, it will switch views between A-Z sort, Z-A sort, 
> and breakout or threaded view that shows the process hierarchy (this 
> includes showing each service under each instance of SVCHOST).  You can also move 
> the mouse pointer over each process to see the threads running under it, 
> or the command-line of how it started.  This will help clue you in to what 
> might be eating CPU cycles.  Once  you've found the particular thread, 
> determine if it's safe to terminate, right-click it, and select "kill process".  
> Or, if you know the service name, it's better to use "net stop 
> servicename" in a command prompt to safely stop the service (or, use "sc stop 
> servicename" as an alternative with no feedback).
> 
> I hope this helps you track down the issue...I'm pretty sure it's Windows 
> Update, but let us know what you find.  If it is Windows Update, there are 
> several possible fixes, but no guarantees.  Sometimes, the high cpu use 
> lasts for several minutes to several hours/days, then everything is back to 
> normal - this would be the Windows Updates telemetry gathering mentioned 
> earlier.  Or, WUAU might also be trying to self-correct a database problem and 
> is rebuilding it.  Suffice it to say, WUAU has it's issues.
> 
> 73,
> 
>   - Aaron Hsu, NN6O
>     {nn6o}@arrl.net
> 

Robert Downs - Houston
wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
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