Recently, I discovered the CPU usage on one of my PCs will not fall below 100%. I've attempted everything I can think of to resolve the issue, including:
- Running Ad-Aware SE
- Performing an online scan from Trend Micro
- Performing an online scan from Panda Software
- Running Registry Mechanic
- Running CW-Shredder
- Running Spybot S&D
- Running Cleanup! Version 4.0
- Running Scandisk
- Defragging the hard drive
The various scans identified some instances of spyware, which were promptly removed from the system. Unfortunately, usage remained at 100%.
I've opened the Task Manager and ended each program one-by-one to try and determine which one was causing the high CPU Usage. The only item that remained was Explorer. Am I to believe that Explorer is the cause of my problem?
The PC is a Pentium III (733 Mhz) with 320MB of RAM installed, and running Windows 98SE. I have F-Secure Virus Protection installed as well (Granted, the system is older, however it has performed relatively well until now).
I checked the CPU and System temperatures too, as I heard a faulty fan could cause the temperatures to rise, resulting in a CPU usage of 100%. The readings came back as follows:
SYS temp: 36-39 degrees Celsius
CPU temp: 46-50 degrees Celsius
SYS fan: 0 RPM (?)
CPU fan: 6113-6666 RPM
Here is my log from Hijack This!
Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 9:08:59 PM, on 3/1/06
Platform: Windows 98 SE (Win9x 4.10.2222A)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)
Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KB891711\KB891711.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\COMMON\FSMA32.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\COMMON\FSMB32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\COMMON\FCH32.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSPC\FSHTTPS\FSHTTPS.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\BACKWEB\9867844\PROGRAM\FSBWSYS.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\BACKWEB\9867844\PROGRAM\FSPEX.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\COMMON\FAMEH32.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\ANTI-VIRUS\FSGK32.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FWES\PROGRAM\FSDFWD.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSPC\FSPC.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\ANTI-VIRUS\FSSM32.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\ANTI-VIRUS\FSAV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\COMMON\FSM32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\FREERAM XP PRO 1.40.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSTASK.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMIEXE.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSGUI\FSGUIEXE.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MOZILLA FIREFOX\FIREFOX.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.EXE
C:\HIJACKTHIS\HIJACKTHIS\HIJACKTHIS.EXE
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page =
http://www.excite.com/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,SearchAssistant = about
:blank
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page =
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Int ernet Settings,ProxyOverride = localhost
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\ADOBE\ACROBAT 5.0\READER\ACTIVEX\ACROIEHELPER.OCX
O2 - BHO: C:\WINDOWS\LBBHO.DLL - {BE364320-DFED-11D8-8650-00D00954CBE5} - C:\WINDOWS\LBBHO.DLL
O2 - BHO: CDLPObj Object - {BE2ED590-CA49-46B5-8CCE-244FB2E0D1AA} - C:\WINDOWS\DLP.DLL
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\ssv.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSDXM.OCX
O4 - HKLM\.. \Run: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\.. \Run: [SystemTray] SysTray.Exe
O4 - HKLM\.. \Run: [F-Secure Manager] "C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\Common\FSM32.EXE" /splash
O4 - HKLM\.. \Run: [F-Secure Startup Wizard] "C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSGUI\FSSW.EXE" /reboot
O4 - HKLM\.. \RunServices: [KB891711] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KB891711\KB891711.EXE
O4 - HKLM\.. \RunServices: [F-Secure Management Agent] C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\Common\FSMA32.EXE
O4 - HKCU\.. \Run: [FreeRAM XP] "C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\FREERAM XP PRO 1.40.EXE" -win
O4 - Global Startup: COGECO Security Services.lnk = C:\Program Files\COGECO Security Services\backweb\9867844\Program\fspex.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\OFFICE10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O8 - Extra context menu item: &eBay Search - res://C:\PROGRAM FILES\EBAY\EBAY TOOLBAR2\eBayTb.dll/RCSearch.html
O9 - Extra button: Web Filter - {200DB664-75B5-47c0-8B45-A44ACCF73C00} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSPC\FSPCMSIE.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {200DB664-75B5-47c0-8B45-A44ACCF73F04} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSPC\FSPCMSIE.DLL
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: &Allow this website - {200DB664-75B5-47c0-8B45-A44ACCF73F04} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSPC\FSPCMSIE.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {200DB664-75B5-47c0-8B45-A44ACCF73F03} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSPC\FSPCMSIE.DLL
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: &Deny this website - {200DB664-75B5-47c0-8B45-A44ACCF73F03} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSPC\FSPCMSIE.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {200DB664-75B5-47c0-8B45-A44ACCF73F02} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSPC\FSPCMSIE.DLL
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: &Suspend Webpage Filter - {200DB664-75B5-47c0-8B45-A44ACCF73F02} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSPC\FSPCMSIE.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {200DB664-75B5-47c0-8B45-A44ACCF73F01} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSPC\FSPCMSIE.DLL
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Show website &list - {200DB664-75B5-47c0-8B45-A44ACCF73F01} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\COGECO SECURITY SERVICES\FSPC\FSPCMSIE.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\JAVA\JRE1.5.0_06\BIN\SSV.DLL
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\JAVA\JRE1.5.0_06\BIN\SSV.DLL
O12 - Plugin for .spop: C:\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1\Plugins\NPDocBox.dll
O16 - DPF: {56336BCB-3D8A-11D6-A00B-0050DA18DE71} (RdxIE Class) -
http://207.188.7.150/18aef0747be0e87...p/RdxIE601.cab
O16 - DPF: {2253F320-AB68-4A07-917D-4F12D8884A06} (ChainCast VMR Client Proxy) -
http://64.124.45.181/downloads/ccpm_0237.cab
O16 - DPF: {9A9307A0-7DA4-4DAF-B042-5009F29E09E1} (ActiveScan Installer Class) -
http://acs.pandasoftware.com/actives...ree/asinst.cab
I've read the post on Microsoft's site concerning a problem with Windows 95/98/ME's System Monitor incorrectly showing CPU Usage at 100%. I'm running a RAM accelerator which also shows 100% usage. Does it simply take its information from the System Monitor? I am at a total loss. Perhaps there is something I'm overlooking? Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.