Just got back to my PC having left it idle for half an hour or so. On return, the CPU usage was very high (>85%) and the CPU temperature rising rapidly; it should have been around the 38/39C mark but was up at 54C. Checked immediately on Task Manager and the process hogging the CPU was ccsvchst.exe. I'm running NIS2010 and my OS is Windows XP Pro SP3. I should also point out that, when looking at Task Manager (i.e. PC no longer idle), ccsvchst.exe was still using >85% of the CPU but this process terminated after about a minute. BTW, CPU is a rather aged Pentium IV running at 1800MHz. Others may have noticed on my one other thread (at present) that I normally participate in the World Community Grid (WCG), which runs BOINC software. However, in this instance, WCG was definitely not running.
Before starting this thread, I carried out a forum search and found the following:
Dealing with the temperature rise rather than the trigger -- hae you checked to see if your CPU fan is running, that it is not dust choked and if those look OK if the heat paste between the cooler and the surface of the CPU needs replacing.
Elsewhere dealing with computer problems these are first priorities to check when there is overheating.
Just got back to my PC having left it idle for half an hour or so. On return, the CPU usage was very high (>85%) and the CPU temperature rising rapidly; it should have been around the 38/39C mark but was up at 54C. Checked immediately on Task Manager and the process hogging the CPU was ccsvchst.exe. I'm running NIS2010 and my OS is Windows XP Pro SP3. I should also point out that, when looking at Task Manager (i.e. PC no longer idle), ccsvchst.exe was still using >85% of the CPU but this process terminated after about a minute. BTW, CPU is a rather aged Pentium IV running at 1800MHz. Others may have noticed on my one other thread (at present) that I normally participate in the World Community Grid (WCG), which runs BOINC software. However, in this instance, WCG was definitely not running.
Before starting this thread, I carried out a forum search and found the following:
I received no on-screen message to say that NIS was carrying out a background scan.
There are several entries in Recent History but, unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact time that I returned to my PC earlier. I need to get into the habit of checking Recent History immediately after any noteworthy event. An idle quick scan did run around that time but it only lasted a tad over 2 minutes.
My idle time scans are, as you say, still enabled.
If I initiate a manual full scan, the CPU temperature gets to 54C after about 10 minutes. What is odd, however, is that an idle full scan ran on 4 August. As the idle scans are set to run weekly, I wouldn't have expected the next one to run until tomorrow.
The Pentium IV is running out of steam and, as said in my other thread, a major upgrade is in the pipeline. But the other pieces of the jigsaw as stated above don't fit together.
Thanks for the feedback but I can say that all is well with the cooling side of this PC. I think it's just past its use by date!
JPC
And all you were waiting for was a chance to get a new one!
Lots of real bargains around if you buy but watch for the 64 bit gotcha if you have peripeals like printers or scanners that may not have 64 bit drivers -- there's no workarounds with 64 bit windows although WIN 7 does have a lot of basic drivers already on board they are far from fully featured compared with what may have come with the hardware.
Check your manufacturer's website to see if updated WIN 7 64 bit drivers are available; if not but VISTA 64 bit are they will probably work.
I am a corporate user of Norton Internet Security 2010 and Windows XP. We have a small company with 10-12 workstations all running the same NIS 2010 and Windows XP SP3. In the last couple days, several computers have had the same problem. When the machine is idle, a Norton scan starts. When the user returns to his/her computer, the system memory is at 90-100%, all because of ccSVChost. The idle scan does not appear to be shutting down correctly. Several minutes are required before the machine snaps out of it and begins to function normally.
Will someone with Norton please look into the most recent updates for NIS 2010 and see if something is happening with the idle scan that is affecting Windows XP machines? Again this is the scan that starts up when the screensaver turns on or when someone locks their desktop.
Thanks for the feedback but I can say that all is well with the cooling side of this PC. I think it's just past its use by date!
JPC
And all you were waiting for was a chance to get a new one!
Lots of real bargains around if you buy but watch for the 64 bit gotcha if you have peripeals like printers or scanners that may not have 64 bit drivers -- there's no workarounds with 64 bit windows although WIN 7 does have a lot of basic drivers already on board they are far from fully featured compared with what may have come with the hardware.
Check your manufacturer's website to see if updated WIN 7 64 bit drivers are available; if not but VISTA 64 bit are they will probably work.
Hi Hugh,
Yes, it's a great excuse to get that new machine! But I am confused about what is going on and clearly I'm not alone as SDL has posted saying they are having the same problem.
I really appreciate your comments about 64-bit drivers for peripherals. If I can do so on this forum, I may PM you about this.
I received no on-screen message to say that NIS was carrying out a background scan.
There are several entries in Recent History but, unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact time that I returned to my PC earlier. I need to get into the habit of checking Recent History immediately after any noteworthy event. An idle quick scan did run around that time but it only lasted a tad over 2 minutes.
My idle time scans are, as you say, still enabled.
If I initiate a manual full scan, the CPU temperature gets to 54C after about 10 minutes. What is odd, however, is that an idle full scan ran on 4 August. As the idle scans are set to run weekly, I wouldn't have expected the next one to run until tomorrow.
The Pentium IV is running out of steam and, as said in my other thread, a major upgrade is in the pipeline. But the other pieces of the jigsaw as stated above don't fit together.
I'll continue to keep an eye on things.
Thanks for your continuing support.
JPC
Hi JPC,
It would see this would not have been a full scan since it had run more recently but it is possible that something could have triggered an unscheduled scan so to speak. In either case this should have been in the History.
Another thing you can check is in Computer Settings > Number of threads for manual scan. It is normally set to Auto, you could try setting this to 1 but it should already be using just 1 since you have a Pentium 4. Also, according to help this should affect manual scans only.
Lastly you could set Computer Scans > Compressed Files Scan to OFF. Taking just a bit to wake up could be an indication that NIS gets stuck on a single file for a bit. Setting this to OFF does not change your protection since malware cannot run from a compressed file. If malware exists inside a compressed file then auto-protect should catch it when you uncompress the file.
Just a couple of things to try but mostly it is probably due to being a Pentium 4.