On my old XP system I have always got those 100% spikes about every 3 minutes.
I figured it was checking for updates or something.
I also have noticed a huge spike in ccsvchst while using a browser, it seems to have got much worse this year. It's much worse in IE than Firefox and pages with flash content seem to more often cause the problem.
It got to the point where I would sometimes leave the taskmanager on the system tray so I could close kill ccsvchst if I needed to use the browser, or I would use it to kill the browser since ccsvchst had it hung so bad I couldn't close it the normal way.
I reverted back to a previous version and although it still has the same problems at least I have the old identity safe back.
Yes I read your post and it did make sense for some of the issues. However when nothing is on and i do otherwork I freeze up.
It has gotten better, but still not how it was before the last 2 upgrades.
I am in a much better place than I was, but I think the symantec team needs to do better memory programming. My issue with today's programers is they just leave it to java to do clean up the mess and they dont try very hard to be memory efficient.
I, like you, run NIS21 with XP Pro SP3 but, unlike you, I do not have the kind of problems you are having and although I cannot offer a definite solution maybe I can offer some suggestions.
You have said that you have used NIS for the past 30 years, so I guess we are in the same age group, so I wonder if you still perform (which was called back in the day) PC housekeeping, i.e. regularly defragging your HD, deleting unwanted/unused software, controlling the apps that are launched at startup, archiving off old data.
Although not a complete solution "housekeeping" may take some of the strain off your CPU.
How much RAM memory does your PC have, I use 4GB, this will help if you are using 2GB or less.
Again, way back when, you could swap out your CPU for a slightly more powerful one, I don't know whether this is an option for you but if it is it may be worth a try. I run an Intel i3 dual core CPU, which meet my current needs.
Hope this helps (attached is a print of my NIS performance screen).
I have a very old system only handles 2GB. and the CPU is about as good as it will be. i have done plenty of house keeping. deletion of files. defrag the whole nine yards.
My system is about 15 years old... ;-)
it has and does what i need on a personal level .. anything else is done from my work laptop.
I will just have to troll around and see if i can do anything to boost.
many thanx .. seems like your's is very efficient. :-)