Symantec Service Framework random CPU overuse

Norton Security | Norton Internet Security
1

I have a problem with Norton Antivirus 2013. Since 31st March Symantec Service Framework (process ccsvchst.exe) randomly starts using one of my CPU cores (Intel i5 2500k) nearly in 100% - it does it for about 1 minute then it stops and everything is back to normal. But the problem returns after some time (now I had this twice in about 15 minutes). The usage is so high it causes performance alerts from the AV. I already contacted Support, we did a complete reinstall of Norton AV. I hoped the problem will be fixed, but it isn't. The only difference is that previously ccsvchst used first core, now it uses second core...

Screens from the File Insight and Windows Task Manager when problem occured:

 

 

The operating system is Windows 7 Home Premium x64.

2

I am seeing the same thing on 2 of my pc's. NIS 2013. Win 7 Home premium 64 bit. Wonder what's going on. Didn't use to do this.

3

I am also getting this on 2 of my 3 computers. 

 

The 2 that it happens on have Chrome installed (I don’t know if that is a coincidence or not).

 

2 of my 3 computers are identical computers with the same software on each, apart from one of the “identical” computers that has Chrome (and has the above issue).

 

I have been using the “identical” computer that has Chrome installed tonight for 3 hours, just using IE 10 and Word etc, and not had the issue.

 

To clarify:

PC 1 – Identical computer 1, Win 7, lots of software and IE 10, Firefox, Chrome

PC 2 – Identical computer 2, Win 7, lots of software and IE 10, Firefox

PC 3 – Low spec, Windows XP, Chrome

 

PC 1 and PC 3 have this issue.

 

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

4

I think you are on to something with Chrome/NAV 2013.  I have also noticed sporatic high CPU usage by ccsvchst.exe in .  Not all of the time but a lot of time exceeding 50% CPU and enough to ramp up the CPU cooling fans which is what first brought it to my attention.

 

Running procmon.exe utility showes ccsvchst.exe indeed running, but most ineresting was the number of references to chrome.exe, even though Chrome was not open on my computer.  Installed as default browser but not running.

 

Interesting to see how this developes.

5

I think I found a solution (more a workaround) to the problem . After a while I searched this forums for similar topics and found something about Identity safe plugin for Chrome. When I paid more attention to it I saw problem occurs every time I close Chrome. So I tried to disable the plugin. After disabling and closing Chrome the problem didn't occur. Unfortunately after relaunching Chrome the plugin re-enabled itself. I don't use Identity Safe anyway, so I completely removed the plugin. After that I never had the CPU overuse again. So the cause of a problem was a faulty Chrome plugin.

6

I have exactly the same problem.

Where can I find this plugin (I don't use Identity Safe either), and moreover, how can I permanently disable it?

Thanks!

7

Hi renehoss,

 

Please help us in gathering the log file for this problem. That would help us to find out the root cause of the problem.

 

Here is how you can collect it:

1) Visit the below site:
https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/norton-core/current/solutions/kb20080801181832EN_EndUserProfile_en_us
2) In the end, no files will be sent to Symantec automatically. You will be shown the location of the logs after you complete the form after hitting the "finish" button.
Let me know when you have the logs ready, I will help you to upload it.

Thanks!

Vineeth

8

I have already gathered logfiles a few days ago upon an private email message of Tony Weiss and uploaded them through the sent link under my account name "renehoss".

 

Thank you for looking into this annoyuing problem: 100% CPU usage of ccsvchst.exe upon closing Chrome (not always but in most cases) and bringing it down to normal CPU usage upon re-opening Chrome...

9

Im glad to see such a recent post. Ive been having issues with NIS 2013 every once in a blue moon using about 14% of my i7-2600 3.4Ghz CPU.

 

My original AV was NIS 2012. After having an issue with tthe software I used the Norton Uninstaller to remove the program and did a fresh install Via Download of NIS 2013.

 

Im not sure what is causing it. My system is clean and Norton is a fresh install. The odd bit is that even though Task Manager reports 13-14% loads, The spikes on the chart almost appear as if they are 75-99% loads.

 

It seems to be random. Ive checked norton tasks to see if anything is running (Updates, Pule, Quick and Full Scans etc.) and nothing appears to be the cause.

 

Rebooting my computer seems to fix the issue. And ive had it happen twice in the last 2 months.

 

I wanted to give you this suggestion from another site reguarding IE (And maybe even Google Chromes) anti Phishing Filter - http://www.fileinspect.com/fileinfo/ccsvchst-exe/  I dont think I have to tell anyone to NOT click any of the links on the following page. But the suggestion seems like a likely fix. Since from everything Ive seen. Norton Customer service seems to be lackluster at best.

 

Im curious to see if this may solve your problem. And maybe even mine.

I hope this helps,and please report back with your findings =D Also, Not trying to highjack your thread =P

 

Sorry for the bad organization (Im in a rush). Ive also heard that this issue can arise from the Automatic Live Update. After you Manually Update (Or Norton Updates for you) , CPU useage become stucks.

 

System Specs -

Windows 7 HP SP1 64bit

Intel Core i7-2600 Quad 3.4

8GB DDR3 RAM

GTX 660

10

Not sure why or if anyone else has noticed, but the problem on my end seems to have disappeared.  I have made no changes or fixes.  Maybe a Chrome update or something?

11

I was having problems with last year's version of NAV doing this slowdown business and also needing to be manually terminated when trying to shutdown. That went away after installing this year's version but all of a sudden it's baaaaaaaack. And in a really bad way.

 

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.130307-0422)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.                
       System Model: Dimension XPSGEN5            
               BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A02
          Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs)
             Memory: 2046MB RAM
          Page File: 460MB used, 3476MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

Card name: RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition
     Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
        Chip type: RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition (0x5D4D)

 

Think that's the critical info. The product is Norton AV 13. Now for what's going on:

 

Since Norton updated yesterday I'm having episodes while using the browser where the slowdown either freezes the system completely or it slows down so bad I lose the mouse and it executes one command every 5 min or so making normal restart almost impossible.

 

I was using IE8  when after a few minutes I had such bad slowdown I was unable  to load web pages and finally had to use the power button to shut down. I immediately ran a full system scan using AV. When that failed to turn up anything I ran the Power eraser which found and "fixed" 3 temp files that it categorized as risky. No other info was given. After using the clean up tools I again attempted to use IE8 but again encountered the same problem after a few minutes.

 

At this point I thought maybe I was losing one of the hard drives or graphics card but was able to actually load and play my large Sims 2 game files. Freecell was a breeze. And my modem is fine because I was also able to download a 24 GIG World of Warcraft patch. But as soon as I'd go back to using IE8 browser problems would start again.

 

Ok so maybe the NAV fix corrupted the browser? I didn't see anyway to uninstall IE safely so I downloaded Firefox. Since NAV seemed to also be involved I uninstalled it, then reinstalled it. Last night I used Firefox to stream video from Hulu. All was OK at first but about 10 min into a show Norton AV gave me a warning that Java JQS was utilizing too much disc space. Ok so I went to Google and found out how to use Run/services.msc to disable Java JQS.

 

This morning I tried again. Firefox streaming video using Flash player from Hulu. 10 min in, the slowdown started again and it was so bad it took nearly a half hour to restart my PC.  Web pages like this are fine. This post took around 20 min to assemble and so far no slowdown. If I had to guess I'd say the problem is a Flash/NAV issue. When I uninstall NAV the problems go away. If I don't use any pages with heavy graphic or streaming content the problems go away. If I don't use the browser everything's OK.

 

Since not using Flash isn't an option for sites like Hulu where it's used exclusively for streaming, this is going to need a fix on Symantec's end. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm not sure Silent Mode is going to let me stream and even if it does I cant leave it on forever. I'm seriously worried.

 

I'm obviously not a techie like many of the posters here so don't think I have a prayer of finding a workaround. (says prayer to Symantec developer gods anyway to please end the pain)

 

PS. I forgot to add my connection is DSL with about 7 mbips? (sorry whatever they call that unit of download measure)

And just as the slowdown began earlier today NAV gave a warning that Firefox had high use of disc space. Since slowdown symptoms happened across BOTH IE8 AND Firefox I doubt they're the culprits. My Computer shows about 290 GIG of free disc space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

12

I was able to test this some more over the weekend. So long as I kept NAV in Silent Mode I was able to stream videos from the Hulu site without any slow down. I closed the browser after each episode or when there was any stuttering and that stopped the Firefox disc warnings. I kept Task Master open to try and monitor CPU usage. So long as NAV stayed in Silent Mode, usage remained around 50-60%. Using the Silverlight player on the Netflix site the result was similar with usage in the 25-40 range.The minute I'd turn Silent Mode off this would start to skyrocket as soon as Tasks kicked in.

 

Today I went off and left Firefox  open to their homepage with no web pages or videos loaded or running. I came back in about an hour (Idle Time Out is set for 10 min and Automatic Tasks Delay for 20). Darned if CPU wasn't spiking close to 100% again and everything was starting to lock up. I was finally able to close the browser and open the NAV window. The performance page showed the crazy spike and clicking it identified NAV as the program running.

 

Whatever is suddenly going on with Norton Tasks it's a PC killer. Not all of us can afford to run out and buy a brand new 7 core system because an antivirus program refuses to play nice. If Adobe would rather we switch AV to competitor brands well I suppose we can do that too. Fix your crap guys. I really didn't sign up to beta test.