Computer acting up

daniel · 07-17-2006, 09:46 PM

I wonder if anyone can offer any insight into this. It does not yet seem to be causing any problems, but I wonder. It appeared after I installed the latest version of Spy Sweeper.

Whatever program I am in will, once every few minutes, lose focus for just a moment, and then focus returns to the program. It happens in an eyeblink, but during that eyeblink the title bar and the program's tag in the status bar both fade to the color of a background program.

I'm running XP Pro SP2 all up to date on updates, plus Norton AV and Firewall, and Spy Sweeper, which I just upgraded to the latest build. The only programs running are the same ones I always have open in the background: Outlook Express with Mail Frontier attached, WordPerfect; Quatro Pro; Creative Play Center (a music program, formerly for the creative MP3 player, but now just a music-playing program) and Firefox. There's a long list of processes running, few of which I have any idea what they are.

brandon · 07-17-2006, 11:47 PM

Well, you can Google each of those processes and see what you can find. There's probably a bunch of the processes that can be disabled from startup, i.e. the ones that only check for updates every once-in-a-while like qttask.exe and jusched.exe. You can also watch the list of processes in the task manager (organized descending by CPU usage) and see what process pops into use whenever the program loses focus.

agill · 07-17-2006, 11:57 PM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Jul 17 2006, 08:46 PM) [snapback]287894[/snapback]</div>

Quote:

I wonder if anyone can offer any insight into this. It does not yet seem to be causing any problems, but I wonder. It appeared after I installed the latest version of Spy Sweeper.

Whatever program I am in will, once every few minutes, lose focus for just a moment, and then focus returns to the program. It happens in an eyeblink, but during that eyeblink the title bar and the program's tag in the status bar both fade to the color of a background program.

I'm running XP Pro SP2 all up to date on updates, plus Norton AV and Firewall, and Spy Sweeper, which I just upgraded to the latest build. The only programs running are the same ones I always have open in the background: Outlook Express with Mail Frontier attached, WordPerfect; Quatro Pro; Creative Play Center (a music program, formerly for the creative MP3 player, but now just a music-playing program) and Firefox. There's a long list of processes running, few of which I have any idea what they are.
[/b]

Try shutting down all accessory programs, disconnect the internet and run Disk defragmentation. See if that helps to place fragmented files next to each other on the hard disk and it might even improve overall performance.
Sometimes having many programs start up at the same time causes focus to shift momentarily between programs. If u give more details of ur computer hardware configuration it might help.
I think such a problem is also caused sometimes when the video memory is shared (as against a dedicated video display chip).

barbaram · 07-18-2006, 12:41 AM

does it happen in any program? sounds more like a problem with your monitor....?

brandon · 07-18-2006, 01:04 AM

Nah, with the symptoms described, you're almost definitely looking at a software issue, not a hardware problem.

Sufferin' Prius Envy · 07-18-2006, 02:04 AM

Find out more about that “long list of processes running.”

Download Sysinternals Process Explorer (Freeware)

Ever wondered which program has a particular file or directory open? Now you can find out. Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded.

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilitie...sExplorer.html

Also apropos for the symptoms and this this time of year; the need to make sure you computer isn't suffering from excess heat. When was the last time you cleaned the inside of the case and checked the fans for proper operation?

daniel · 07-18-2006, 09:12 AM

What I was actually worried about was whether this indicated some kind of rogue program hidden in there. But Spy Sweeper reported that the computer is clean, as does Norton AV.

There is no performance problem. The focus issue happens in an eyeblink and does not interrupt my work.

But now I'm wondering if it was just WordPerfect saving its automatic backup files, though I had never noticed the blink before. I'm going to pay more attention to whether it happens when I'm using other programs.

... Nope. I closed WP and it still happens.

And BTW, I defragged my HD not long ago, so that shouldn't be an issue. It could be Windows doing some sort of housekeeping, but it never happened before. I thought maybe it was Spy Sweeper checking for spyware definitions much more often, but that should not cause my foreground program to lose focus.

BTW, the latest version of SpySweeper claims to be able to detect RootKits. I wonder. I thought the whole point of rootkits was that they were undetectable.

c4 · 07-18-2006, 09:32 AM

Are you sure it's not Norton? I dumped Norton AV for Grisoft AVG and couldn't be happier.. Same with Norton Internet Security- dumped it and installed an older copy of BlackIce from my Win2000 days (but they still had updates available!).. The Norton stuff does work as advertised, but there are bugs and so many layers of object-oriented classes that they eat up memory and CPU.. With a P4 2.8GHz and 1Gb RAM and the various Norton tools installed, there were times that the machine suffered noticable slowdowns and inexplicable behaviour that all vanished when I uninstalled Norton..

I am absolutely opposed to all these object oriented languages- when you're going concept to code, they're great, they also allow much better code reuse than ever before, but the problem is that I'd say that 90% of the programmers out there can't write worth sh*t in object oriented languages, so you end up with bloated code that runs like molasses, is impossible to debug and even more difficult to maintain.. This is expecially evident in langauges where the line between conventional code and object-oriented code is blurred.. I come from a Smalltalk background where the line is clearly drawn- the language simply does not allow you to write some of the horrible stuff that you see going on today in Java, ActiveX and C++.. Anyways, just my opinion..

brandon · 07-18-2006, 01:41 PM

Have you loaded any other new software, browser add-ons, etc. lately?

daniel · 07-18-2006, 03:06 PM

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brandon @ Jul 18 2006, 10:41 AM) [snapback]288233[/snapback]</div>

Quote:

Have you loaded any other new software, brower add-ons, etc. lately?
[/b]

Like I said, I upgraded to the latest build of Spy Sweeper.

07-17-2006, 09:46 PM	#1
daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Spokane, WA Posts: 11,278 My Car: 2004 Prius Model: Package: #6 Thanks: 59 Thanked 201 Times in 127 Posts Friends: 0	I wonder if anyone can offer any insight into this. It does not yet seem to be causing any problems, but I wonder. It appeared after I installed the latest version of Spy Sweeper. Whatever program I am in will, once every few minutes, lose focus for just a moment, and then focus returns to the program. It happens in an eyeblink, but during that eyeblink the title bar and the program's tag in the status bar both fade to the color of a background program. I'm running XP Pro SP2 all up to date on updates, plus Norton AV and Firewall, and Spy Sweeper, which I just upgraded to the latest build. The only programs running are the same ones I always have open in the background: Outlook Express with Mail Frontier attached, WordPerfect; Quatro Pro; Creative Play Center (a music program, formerly for the creative MP3 player, but now just a music-playing program) and Firefox. There's a long list of processes running, few of which I have any idea what they are. __________________ Daniel Primary car: 100% Electric 2003 Porsche 911 Carrera. Estimated range at 55 mph: 81 miles total or 64 miles to 80% discharge. Top speed 70 mph. Secondary car: Zap Xebra SD, also 100% electric. 1.9 cents per mile. Range: 40 miles total, or 32 miles to 80% discharge. Top speed 35 mph. Faster downhill. Both EVs use electrons generated from water power. Gas guzzler for when I have to travel farther than 60 miles: 2004 Prius. "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." -- Emma Goldman "Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think long and hard before starting a war." -- Otto von Bismarck

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07-17-2006, 11:47 PM	#2
brandon Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Manhattan, KS Posts: 770 My Car: 2005 Prius Model: Package: #6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Friends: 0	Well, you can Google each of those processes and see what you can find. There's probably a bunch of the processes that can be disabled from startup, i.e. the ones that only check for updates every once-in-a-while like qttask.exe and jusched.exe. You can also watch the list of processes in the task manager (organized descending by CPU usage) and see what process pops into use whenever the program loses focus.

07-18-2006, 12:41 AM	#4
barbaram Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Trenton, NJ Posts: 819 My Car: 2010 Prius Model: IV Package: Solar Roof Thanks: 25 Thanked 8 Times in 7 Posts Friends: 0	does it happen in any program? sounds more like a problem with your monitor....?

07-18-2006, 01:04 AM	#5
brandon Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Manhattan, KS Posts: 770 My Car: 2005 Prius Model: Package: #6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Friends: 0	Nah, with the symptoms described, you're almost definitely looking at a software issue, not a hardware problem.

07-18-2006, 02:04 AM	#6
Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: USA Posts: 4,012 My Car: Other Non-Hybrid Model: Package: N/A Thanks: 0 Thanked 3 Times in 2 Posts Friends: 0	Find out more about that “long list of processes running.” Download Sysinternals Process Explorer (Freeware) Ever wondered which program has a particular file or directory open? Now you can find out. Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded. http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilitie...sExplorer.html Also apropos for the symptoms and this this time of year; the need to make sure you computer isn't suffering from excess heat. When was the last time you cleaned the inside of the case and checked the fans for proper operation?

07-18-2006, 09:12 AM	#7
daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Spokane, WA Posts: 11,278 My Car: 2004 Prius Model: Package: #6 Thanks: 59 Thanked 201 Times in 127 Posts Friends: 0	What I was actually worried about was whether this indicated some kind of rogue program hidden in there. But Spy Sweeper reported that the computer is clean, as does Norton AV. There is no performance problem. The focus issue happens in an eyeblink and does not interrupt my work. But now I'm wondering if it was just WordPerfect saving its automatic backup files, though I had never noticed the blink before. I'm going to pay more attention to whether it happens when I'm using other programs. ... Nope. I closed WP and it still happens. And BTW, I defragged my HD not long ago, so that shouldn't be an issue. It could be Windows doing some sort of housekeeping, but it never happened before. I thought maybe it was Spy Sweeper checking for spyware definitions much more often, but that should not cause my foreground program to lose focus. BTW, the latest version of SpySweeper claims to be able to detect RootKits. I wonder. I thought the whole point of rootkits was that they were undetectable.

07-18-2006, 09:32 AM	#8
c4 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 524 My Car: Model: Package: Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Friends: 0	Are you sure it's not Norton? I dumped Norton AV for Grisoft AVG and couldn't be happier.. Same with Norton Internet Security- dumped it and installed an older copy of BlackIce from my Win2000 days (but they still had updates available!).. The Norton stuff does work as advertised, but there are bugs and so many layers of object-oriented classes that they eat up memory and CPU.. With a P4 2.8GHz and 1Gb RAM and the various Norton tools installed, there were times that the machine suffered noticable slowdowns and inexplicable behaviour that all vanished when I uninstalled Norton.. I am absolutely opposed to all these object oriented languages- when you're going concept to code, they're great, they also allow much better code reuse than ever before, but the problem is that I'd say that 90% of the programmers out there can't write worth sh*t in object oriented languages, so you end up with bloated code that runs like molasses, is impossible to debug and even more difficult to maintain.. This is expecially evident in langauges where the line between conventional code and object-oriented code is blurred.. I come from a Smalltalk background where the line is clearly drawn- the language simply does not allow you to write some of the horrible stuff that you see going on today in Java, ActiveX and C++.. Anyways, just my opinion..

07-18-2006, 01:41 PM	#9
brandon Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Manhattan, KS Posts: 770 My Car: 2005 Prius Model: Package: #6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Friends: 0	Have you loaded any other new software, browser add-ons, etc. lately?