TeaTimer using 117,000 to over 250,000KB of memory!

I noticed that TeaTimer was using huge amounts of memory (117,000KB to over 250,000KB) some months ago. When one of my drives crashed a couple weeks ago, I replaced the drive and did a clean XP/SP slipstream install and I installed my AV and all other security software, including SB, before getting on the Internet. In other words, the PC is clean! TeaTimer started using the huge amount of memory the moment I turned it on after the clean OS install. That was before I even connected to the Internet. I have read here and in other forums about TeaTimer using as much as 35,000KB of memory but I would be happy if that's all it used on my PCs. It peaks at over 250,000KB of memory usage and settles down to about 117,000KB and remains stable there. I checked my other desktop PC and also my brand new Netbook. I am seeing almost the same amount of memory usage on the NetBook but the other PC is showing that TeaTimer is using 35,000 to 40,000KB of memory when it is settled down. Even that's a lot because all three of these machines have only 1GB or RAM.

After reading some threads about this problem, I found and interesting suggestion. It said that if you install SpyBot before installing your other applications, you will probably see this problem because, supposedly, SpyBot builds lists or tables about all the applications that you add that can bog it down. I don't know if that's true or not. The thread went on to explain that if you install SpyBot after installing the applications, you should be OK. So I uninstalled SpyBot and then reinstalled it on the first PC mentioned (above) and I turned TeaTimer on after the installation. Instantly, the memory usage shot up to peaks of over 250,000KB and settled down to the same 117,000KB as before. That is the same amount of memory that it used before reinstalling the OS.

What could be causing this huge memory usage on two different computers and is there any way to fix it without simply turning off TeaTimer. I have tried most of the suggestions mentioned in threads on the subject with no success and I have now turned off TeaTimer on my three PCs.

BTW, I always have the latest release of SpyBot which, as of now, is 1.6.2. I read in an old thread (several years old) that the problem was temporary and would be fixed in a new release of SpyBot that was coming out soon but, from what I'm experiencing, it seems to be worse than ever. If this was just on one PC, I would suspect something else but, as I said, this is happening on a PC that had a clean reinstall of XP and also a brand new NetBook and it's also happening to a lesser degree on my other desktop PC.

Tea Timer process is using mega memory, and all available CPU time - the CPU is always at 100 percent when it is running. It also appears to be consuming other resources. Other programs have ERRORS or just run so slow as to be useless. Things get a lot better when I kill the Tea Timer process!

What's the problem here? I don't remember Tea Timer causing problems like this before? I have version 1.6.2 on XP.

Hopefully, there's a fix? For now, I can't use RESIDENT. :sad:

It's nice to hear that, apparently, I'm not the only one experiencing this. I wonder if it could be a problem with the latest release of S&D. It will take a little while to know for sure but, since turning off TeaTimer, I'm not seeing my cursor freeze for 10 or 15 seconds sometimes on my NetBook. My desktops were noticeably slower lately too and I'll soon know if they are running faster since turning off TeaTimer last night.

Hi ZoneIII,

Yes you are right in thinking that you aren't alone. A quick search of the forums shows many threads where people are complaining about the high memory usage of teatimer.

Unfortunately, a quick fix is most likely not going to happen since Spybot 2 is currently being developed (developer blog and screenshots). As an alpha tester, I've brought up the issue, but all I can say is hopefully in Spybot 2 memory usage won't be a problem.

If teatimer is causing frustration and "sluggishness" you describe (no one likes a slow computer - especially me! ;)) and is therefore affecting to your day-to-day experience, especially on your netbook, I would disable it. It's not a perfect solution I know, but as long as you stay careful on the internet I'm sure you'll avoid picking up an infection. :bigthumb:

honda

Thanks for the info! I haven't noticed a huge difference in performance with TeaTimer turned off when I'm doing routine things like email, etc. But I did notice that some security scans that I ran last night ran noticeable faster. I think what I'll do is turn TeaTimer back on and then just turn it off when I'm doing resource intensive stuff. Since that's so easy to do, it's no big problem. I'm glad to know that this issue may be addressed in the future. SpyBot is a great program that I have used for years.

First time here on SB forum.

Came here because I was wondering why my computer kept hanging.
Had to power off with power button, and now on reboot I see 60% to 91 % CPU usage by Teatimer. After a few minutes it went down to 0 to 3%.
I have 2G ram so I don't see the 124M usage as the problem

I don't remember having this problem before last week's update.

Hi !

I got the same teatimer problems.

I use some older pc's. And I like them. My laptop is 9 years old, has 800Mhz and 256MB(limit) running win2000. That is my office and mail PC. It became very slow and then I investigated that Teatimer used 100MB of the 256MB. Along to 60MB of my antivirus. So I had to remove it.

On my old Athlon 1,333 Mhz 1,5 GB it needed also 100MB and about 30% CPU Power most the time and I hat to remove it.

On my 3GHz SiemensScenic with win7 and 2GB the taskmanager showed me a use of incredible 350 MB. After the last update it was about 100MB again but I think that is a lot of stuff for most PCs. I have to watch it.

Yesterday I pressed always >no< when a FF Softonic BrowserBar wanted to install, but it installed despite of this.

I like Spybot and use it for years.