I am running Windows XP, SP2, Pentium4 2.40Ghz, 1.0 GB RAM.
When using Spybot's check for problems my CPU is running 100% according to task manager.
All major applications and browser (Firefox) are turned off except for the firewall (Zonealarm) and antivirus (Avira).
As soon as Spybot is finished scanning, the CPU drops back to normal.
Can anyone suggest a remedy to this high CPU usage?
Would shutting down resident and tea timer help?
Hi richrk,
how much RAM does your computer need after you have started Windows?
You should close all other applications before scanning with Spybot.
drragostea
2009-08-17, 06:11
Would shutting down resident and tea timer help?
I doubt it. TeaTimer is on it's own because it does not impact Spybot's performance when it scans.
My guess on Spybot's 100% CPU usage is when it freezes when it attempts to fix a locked file (not responding).
Why does everyone think that high processor utilization is abnormal, it's actually completely normal for Spybot S&D to operate at full CPU ability throughout most of a scan.
The reason is that unlike most anti-malware programs, Spybot S&D scans the registry, not the file system. Since the filing system is the slowest system on a PC, the processor utilization by most antivirus scanners for example is actaully quite low, since the scanner spends most of its time waiting for files to load from the hard disk drive into memory. During this time the CPU is basically idle, so it's just wasting cycles waiting for the file read.
The typical error here is the assumption that 100% utilization of the CPU is a bad thing, which is not necessarily true. Though in general you'd prefer to keep your CPU from becoming saturated if you are doing other things like viewing files or browsing the web, when your PC is primarily being used to scan for malware, it's actually preferable to do this as quickly as possible.
Since Spybot S&D is primarily scanning through the registry looking for potential 'tracks' that might lead to spyware, it quickly causes the entire registry to be cached in RAM, so from that point there is very liitle additional disk access unless a related file also needs to be scanned, This is eveident when the CPU utilization drops for a second or two and the hard drive light also blinks. At that moment, it's hitting the same delay as an antivirus scanner does most of the time, but this occurs much more rarely.
What Spybot S&D does to avoid saturatiion of the system, however, is that it defaults its scanning to a mid-range ('normal' I believe) priority setting, to allow higher priority tasks to take precedence. It can also be configured even lower in the settings menu, but usually the default setting works just fine.
So don't be concerned about high utilization when scanning with Spybot S&D, unless of course your system has an ineffective cooling system and is known to overheat as a result. This isn't really a problem caused by Spybot S&D, however, since a properly designed PC cooling system should be able to sustain operation at 100% utilization indefinitely, or else in the case of a laptop for example, should speed up the fan and finally reduce the processor operating speed to compensate and reduce the heating effects.
Yes, I worked for ten years at a major 'white box' computer manufacturer.
Bitman