TeaTimer CPU load after startup thoughts

Greyfox said:
drragostea,

It's all a matter of how you look at it. As real time active prevention Teatimer has to keep up with the ever increasing number of problems created by the miserable lowlife that produce malware. It has to keep doing more and more, and no matter how smart the coding, sooner or later that will mean using more resources, and/or taking more time. There will be complaints if the software doesn't keep doing more, there will be complaints if it does but uses more resources, and there will be complaints if it does but is slower.

I don't know whether you took part in the beta test of the new version of Teatimer or not, but if you did, you will know that the "conserve memory" mode (which is the default in the new release) was in the area of 40Mb, and that this was and is greatly reduced from the "higher speed at the expense of more memory" which comes in at about 173MB on the three XP machines I have.

The developers of Spybot have a difficult task trying to please users with very different criteria. At one end of the spectrum there are those who for what ever reason have remained with old operating systems with very little memory, and at the other end those who have modern fast platforms with heaps of memory. To be brutally frank, over time the first catagory is gradually dying by attrition, and the latter is moving back to take their place as technology continues to go forward - thats life.

Those with modern equipment rightfully expect performance, and 173MB is really not an issue for them. For those in the middle, with lower but still reasonable amounts of memory, 40MB is also not an issue. I personally think this new version of Teatimer with its ability to be configured in the two different modes, and also with its "caching" of scan results is a real step forward in trying to meet the needs of the widest possible user group.

At the lower end of the equipment range at some stage users have to make a decision - when their equipment is no longer adequate to support the type of software that is needed in todays world, then they either have to replace it, upgrade it, or accept the fact that they can't have all the benefits and features. In this case that may be to use Spybot without Teatimer. It is worth remembering that some other software hasn't bothered to support their end of the spectrum at all.

I fully expect that many will take issue with this post - so be it.
Click to expand...



May I ask how can I get the teatimer to performer at higher speed like you say??
I've been looking at my settings but couldn't find an option for increasing the speed of teatimer at the expense of higher memory. I'd like to see it for myself which option will be preferable to me. I'm using the 1.6.0.30 with teatimer beta version 1.6.1.22. Thanks in advance!
 
rappie:

Currently the settings must be done via registry tweaks.

From Spybot's wiki.spybot.info site:

Registry Tweaks

Usage

Usage

To create such a tweak, create a registry value in the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Safer Networking Limited\Tweaks\Application.exe\

Replace Application.exe with the name of the executable it should affect, no paths used. Or, if you want the tweak to apply globally to all our products, simply use this path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Safer Networking Limited\Tweaks\
Click to expand...
ConserveMemory

ConserveMemory

Used by TeaTimer only currently to indicate which version of the on-access scanning engine to use.

ConserveMemory : REG_DWORD = 00000000 (less memory, starts faster, but scans slower)
ConserveMemory : REG_DWORD = 00000001 (the mode available by default in versions up to 1.6 beta 2)

By default, currently method 0 is set. Plans are to make the default choice depend on the overall system memory.
Click to expand...
__________

Code: 
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Safer Networking Limited\Tweaks]
"ConserveMemory"=dword:00000000

Code: 
REGEDIT4


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Safer Networking Limited\Tweaks]
"ConserveMemory"=dword:00000001
 
im getting a little confused with the registry. I was able to made the registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Safer Networking Limited\Tweaks\ but i don't know how I'll be able to enter the following values

ConserveMemory : REG_DWORD = 00000000
ConserveMemory : REG_DWORD = 00000001

And should I add both entries or just the one I prefer to use?
Sorry, I'm really just a novice when it comes to registry tweaks.
 
another thing, what I would really like is to set the memory usage of teatimer to 173mb just like what greyfox was saying.
 
rappie said:
im getting a little confused with the registry. I was able to made the registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Safer Networking Limited\Tweaks\ but i don't know how I'll be able to enter the following values

ConserveMemory : REG_DWORD = 00000000
ConserveMemory : REG_DWORD = 00000001

And should I add both entries or just the one I prefer to use?
Sorry, I'm really just a novice when it comes to registry tweaks.
Click to expand...
I strongly recommend that you make a full registry backup before you start fiddling with the registry. ERUNT is a good registry backup tool.

Right-click on the Tweaks folder, New -> DWORD Value. Rename the 'New Value #1' to 'ConserveMemory'. Right-click and Modify, then set the value to 0 or 1.
 
i did it. I was able to create the registry entry. The only problem is that nothing seems to have changed :sad: The teatimer is still running at the expense of 40mb and not on the faster 173mb that I am trying to do.


Thanks to those who shared their knowledge.:)
 
I mixed that up in the .reg files as well I think ;)

Well, anyway, changes for a new TeaTimer update:

  • Balloons completely deactivated on Windows 2000 (due to Windows 2000 fading them out only after a countdown in which the user actively uses the desktop).
  • "Show balloons" setting now affecting both process & registry balloons to improve consistency.
  • Balloons disabled by default (new installations of balloon-supported TT only).
  • No more balloons for each scanned process (just the start/stop ones). While that was of interest for the very curious, it was just bothersome to most (maybe I'll add a hidden tweak for debugging purposes, but no GUI way to switch).
  • If balloons are enabled, the "Scanning new processes..." one will have a second line of text pointing at where it can be disabled again.
This ends in even less information compared to 1.5 shown (aka less irritation) by default since registry change balloons are disabled by default as well.
 
Patrick (PepiMK):

re:
PepiMK said:

  • ...
  • Balloons completely deactivated on Windows 2000 (due to Windows 2000 fading them out only after a countdown in which the user actively uses the desktop).
  • "Show balloons" setting now affecting both process & registry balloons to improve consistency.
  • Balloons disabled by default (new installations of balloon-supported TT only).
  • ...
  • ...
....
Click to expand...
If you intend on disabling balloons on Windows 2000, combining the control of all balloons including "registry balloons" into the "Show balloons" setting and disabling the display of balloons by default, I disagree.

TeaTimer has two (2) distinct functions:
  1. TeaTimer Processes Monitor.
  2. TeaTimer Registry Monitor.
Many users of TeaTimer check "Remember this decision" on registry changes not realizing it affects future registry changes and quite a few have indicated that they thought it provided a backup of registry changes. I suggest that you return the displays for registry changes to the original display methodology or at least separate the displaying of information balloons within TeaTimer into two categories.

I believe that display information for the Registry Monitor function within TeaTimer is vital. I implore you not to combine the information displays for these two entirely different functions into one "Show balloons" setting and then disable it by default.
 
Patrick (PepiMK):

I agree completely with md usa spybot fan about the balloons being needed for the Teatimer Registry monitor function. In normal circumstances registry changes would not occur in such a quantity that the related balloons should be considered an irritation, and it is important to know when these are being "automatically" accepted or rejected because of white or black listing.

To be frank, if these are to be discontinued because some have voiced their irritation about the balloons, I would prefer to see the notication returned to the method used in "pre balloon" versions.

Please reconsider

PS: Can your "maybe I'll add a hidden tweak for debugging purposes" be made a definite?
 
Oh, normal and unnormal... we just had that... nobody here complained about the process popups as well ;) Looking back through some mail history, there were quite a few who were confused by these popups, more than expected. And you may remember the stacking issue (old balloons) with some half-removed malware? Pros can always use the log to check for changes if the want.

The old balloons were something I indeed already thought about. It's needs some thought as well though... just imagine you would have balloons shown and use /verbose to have more details in the log (that "maybe" is now /verbose as a command line parameter). Scanning three dozen processes when starting TeaTimer would fill the whole screen with balloons...

Here's a preview of what's planed for Wednesday (old balloons back on W2k, ok, ok, ok... ;) ):
http://www.spybotupdates.biz/files/beta/TeaTimer.exe-1.6.2.23.zip
(link updated!)

If you want to switch from the default (Windows balloons for XP or later, old balloons for everyhting earlier), take regedit, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Safer Networking Limited\SpybotSnD\TeaTimer\, and set InfoBalloonMode (REG_DWORD) to 0 (none), 1 (old) or 2 (new), overriding the default based on the OS version.
 
PepiMK

In XP using InfoBalloonMode=2 invariably the confirmation of a registry change balloon is hidden behind a previous Scanning new processes balloon. What is missing is a option (mode) to have confirmation of registry change balloons (arguably of value) enabled, but the Scanning new processes balloon (arguably of doubtful value, given the active icon) disabled, which is the way the previous beta worked with the balloons turned off via the right click option.

Can this be changed, or an InfoBalloonMode=3 added which gives the display of confirmation balloons only?
 
Teatimer bug CPU 100%

Hello I Am a Newbie on this forum

I just recieved a message that a new version of teatimer is available but can't find it TeaTimer version 1.6.1.23.

Anyone know where to download this?

Having trouble with Spybot 1,6 on two PC's running at 100% by teatimer.
Both XP Pro SP2 and SP3 same result.

With regards
 
New Teatimer allright

Thank you Sandra

I can say that after a initial 100% occupation by the new TeaTimer version 1.6.1.23. the PC stabilised at a low level and seems to run allright now.

It's running on a XP PRo with SP3

So the problem seems to be solved

With regards
 
TT 'update' 2008-08-20 falsely pre-selected?

In reference to an odd pre-selected update (for me anyway, perhaps for others who manually updated TT to v1.6.2.23). The momentary tooltip info is hard to capture or get further info on for me - I deselected this item last week and manually upgraded via this link to the more recent v1.6.2.23 - it really does appear to be a falsely preselected version 'upgrade' (indeed, an earlier-for-me version 1.6.1.0 after manually downloading, extracting and examining teatimer161.exe with FileAlyzer). TT v1.6.2.23 works fine for me, like the animation :) .

Usually I trust the pre-selections to be accurate, but best to check perhaps - I have no idea if TT would have been automatically 'updated' to an older version if I hadn't unchecked the pre-selected 'update'. Oh well, all seems fine - possibly the more recent version was not detected(?) as it was a manual 'install'. Another possibility is that TT has not been checked as 'active' on the SSD/Tools/Resident page (I prefer to enable it as a 'load-on-demand' via shortcut at the moment, although it does seem to be well-behaved with the minimal default settings).
 
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Not just an XP problem. I'm running Vista Home Premium on AMD Turion X2 with 4Gig RAM and have had to disable TT in startup because after a re-boot it takes about 10miniutes for TT to settle down from using 50% of CPU. Not to mention the Hard Drive time it's hogging (not helped being a 5400rpm laptop hard drive).

Although, I have found disabling the start-up of un-necessary 'Audio controller, Adobe Reader-Quick-starter....etc etc.....and all the other un-used crap that loads into the task bar significantly reduces the lengh of time of the TT resource hog after boot up. Takes it down to about 3 miniutes. I suppose it's got less to scan then.

I going to re-enable them one by one to see if any in particular causes the TT to hog for so long.
 
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