BleepingComputer.com: #1- 73 Processes, #2- desktop background won't show.

Hello,

I have 2 problems and I'm running Vista home basic 32 bit with 1GB of RAM.

Problem #1- Somehow someway I have 73 process running at start up. I've already changed my start up programs and gone through the processes and ended some but I can only get it down to 68 by ending processes I know. (screen shots attached). I think this is why my games are running so slowly and freezing up.

Problem #2- After a restart while I was trying to fix my first problem, my desktop picture wouldn't show up. I tried right clicking on the pic to set as desktop background, I tried going into personalization and choosing the pic. I've gone into regedit and checked the registry best I could. I made a notepad file with a code I found online (see below) and imported it into regedit. All to avail!

Thanks in advance

Reg code
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop]
"NoChangingWallPaper"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ActiveDesktop]
"NoChangingWallPaper"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoActiveDesktopChanges"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"NoDispBackgroundPage"=dword:00000000
"Wallpaper"=-

This post has been edited by Pooh85: 18 October 2008 - 01:16 PM

Vista will eat your RAM. In most cases, 2 gB is the minimum to get acceptable performance (although with a lot of work you'll be able to get Vista Home Basic to work with 1 gB).

Looking at your processes - you've got an awful lot of memory being consumed by McAfee products in several entries. I'd suggest dumping the McAfee for something that's a bit more considerate of your RAM.

Also, your Indexing service is taking a lot of memory, I'd suggest shutting that off. The same goes for the Epson service.

Firefox and MSPaint take their chunk also - exiting them when you're done will help to conserve the RAM

The svchost.exe process that's using 41,480 K is a concern, right click on it and select "Go to Service(s)". Once there, scroll up and down to see which services are highlighted and let us know what you find.

As for the second issue, have you made any changes to the system? Have you scanned for malware?

This post has been edited by usasma: 18 October 2008 - 02:33 PM

hi,,,, 71 is the most i have seen,,,, john is spot on about vista and RAM,,,, it will eat 1gb,,,, have you given some thought to installing more RAM,,,, also as a temp fix,,, get a 2gb or more usb flash drive and use vista ready boost to give improvements,,,
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/using-windows-readyboost-to-increase-performance/
also take a look on this site for info on shutting down un needed services,,,,
http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm
be for all this though run virus and malware scans as John also surgested.
good luck.

usasma, on Oct 18 2008, 12:32 PM, said:

Thanks... My laptop RAM is upgradeable to 2GB and I was already planning on that in a couple of weeks. I'll see what shutting off the mcafee, indexing and epson do. Firefox is always closed when i'm trying to game and I never use paint except today for screen shots.

As for the second issue, I've run windows defender and spybot. I had a trojan awhile ago that took my entire desktop but now it's just not showing pics as my desktop. The only changes I've made were downloading various scanners and such that I found that would help me with the first problem.

I'd suggest posting over in the Am I Infected forum for some assistance with the wallpaper. We can mess around with the standard settings - but malware isn't standardized, so you'll likely get a quicker resolution over there.

Here's a link to there: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum103.html

John, what can I get to replace Mcafee that's free?

On my systems I use Avast Free along with Windows Defender and the Windows Firewall. Others may recommend further protection. Here's a link to our Freeware suggestions topic: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic3616.html