Process inspection software

[TechLady]

Could use a suggestion for software that investigates processes/leaks...client has laptop that is all of a sudden running like crap with 6GB of RAM on Win7. Was running totally fine a few days ago. Task manager revealed nothing that really jumped out at me, so I'm wondering if it's a memory leak. (Turning off Norton has helped slightly, but still slow).

[Trusted IT Solutions]

Originally Posted by TechLady

Could use a suggestion for software that investigates processes/leaks...client has laptop that is all of a sudden running like crap with 6GB of RAM on Win7. Was running totally fine a few days ago. Task manager revealed nothing that really jumped out at me, so I'm wondering if it's a memory leak. (Turning off Norton has helped slightly, but still slow).

I would first thoroughly check for malware (rootkits). I believe that you will be able to find something in the Sysinternals suite that may be able to help otherwise.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals

[TechLady]

Sadly Blacklight has no x64 version...bummer...

[Trusted IT Solutions]

Originally Posted by TechLady

Could use a suggestion for software that investigates processes/leaks

Process Explorer...it's part of the Sysinternals suite.

[Negul Vaser]

have u checked the health of the hard drive?

[Boston Pro Comp Serv LLC]

I find norton to be miserable, seems to cause more problems than it's worth. I remove it when ever possible, use the uninstaller from the norton site after you remove it via the programs menu. Like trusted suggested use the process explorer from sysinternals. I think a rootkit or other malware is a good suggestion too, along with testing the HDD.

[TechLady]

Checked hard drive, health is perfect. Yeah...I am very suspicious about Norton being the possible culprit here. I totally agree, it always seems to cause more trouble than anything. Client really, really doesn't want to get rid of it but now it's throwing "framework" errors and I just had to kill it.

Will investigate malware possibilities next.

Edit: Well hey! Running GREAT with Norton gone...now THERE'S a surprise...

[Farnsworth]

About time computer users realized Nortons is Melware!

[atlanticjim]

I will agree with looking at sysinternals suite to diagnose.

I recently found a memory leak in a WD external drive software bug. It only happened after an update and so far (six months) WD has not fixed it. The solution was to roll back the update. I would never have found it without Process Explorer since the problem was in a dependant process.

Don't guess and randomly stop processes, use a good monitor to find the problem.