Secunia 3

[RonH]

I am getting this message in the Event Viewer on my ladies Vista pc:

Secunia.JPG

Is this a known problem with Vista users ... couldn't find any recent comment on the Secunia forum.
Thanks
Ron

[HansV]

I can't find anything relevant about this problem in Google.
How much RAM does your wife's computer have? How much memory is in use according to the Task Manager?

[RonH]

Hei Hans, thanks for comment. Just to check I have removed Secunia 3 ... she has been complaining that the pc is 'very slow' at times so I am slowly checking what programmes may be hogging the processor and memory.

Vista sucks about 50% of the installed 2GB memory:
According toTask Manager:
Physical Memory 2037
Cached around 1000 just now with little free memory ...

None of her Applications are running and the processor is almost idle.
Looking at the Event Log I see that a process ntoskrnl.exe is doing excessive disc operations and impacting performance. Maybe the Defrag is not functioning as it should? Should I run a manual defrag to check ... the HD does seem to 'run' for quite long periods even when the pc is not in use.
Hope that makes sense!
Ron

[HansV]

That appears to be a rather technical problem. You might post a question in the SysInternals forums, in particular the Troubleshooting forum. They'll probably ask you to make some kind of scan dump and send it.

[RonH]

Thanks Hans.
I will do a bit of cleaning etc first to see the effect, if any, and if necessary follow up on the technical part.
Ron

[viking33]

You removed Secunia 3 and it didn't make any difference? You did reboot, I assume, Ron?
So far as ntoskrnl.exe is concerned, it is an important part of the O|S and might be doing other operations in the background, that would take up memory and CPU time.
According to Wiki:
ntoskrnl.exe (Short for Windows NT operating system kernel,) also known as kernel image, provides the kernel and executive layers of the Windows NT kernel space, and is responsible for various system services such as hardware virtualization, process and memory management, thus making it a fundamental part of the system. It contains the cache manager, the executive, the kernel, the security reference monitor, the memory manager, and the scheduler.

[RonH]

Good morning Bob,

Thanks for your comments Bob.
Yes, rebooted many times as I 'uncovered' the layers of 'changes' that had developed over time.

- There is a definate improvement now that Secunia 3 has been uninstalled ... I will review this after time and maybe install version 2 which never seemed to hog the processor to the same degree.
- I also had a read about ntoskrnl.exe. One thing I did notice is that the HD works hard every time and for a long period, when the pc is started up even from Sleep. There was a very large video file stored direct on the desktop which I have relegated to the Video files.
- The search facility may also be working to hard. I have reduced the number of search regions ... need to further look at this as maybe its time to restructure.
- Changed the Appearance Settings to Windows Vista Basic
- Used a 'large vacuum cleaner' to clean out the accumulation of temp files and the like. Also used CCleaner!

I have just opened the lid ... in less than 30 sec the processor and HD have settled down. Most of the start up from sleep activity is due to Avast downloading and installing updates. Also in the Event Viewer/Diagnostics-Performance-Operational the issues of 'slow down' eg heavy disc usage by xxx are now not being reported. There are definite major improvements but I will wait for the 'boss' to comment ...
Ron