services.exe freezes my Taskbar upon startup

[imported_Neeraj]

When I logon to Windows XP SP2 from a shutdown or restart, the services.exe process takes up 100% CPU load and keeps my Start menu and taskbar frozen and not clickable for about 40 seconds. My mouse cursor is on hourglass when I plae it over the taskbar/Start menu. After about 40 seconds, services.exe will take up no CPU and everything works again.

Why does it freeze-up my taskbar from a login for so long? It also causes my usual startup programs to take longer to load just because it's eating-up all the CPU.

 

[imported_fatih]

whats your system configuration cpu ram etc?

 

[imported_Neeraj]

It's a high configuration so I don't think that'll be the problem:

P4 3.4 GHz
1 GB RAM
Windows XP SP2 fully updated

 

[imported_fatih]

if u have a restore point restore your computer to that date.i think an installed program is responsible for this

 

[imported_Neeraj]

I have no restore points. This has been happening for a few months now and I'm not sure which program could cause this. All programs startup properly and I have removed all uneeded startup entries. I just hate the way services.exe takes so much time.

 

[imported_fatih]

use msconfig ,sysedit and win.ini and check invalid or unnecessary entries.
A program at startup confuses your computer


if u cant fix bakup everything and reinstall your xp

 

[DaSaint]

i had a problem once with IE's Cache got clogged up and caused a 100% usage problem i cleared it up and it started working better... i would give it a shot... also check your registry for junk in the Run folder and RunOnce Folder... could be some spyware in there.

 

[BadThad]

Note: services.exe is also a process which is registered as the W32.Randex.R (stored in %systemroot%\system32\ directory) and Sober.P (stored in %systemroot%\Connection Wizard\Status\ directory) Trojan. This Trojan allows attackers to access your computer, stealing passwords and personal data. It is a registered security risk and should be removed immediately. Please see additional details regarding this process

 

[xtknight]

Determine if it's a system process or not. Right click on services.exe, click Set Priority, Low. Click Yes if asked 'are you sure?' If it says the operation could not be completed, it's a system process. If you see no message, it was successful, and thus, probably a virus. (Windows doesn't let you change the priority of crucial system processes.) However, some viruses can impersonate as being a crucial system process. I still recommend you run HijackThis's Generate Startup List to determine the full path of the process in question. You may want to sort your task manager by Image Name to see if there is more than one services.exe. If so, one's probably a virus. If not and you can change the priority of it (above), then the virus has thoroughly invaded your Windows installation.

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: xtknight
Determine if it's a system process or not. Right click on services.exe, click Set Priority, Low. Click Yes if asked 'are you sure?' If it says the operation could not be completed, it's a system process. If you see no message, it was successful, and thus, probably a virus. (Windows doesn't let you change the priority of crucial system processes.) However, some viruses can impersonate as being a crucial system process. I still recommend you run HijackThis's Generate Startup List to determine the full path of the process in question. You may want to sort your task manager by Image Name to see if there is more than one services.exe. If so, one's probably a virus. If not and you can change the priority of it (above), then the virus has thoroughly invaded your Windows installation.

Excellent advice.

 

[imported_Neeraj]

Thanks for the replies. I checked if it was a virus in the directories that DaSaint said but there wasn't any. Then I tried to lower the priority, which is very good advice , but it wouldn't let me so it wasn't malware.

Then I went to the Services applet after a restart and sorted the list by Startup Type. I went down to all the Manual ones and checked which ones had already started and set those ones to Automatic. Now my computer starts so much faster, perfect in-fact!

I guess Windows was waiting for the non-started manual services to start and so it had to start them afterwards, which caused the freezing. Now with those specific ones that needed to be started at startup set on Automatic, Windows doesn't need to wait for them and so everything continues to load. Problem sorted

Thanks again!