What's causing extra RAM usage and poor performance?

KatPanda

New Member
Hello, recently (in the past 1-2 weeks) I have noticed that my computer performance has become much worse. I am experiencing a lot more lag than I ever have when I play games or even browse the internet. Before this, I was able to play games optimally at very high settings with little to no lag, and now I have really bad lag spikes that are very frequent. The first time I noticed it, I had a game open and I was using about 3.5/4gb of RAM, when my processes added up to maybe 2 or 2.5GB of RAM. Even without any big programs running, I would have more RAM than I could see on my processes, and it would cause my computer to perform worse than it ever had in the past. So, I decided to re-install Windows 7 completely, just to see if it was some kind of software issue and just to have a clean slate of my programs and software. When I first looked at my computer performance after having no programs installed yet, there was still about 1 GB of unaccounted for RAM. My computer's performance was still poor especially when trying to game again. So, the re-install did nothing for me. I also did a Windows Memory Diagnostic, and that showed no problems with my memory, so now I have no clue how to figure out where this problem is coming from and how to fix it. Yes I have installed necessary drivers and I did run scans on MalwareBytes and Webroot, finding nothing. Here are screenshots of my processes and memory usage (not sure why there is a small difference in processes, I took these right after one another). Also took one of my computer specs in case that helps. Any and all help is appreciated, thank you!
 
Last edited:

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
What's your video card and power supply? How are your GPU and CPU temps when playing a game? I don't think it's your RAM because that usage looks normal. If you think you're running short just getting more RAM might help.

HW Monitor will tell you your temps.
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

Go to the right and download the one that says setup under "Download Latest Release".
 

KatPanda

New Member
What's your video card and power supply? How are your GPU and CPU temps when playing a game? I don't think it's your RAM because that usage looks normal. If you think you're running short just getting more RAM might help.

HW Monitor will tell you your temps.
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

Go to the right and download the one that says setup under "Download Latest Release".
Thank you for responding! But where is that RAM that's not showing and why isn't is showing? Anyway, my video card is GeForce GTX 550 Ti and I believe my power supply is found here (I googled what I could read off the top of it in my computer case and it took me right to this): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139018
Just took a screenshot of the temps since it seems like it would be more useful that way. Posting a link to the photobucket image since I don't want to stretch this page. http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/KatPanda/temps.jpg
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
I guess I'm not understanding your RAM issue then. What do you mean not showing up? Using the full 4GB when gaming isn't surprising. What programs do you have running in the background?

Your temps and PSU are good by the way.
 

KatPanda

New Member
I guess I'm not understanding your RAM issue then. What do you mean not showing up? Using the full 4GB when gaming isn't surprising. What programs do you have running in the background?

Your temps and PSU are good by the way.

I mean that the memory shown on my processes doesn't add up to what it says is being used. And why my computer's performance dropped so much out of nowhere.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Go to your resource monitor (look at your first screen, that button). Then go to the memory tab and post a screenshot of that. It will look like this..

windows-resource-monitor-memory.png
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Well that looks normal. You might have failing RAM possibly. I'm not sure you have a RAM problem at all though because your usage look totally normal to me.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Ram usage looks normal to me as well. Here lets run a hijackthis scan to see whats running.

Download the HijackThis installer from here.
Run the installer and choose Install, indicating that you accept the licence agreement. The installer will place a shortcut on your desktop and launch HijackThis.

Vista and Windows 7 users must right click on the hijackthis icon and click on run as. If the run as option doesn't appear then press and hold the shift key while right clicking on the icon to get it to appear.


Click Do a system scan and save a logfile

Most of what HijackThis lists will be harmless or even essential, don't fix anything yet.

When the hijackthis log appears in a notepad file, click on the edit menu, click select all, then click on the edit menu again and click on copy. Come back to your reply and right click on your mouse and click on paste.

Post the logfile that HijackThis produces
 

KatPanda

New Member
Ram usage looks normal to me as well. Here lets run a hijackthis scan to see whats running.

Download the HijackThis installer from here.
Run the installer and choose Install, indicating that you accept the licence agreement. The installer will place a shortcut on your desktop and launch HijackThis.

Vista and Windows 7 users must right click on the hijackthis icon and click on run as. If the run as option doesn't appear then press and hold the shift key while right clicking on the icon to get it to appear.


Click Do a system scan and save a logfile

Most of what HijackThis lists will be harmless or even essential, don't fix anything yet.

When the hijackthis log appears in a notepad file, click on the edit menu, click select all, then click on the edit menu again and click on copy. Come back to your reply and right click on your mouse and click on paste.

Post the logfile that HijackThis produces

Thank you for posting as well, here is my log:

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4
Scan saved at 3:48:59 PM, on 7/17/2013
Platform: Windows 7 SP1 (WinNT 6.00.3505)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v9.00 (9.00.8112.16496)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA Update Core\NvTmru.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\NETGEAR\WNA1100\WNA1100.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\mbamgui.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
C:\ProgramData\Battle.net\Agent\Agent.2006\Agent.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft\Utils\WowBrowserProxy.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Trend Micro\HiJackThis\HiJackThis.exe
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\DllHost.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = C:\Windows\SysWOW64\blank.htm
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit.exe
O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In SSV Helper - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: Webroot Vault - {c8d5d964-2be8-4c5b-8cf5-6e975aa88504} - C:\ProgramData\WRData\pkg\LPBar.dll
O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - {DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin\jp2ssv.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Webroot Toolbar - {97ab88ef-346b-4179-a0b1-7445896547a5} - C:\ProgramData\WRData\pkg\LPBar.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [jswtrayutil] "C:\Program Files (x86)\NETGEAR\WNA1100\jswtrayutil.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WRSVC] "C:\Program Files\Webroot\WRSA.exe" -ul
O4 - HKLM\..\RunOnce: [Malwarebytes Anti-Malware] C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\mbamgui.exe /install /silent
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Steam] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" -silent
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\RunOnce: [SPReview] "C:\Windows\System32\SPReview\SPReview.exe" /sp:1 /errorfwlink:"http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=122915" /build:7601 (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\RunOnce: [SPReview] "C:\Windows\System32\SPReview\SPReview.exe" /sp:1 /errorfwlink:"http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=122915" /build:7601 (User 'Default user')
O4 - Startup: CurseClientStartup.ccip
O4 - Global Startup: Install Webroot FF RunOnce.lnk = C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\wruninstall.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Install Webroot IE RunOnce.lnk = C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\wruninstall.exe
O4 - Global Startup: NETGEAR WNA1100 Smart Wizard.lnk = ?
O9 - Extra button: Webroot - {43699cd0-e34f-11de-8a39-0800200c9a66} - C:\ProgramData\WRData\pkg\LPBar.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Webroot - {43699cd0-e34f-11de-8a39-0800200c9a66} - C:\ProgramData\WRData\pkg\LPBar.dll
O11 - Options group: [ACCELERATED_GRAPHICS] Accelerated graphics
O18 - Protocol: skype4com - {FFC8B962-9B40-4DFF-9458-1830C7DD7F5D} - C:\PROGRA~2\COMMON~1\Skype\SKYPE4~1.DLL
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Alg.exe,-112 (ALG) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\alg.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\efssvc.dll,-100 (EFS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\fxsresm.dll,-118 (Fax) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\fxssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Google Update Service (gupdate) (gupdate) - Google Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Update\GoogleUpdate.exe
O23 - Service: Google Update Service (gupdatem) (gupdatem) - Google Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Update\GoogleUpdate.exe
O23 - Service: JumpStart Wi-Fi Protected Setup (jswpsapi) - Atheros Communications, Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\NETGEAR\WNA1100\jswpsapi.exe
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: MBAMScheduler - Malwarebytes Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\mbamscheduler.exe
O23 - Service: MBAMService - Malwarebytes Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\mbamservice.exe
O23 - Service: @comres.dll,-2797 (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (nvsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\nvvsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Update Service Daemon (nvUpdatusService) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA Update Core\daemonu.exe
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Skype Updater (SkypeUpdate) - Skype Technologies - C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Updater\Updater.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\snmptrap.exe,-3 (SNMPTRAP) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\snmptrap.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\sppsvc.exe,-101 (sppsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\sppsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Steam Client Service - Valve Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Driver Service (Stereo Service) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\3D Vision\nvSCPAPISvr.exe
O23 - Service: TabletServicePen - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\Pen_Tablet.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vaultsvc.dll,-1003 (VaultSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Wat\WatUX.exe,-601 (WatAdminSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\Wat\WatAdminSvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: WRSVC - Webroot - C:\Program Files\Webroot\WRSA.exe
O23 - Service: WSWNA1100 - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\NETGEAR\WNA1100\WifiSvc.exe
O23 - Service: WTouch Service (WTouchService) - Wacom Technology, Corp. - C:\Program Files\WTouch\WTouchService.exe

--
End of file - 8572 bytes
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Uninstall webroot and see if the issue persists.

And also these don't need to be running.

O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\RunOnce: [SPReview] "C:\Windows\System32\SPReview\SPReview.exe" /sp:1 /errorfwlink:"http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=122915" /build:7601 (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\RunOnce: [SPReview] "C:\Windows\System32\SPReview\SPReview.exe" /sp:1 /errorfwlink:"http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=122915" /build:7601 (User 'Default user')
O4 - Startup: CurseClientStartup.ccip - most likely can be uninstalled.
 

KatPanda

New Member
Uninstall webroot and see if the issue persists.

And also these don't need to be running.

O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\RunOnce: [SPReview] "C:\Windows\System32\SPReview\SPReview.exe" /sp:1 /errorfwlink:"http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=122915" /build:7601 (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\RunOnce: [SPReview] "C:\Windows\System32\SPReview\SPReview.exe" /sp:1 /errorfwlink:"http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=122915" /build:7601 (User 'Default user')
O4 - Startup: CurseClientStartup.ccip - most likely can be uninstalled.
Not sure why Webroot would be the problem, but I uninstalled it and fixed the things you listed. The problem persists. Do you think it could be a hardware issue, like a problem with the processor or something? Considering I re-installed Windows just the other day and nothing changed..
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
It could be. Is this computer a recent build or have you had it awhile? What happens if you do another fresh install without installing any software besides drivers and one game and see what happens?
 

KatPanda

New Member
It could be. Is this computer a recent build or have you had it awhile? What happens if you do another fresh install without installing any software besides drivers and one game and see what happens?
I've had it for a couple years. I would rather not do that, I just re installed Windows like 2 days ago, and when I had one game installed it still lagged and was performing badly.
 
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