Page File causes slow startup/low virtual memory

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MQA-Tim - 30 Nov 2005 18:03 GMT

We've been seeing this recently sporadically across our network. Machines
will get a Low Virtual Memory error before even logging into the PC after a
reboot. Initial login then takes 5-10 minutes. Subsequent logoff/logons are
normal. After initial login, the memory usage has peaked to that of total
available memory - in this case 512 physical + 1024 page file. Also, the
svchost.exe process appears to eat up a ton of memory.

We have found that by setting the page file to 0/0, the login times return
to normal. Although, we still get the LVM message (obviously).

Anyone know what would be causing this?

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Ron Martell - 30 Nov 2005 20:32 GMT

>We've been seeing this recently sporadically across our network. Machines
>will get a Low Virtual Memory error before even logging into the PC after a
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
>Anyone know what would be causing this?

The immediate suspect would be malware of some kind - virus, trojan,
or spyware. Make sure all of your system protection software is
completely up to date and do a complete scan.

I find that it often pays to get a "second opinion" by doing a free
online scan at http://housecall.trendmicro.com Another good option
is to download the free trial version of Webroot's SpySweeper from
http://www.webroot.com/downloads and run it to see what is going on.

When one of the machines is at the peak usage that you described bring
up Task Manager, go to the Processes tab and click twice on the Mem
Usage column header. That will sort the processes list into
descending order based on CPU usage. Make note of the 5 highest uses
and post the list and their CPU usage figures back here.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

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Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

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