Could this be malware?

By devnulllore
in Microsoft (Windows)

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Grand Master

Matthew S.

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, devnulllore said:

Not from before. I have not tried a clean install on the second drive yet should I try this? That would mean installing my backup software which I suspected as being the problem at one time.

Uhhh why would you need your "backup" software if your doing a fresh install?

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sc302 Veteran

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  • Veteran
Posted

FYI resource monitor can help you identify what exactly is accessing what on your disk(s).  This will help you identify what exactly is going on.  

 

alternatively, process explorer can give you a lot more insight.   

 

https://tweaks.com/windows/39199/how-to-detect-what-process-is-thrashing-your-hard-drive/

 

 

This will help further identify if it is malware or some random system process/driver, then you can start asking the right questions and getting better answers vs a shotgun approach in hopes that it will resolve your issue.

Grand Master

devnulllore

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Posted
53 minutes ago, Matthew S. said:

Uhhh why would you need your "backup" software if your doing a fresh install?

In case I run into some sort of unbootable issue with the new install

So now I am running a fresh install from the second hard drive and no problem but I have not installed upgrade 1903 yet. I will run it for a few hours and see if it happens again. If not I will apply the upgrade tonight and let you know.

 

Grand Master

devnulllore

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So here's the latest. I installed the upgrade, 1903, and it started again. I used process explorer to monitor things and every 30+ seconds or so explorer peaks to 90+ CPU usage  and everything stutters. Every now and then it crashes. So it is explorer and something to do with the the upgrade. Where do I go from here?

Grand Master

adrynalyne

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, devnulllore said:

So here's the latest. I installed the upgrade, 1903, and it started again. I used process explorer to monitor things and every 30+ seconds or so explorer peaks to 90+ CPU usage  and everything stutters. Every now and then it crashes. So it is explorer and something to do with the the upgrade. Where do I go from here?

Actually do a clean install like recommended. An image is not a clean install, it is a snapshot in time of when whoever built the image felt everything was fine. 

  • Ve7878, Matthew S. and +Nik Louch
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Grand Master

Matthew S.

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, adrynalyne said:

Actually do a clean install like recommended. An image is not a clean install, it is a snapshot in time of when whoever built the image felt everything was fine. 

And also use the official 1903 image not an 1809 or what ever it has been you've been using...

Grand Master

sc302 Veteran

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Posted
31 minutes ago, devnulllore said:

So here's the latest. I installed the upgrade, 1903, and it started again. I used process explorer to monitor things and every 30+ seconds or so explorer peaks to 90+ CPU usage  and everything stutters. Every now and then it crashes. So it is explorer and something to do with the the upgrade. Where do I go from here?

When you click on the process in process explorer it will break down every file in use in association with explorer.exe see which one is causing the issue.  

Grand Master

Matthew S.

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, devnulllore said:

I am using 1903 that is what is causing the problem.

From what you posted, you are installing an older build than doing an in-place upgrade, no?  That in-place upgrade could also be a cause of the issues.

Grand Master

Matthew S.

Posted
Posted

Then do you not see the issue?  There may be a conflicting reason as to why the in-place starts acting weird.  Try with a fresh 1903 image and go from there.

Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

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1 minute ago, devnulllore said:

Yes I believe it is

Which is why we're asking you to try installing the 1903 build fresh directly; not using an older build and upgrading after install.

 

A fresh install directly with a 1903 ISO/USB may help your situation if something from the in-place upgrade is causing the issue

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Grand Master

sc302 Veteran

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If you double click on explorer exe in process explorer, and go to the threads tab you can see what is using how much cpu and narrow down to the exact dll/exe that is causing your issues.   You could further narrow down to see what other dll's/exe's are being called by using the thread button.  Then you can research what the dll/exe is and/or associated threads and identify/disable/rename those files so they stop being called.  There could be a fix without reinstall.

2.jpg

Grand Master

devnulllore

Posted
  • Author
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6 minutes ago, Brandon H said:

Which is why we're asking you to try installing the 1903 build fresh directly; not using an older build and upgrading after install.

 

A fresh install directly with a 1903 ISO/USB may help your situation if something from the in-place upgrade is causing the issue

All I have is an install disc. Where do I get a 1903 x64 image?

Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

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Posted
2 minutes ago, devnulllore said:

All I have is an install disc. Where do I get a 1903 x64 image?

directly from the Microsoft website; I'd recommend using the Media Creation Tool to put the image on a flash drive :)

 

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10

Grand Master

devnulllore

Posted
  • Author
Posted
1 minute ago, Brandon H said:

directly from the Microsoft website; I'd recommend using the Media Creation Tool to put the image on a flash drive :)

 

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10

What they don't tell you is that's an x32 image. Can I download an x64 image somewhere?

Grand Master

sc302 Veteran

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  • Veteran
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Just now, devnulllore said:

Please tell me how? I have used this tool before and saw n o option to make an x64 image.

running the tool right now and creating a step by step....

2 minutes ago, devnulllore said:

Please tell me how? I have used this tool before and saw n o option to make an x64 image.

do you want video, screenshots, or just text?

Grand Master

Matthew S.

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, devnulllore said:

What they don't tell you is that's an x32 image. Can I download an x64 image somewhere?

The tool has three options, x32, x64 and both...

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