Before using hijack this, do you see anything unusual in these screenshots from Process Explorer? Thank You!

I apparently resolved the issue! The other morning, while I was drinking my coffee before I left for work, I'd run ewidow, Spyware Doctor (a license from work, update it but keep it turned off), and Spy Sweeper, all in Safe Mode and they all came up 0! Now I just did it again in safe mode including NOD32 this time. I always use the Scan&Clean mode. I came back in the room in a short time, definitely sooner than a Nod32 scan generally takes, and it was shut down! Apparently whatever it found and removed (I haven't checked the log) also shut Nod32 down also. All I know is explorer.exe is now only using 19,000 of memory. I'd run NOD32 several times trying to find a problem, however, I'd never done in Safe Mode. Just checked it again before this post, still 19K!

More info on this! Memory usage remained low until I did a speed test with a java applet running. After the test went back up to 59K. Have been back to normal after a reboot for over an hour now. Could the java app be the source of this memory leak?

To me I think Java uses Explorer alittle bit too much at times. I've tested on my computer and for some reason I've seen Explorer go up to 30K but it just goes back down to 8K. Sorry to hear about your problem though. Maybe somebody in here may be able to help. I saw that you use Spysweeper. Hmm... in my times of using that program I exp. CPU and Explorer.EXE to act wierd and to act unusual

i have a same problem. My explorer.exe eat up to 60000kb. Also one of 5 svchost.exe eat up to 25000 kb. Also my McAfee's Mshields use 30000-40000 kb. Im already uninstalled McAfee, but problem with explorer.exe and svchost.exe still beat me. I used all known to me spyware scaner programs, regestry cleaners.
Thank you for help. I just dont really want to reformat my pc.

have you scanned for Viruses?

Go HERE and scan with the following. (USE ONLY IE to SCAN!)

~Kaspersky Online Scanner
~BitDefender Online Scanner Note: When finished, under settings click (Click Here) and that will take you to the settings window. Set BOTH Actions to: Report Only!

Post both of the reports in a new Thread.

On another site a poster said it may be because I have so much RAM available (1G), that Windows will use it because it is the most efficient way to run the apps. Whether that is correct or not, I have no clue!

No, Windows doesn't (atleast on my experience) eat up all available resources on systems with more RAM than others. There though is some hidden settings where you can alter RAM usability, if I remember right.

To: Skysnake and slowday444,

If you have More RAM on your system (Lets say 1GB) Windows Xp will use less. Usually windows will ONLY use 230MB of RAM. It actually depends on what programs you use such as Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware Etc...

I have 704MB and windows ONLY uses 238MB and has free of 466MB.

If your using 300MB or so then you could be listening to music or even watchin a DVD. Rather the thing you are doing Windows Xp will always have Avaible Memory

Hi I have the same problem at this very moment EXPLORER.EXE is taking up 40,000 k while SCVHOST.EXE has several processes going which add up to over 35,000 k. Also every few seconds for about 2-4 seconds my computers run very slow making music sound like it's running at half the speed and my CPU usage goes up to about 50% and then goes back down again to about 0-5%. This problem has been anoying me now for about a month I have ran several Anti-Virus and Spyware programs but don't seem to find the source of the problem but have coreected part of it. When I turn on my computer it take's about ten 3 or 4 minutes to get past the windows loading screen. PLEASE HELP.

Hey New age The smile you are using in your post what is the icon for that the smiley face is rubbing on ?

(I presume you don't like Firefox)

I'm 50-50 between IE and FFX

Read this 1991!
http://forum.ccleaner.com/index.php?showtopic=7301

Hi Guys,

I had the same problem as you do. I was looking for an answer and stumbled upon this forum.

My explorer.exe was 52 MB and mcafee around 40 MB. And that's where the problem lies.... McAfee
I checked my other computers and came to the conclusion that all the pc's had an extreme high explorer.exe memory usage.

So I removed McAfee.... And problem solved. Try it.... maybe it will work for you too.
I registered on this forum just to report this to you. Good luck

It's Maxthon. Maxthon is a IE/based browser. It's one of the best IE/based browser's out there. You should try it. You'll be surprised. Download it and try it

To others,

IDK... what the cause can be. Either a virus or Spyware may be involved or... you could just have low memory and windows is trying its best to use more as windows really... requires a least 512MB or more.

AVG Anti-Spyware (known as Ewido) - Update and do a full scan. Save the scan results and report back. Tell us what came up. Give how many Items were detected.

For all who responded to this post! I reformatted (totally unrelated to the memory usage) shortly after that post and for the most part memory usage has been reasonable. I'm sure it was not malware related since I've never found any with some of the best apps in the business. However, I've discovered an awesome memory taming tool. I'll just link the thread, since some other posters are having the same experience.

http://forum.ccleaner.com/index.php?showtopic=7369

Here is a few screen shots of what I got. Ultimate goal is to run as little as possible. Over the years I've learned to turn off as much of the services as you can. You'll get to a point where it's comes to userablity or running no services at all. You can run on as little as 6 services, however your system will be almost usable. I'm always looking for ways to run less and add more ram. To be honest I'd be happy with 2gb of ram.