downloads causing heavy PC lag

[MrCharles]

This is the strangest problem I've come across with Windows 7. once I start downloading files, or my browser starts downloading images/streaming videos my entire PC lags until the downloads are complete or have been paused. Then my computer runs fine again.

This never occurred when I first installed Windows 7 it just started happening out of nowhere after 2 months of using the OS. I've tried reinstalling and it fixed everything and ran perfect, and now its back again! And yes it was 100% a clean install.
Along with my entire PC lagging if I have music on it starts playing as if there's no memory, and its unbearable to listen - the song starts playing in slow motion an choppy while my mouse is lagging like crazy also.

The only solution I have found is to reinstall the OS, and I really don't want to keep reinstalling every two months or so I'm going to lose my mind!

-Video drivers / Audio drivers all up to date.
-Only programs running are Firefox/Eset NOD32/Malwarebytes and Winamp
-I have 2 Gigs of DDR2 memory running along with a Pentium 4 processor

 

[Bill2]

Right click on the taskbar and click on Task Manager. In the Task manager window, click on "Processes" tab, that will tell you what processes are hogging your cpu.
Incidentally, do you have Zone Alarm installed? Have seen some such issues with that.

 

[MrCharles]

No zone Alarm installed, I'm just using the Windows firewall

 

[DeZ]

Sorry to jump on your thread MrCharles, but I am having the same issue.

I am running 64 bit ultimate, and this is really doing my head in. I have been trying to resolve this for about a week now with no luck . I have tried disabling AVG internet security, disabling all non essential devices in the bios, removed the drivers for the on board NIC card and various other things.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

DeZ

 

[MrCharles]

Wish I had ANY Ideas, I have absolutely no clue.

I've monitored running processes and memory, nothing out of the normal, I've turned off all gadgets, ive run registry cleaners along with defraging, even system restore, nothing seems to be helping.

 

[DeZ]

I have now resolved this issue, for me anyway

I have an Asrock N7AD-SLI Motherboard that has a nForce 740i chipset. I used the latest drivers from nvidia.co.uk, the pack installed Ethernet Driver (v73.14+) WHQL that was causing the problem (thank christ for the spare wlan adapter i had lying).

So, uninstalled that driver and installed Ethernet Driver (v73.06) WHQL, now able to download at full speed with no system lag

DeZ

 

[Bill2]

MrCharles, if the computer is lagging it must be because some app or process is hogging cpu or ram. You need to identify which.
So, one way is to check in your Task manager when you are experiencing the lag.
You can also check your event viewer. Might be useful info there.

 

[DeZ]

So, thought the problem was resolved but it still remains have gone and bought a new Ethernet card as well. I'm thinking you might be right path Bill2, when windows first starts up i can download fine for a few minutes, however the system gets laggy again. I'm beginning to think one of the system services are causing the problem, as i have disabled every device one by one checking dpclatency checker.

 

[Bill2]

Let us know.

 

[MrCharles]

Problem still going on, Whats going on here

 

[Casca]

You need to sort the ask List by CPU %. Your CPU is peg at 100% and we cannot see which tasks are the culprit.

 

[nekkidtruth]

Are you running any Anti-Virus software? If so, in some odd cases the real time protection can cause huge CPU usage when downloading something from the Internet as it's checking the file as it's coming. Just something to look for until we get an updated screenshot of the Task Manager.

 

[MrCharles]

^^ Yes running ESET Nod32 AntiVirus

 

[Swimaf]

Hi guys! This is my first post on this forum and I do it in order to rescue you MrCharles

I had exactly the same problem than you. It happens that sometimes my system runs lower than usualy even if I found a cure.
I have chosen Eset Nod32 and I have 2GB of RAM too so I know how your system is used to run (however I have a c2d but it doesn not care)
The problem is that Seven, in all of its versions, seems to have some difficulties managing less than 2GB of RAM. Seven is actually made to run with the very half of all the RAM you have in your PC (if you have 2GB it will need about 1GB to run properly).
Nevertheless Win7 has the capacity to unlock exactly what it needs to run, I mean RAM. So when you dl like I do with Mozilla Firefox or Flashget or I-dont-know-what the more you write on your HDD, the more your dl-manager will need some RAM to run and when there is no available RAM anymore, the soft (firefox) stops everything it was doing and try to find the ressources to continue downloading.
It is kind of irritating when you were about to put an end to a 10GB download that took 5h! Hopefully, as I said, Win7 may close programs or processes in order to decrease the quantity of RAM in use and sometimes it happens that firefox reloads and continues downloading but often it does not. So the cure I found is very simple, you have to use a download manager that may stop downloading while you are rebooting your system and restarts after you made it. Of course there is another solution: get more RAM
My system was using about 45% out of 2GB RAM when I started downloading, 2h later it uses more than 95% and my HDD makes some unusual noises making Win7 running very very slowly but now I make breaks every 2h and reboot windows (in the wait of my second pin of 2GB ^^)!

Unfortunately Win7 has been built like that and people like us (with less than 4GB of RAM) pay the price...

 

[MrCharles]

So in conclusion theres no way to fix this

 

[Bill2]

MrCharles,
the snapshot shows 2 striking things:
1) Firefox is consuming 32 % cpu resources. Thats abnormal to say the least. Would suggest you uninstall and try using a different browser. Or at least uninstall, clean up, then reinstall firefox.
2) The other is the that ntkernel and system cpu usage. Suggest you scan for malware with malwarebytes Antimalware. Also suggest you turn off indexing on all drives.

 

[Product FRED]

Switch to Chrome. It has all the extensions and features of Firefox, minus the bloat. Firefox is prone to
memory leaks and using a ton of resources after a short while of browsing. It might not fix your problem entirely, but it's a step forward.

 

[Swimaf]

I did not try Chrome, maybe it needs less RAM than Firefox but i am not sure at all.
I have installed Malwarebytes' and turn the environmental protection on (in order to instantly detect malwares) then my system does not run faster..
I heard there was a way to defrag the RAM, it will be useful, perhaps you should try.:sarc:

 

[CommonTater]

This is the strangest problem I've come across with Windows 7. once I start downloading files, or my browser starts downloading images/streaming videos my entire PC lags until the downloads are complete or have been paused. Then my computer runs fine again.

Are you using a virus scanner that checks downloads?

If it's hogging system resources (and many do) it could be simply that the virus scanner is pounding your CPU trying to make sure your system doesn't get messed up by downloads.... Ummm, wait a second, what's wrong with that picture???

 

[DeZ]

MrCharles, are you running Malwarebytes anti malware, if so disable the system ip protection

My issues are now resolved and i can download at full speed, transfer across the network with absolutely no lag