IE ghosts

i have oft had problems with IE slowing to a crawl -- like 20 mins/page -- but have never really nailed it down, other than to say it's some RAM/heat issue. at some arbitrary point of after connection, the CPU pins at 100% and I can do little to fix it other than waiting it out. at some equally arbitrary point it suddenly "pops" and things start moving again. a check of CPU reveals it has dropped to 13% or whatever.

if i KILL OFF ie before then, the CPU will likewise drop...and i can do anything i want on my PC -- including online -- just so long as i don't reboot IE! if i do, CPU usage jumps right back up to 100% until system is ready for the aforementioned "pop" on its own terms.

the past few days, however, things are significantly WORSE, albeit seemingly related. now i find multiple IE copies in my task manager, all with huge chunks of the CPU. i can kill THOSE off one by one w/o any obvious affect on anything, other than freeing up the CPU. e.g. 72k, 69k, 52k, 30k, 16k, where only the 16k is the one actually "in use"!!

needless to say, in THIS case i can understand things slowing to a crawl. but what's the deal on 4-5 phony windows tying up 90+% of my CPU?!

it's even got me wondering whether the problem in the "general" case (first part of post) is the same, albeit with these ghost windows "hidden" somehow.

any thoughts?

 

XP SP3.

They do not relate to any actual tabs or windows which are visible. That is, if I'm using IE with 4 tabs open, say, 3 or 4 ADDITIONAL IEs will creep into my task manager -- and all high in mem usage! -- no additional IE windows or tabs on my screen. If I use "alt-tab" to cycle thru my active tasks, they are not represented there. Only the IE window (1 instance/4 tabs in example) which I'm actually using.

I haven't quite sussed out HOW to run IE in "no add-ons" mode. When I click the icon, it just RUNS. When I right-click it, I get "run as..." additionally -- what do I need to add there?

I'll also work thru that blog. Thanks!

 

i must say, on the few occasions when a freeze drags on more than usual (90 mins, say, instead of the "usual" 20), it eventually says "Adobe Flash is encountering a problem".

i update whenever it asks me to; how to i do it by force at other times like now? tools>>internet options>>programs>>manage add-ons has none of those listed. toolbars, yes, and *one* ("disabled") instance of java, but neither flash nor shockwave.

btw, i hate toolbars, but there are a couple up there, caused by using NZ and Juno. that said, i made it years and years on NZ/juno without half the current problems.

i don't expect things to be *perfect* with a freebie dialup, but nor do i enjoy surf speeds 1/5 to 1/100 of what i got 5-10 years ago!!

 

Did all that, and I don't see any change. In fact today I had 9(!) ghosts going at once...one of which was 194M!!!!

Needless to say, my system was a PAPERWEIGHT until i killed those off....

 

Are those "tasks" in there supposed to add up to the available RAM? When I'm having the problem in question -- whether it be due to IE ghosts or something else -- my CPU often says 100%. But occasionally I see a very low CPU number even while the tasks total is high. I take it CPU usage is something ELSE than memory usage, total or otherwise?

Meanwhile, what is that COMMIT CHARGE over there? That too seems to jump when I have the "freeze" problem. In fact, if I had to choose, I'd say THAT seems to be the relevent number. (not 100% sure atm, tho, as -- thank god -- i'm not in a freeze right now!) Is THAT variable more a reflection of memory totals?

I really would like to pin this down once and for all! Sometimes my PC locks up for 2-3 hours while I'm doing little more than surfing the web!!!!

Going on 3 YEARS of this hell now...come close to BUYING a NEW ONE on several occasions.... #:<

 

I would recommend we test this problem with another browser to see if we can narrow down the issue. I would recommend downloading and installing FireFox: http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/

This is a totally free browser that some people feel is better than IE.

 

I have firefox, and, indeed, installed it specifically to dodge this issue.

As I said, though, the IE ghosts is PART of the issue, but I'm not sure the whole thing. I still get CPU (or RAM or Commit Charge) pins using Firefox alone.

Maybe not as often, but it happens.

What I really need is a dummies guide to memory/tasks/CPU usage/"commit charge". I really can't figure out the relationship, or how to go about debugging this in a step-by-step manner.

PC may not have the most RAM in the world, but hours and hours of "freeze ups" when I have very little running is ridiculous. Older PC with far less RAM never did this.