Ocky Posted July 1, 2007 Firstly thanks to the generous special offer with lifetime updates, I have now switched from free to Pro. Some minor things however baffle me and I would appreciate forums take on these. My system: XP Home SP2; 2GB RAM; Athlon X2 4600+; Primary Active partition C:\ ; SATA WD Raptor; 2nd HDD Seagate SATA. Running real-time besides SAS: NOD32; Comodo Pro FW. Other on-demand only: AVGAS, a2. 1) I have SAS real-time enabled. When scanning either from the context menu or otherwise, CPU spikes (+/- 15>17%) occur every second even after scanning has finished and the GUI is closed. To get rid of them while still having real-time enabled, I can for example r/click on desktop>Properties and then close this window. The CPU spikes are then laid to rest. 2) Such spikes also occur sometimes by merely r/clicking tray icon>View Control Center. I have seen this behaviour described as normal (see http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthre ... 713&page=2) but is it really? 3) Scanning .mov;.divx etc. should be fruitless as I have 'Ignore non-executable files' ticked. However scanning from context menu, some show 0 scanned and others show 1 scanned ? Besides the above niggles I have no problems with SAS at all. Any ideas/feedback ?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SUPERAntiSpy Posted July 1, 2007 Firstly thanks to the generous special offer with lifetime updates, I have now switched from free to Pro.Some minor things however baffle me and I would appreciate forums take on these. My system: XP Home SP2; 2GB RAM; Athlon X2 4600+; Primary Active partition C:\ ; SATA WD Raptor; 2nd HDD Seagate SATA. Running real-time besides SAS: NOD32; Comodo Pro FW. Other on-demand only: AVGAS, a2. 1) I have SAS real-time enabled. When scanning either from the context menu or otherwise, CPU spikes (+/- 15>17%) occur every second even after scanning has finished and the GUI is closed. To get rid of them while still having real-time enabled, I can for example r/click on desktop>Properties and then close this window. The CPU spikes are then laid to rest. 2) Such spikes also occur sometimes by merely r/clicking tray icon>View Control Center. I have seen this behaviour described as normal (see http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthre ... 713&page=2) but is it really? 3) Scanning .mov;.divx etc. should be fruitless as I have 'Ignore non-executable files' ticked. However scanning from context menu, some show 0 scanned and others show 1 scanned ? Besides the above niggles I have no problems with SAS at all. Any ideas/feedback ?? The CPU "spikes" won't slow the system down as we are just using the CPU for a few milliseconds each time - the task manager shows an instance in time, not the amount of CPU used over time. If you right-click and scan, we scan all files regardless as it is a "forced" scan. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ocky Posted July 2, 2007 If you right-click and scan, we scan all files regardless as it is a "forced" scan. Ok, thanks for this info but why for eg. when I scan a media file like .mov or .hdmov or other formats does SAS sometimes indicate 0 files scanned, instead of 1 file scanned ? The CPU 'spikes' also occur when and after an update check is performed, here again they can be eliminated by intervening - eg. opening and closing System Properties Window. I don't mind the spikes as such but I can hear when they occur (maybe the voltage change - no idea), which is a bit irritating. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
b00sfuk Posted July 5, 2007 I also spoke to support recently about the CPU spikes and had the same reply. I noticed that they were 5-7% (on dual core E6600 measured by sysinternals Process Explorer) happened every 1 second and did impact system performance. Now I've noticed the similar quirk that you have that makes me think this can't be right. If I also open a properties window (e.g. right click on My Computer icon in XP, select properties and then close it) then the CPU usage for the SAS process drops to nothing from then on even though real time protection is still enabled. Can support replicate this....I might reopen a support ticket if needed. Thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SUPERAntiSpy Posted July 5, 2007 I also spoke to support recently about the CPU spikes and had the same reply. I noticed that they were 5-7% (on dual core E6600 measured by sysinternals Process Explorer) happened every 1 second and did impact system performance. Now I've noticed the similar quirk that you have that makes me think this can't be right. If I also open a properties window (e.g. right click on My Computer icon in XP, select properties and then close it) then the CPU usage for the SAS process drops to nothing from then on even though real time protection is still enabled. Can support replicate this....I might reopen a support ticket if needed. Thanks If there are no new processes being created or destroyed the real-time usage will fall to zero as it won't be processing anything new. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ocky Posted July 5, 2007 Thanks for confirm b00sfuk. That makes at least two of us. These spikes continue ad infinitum after SAS has scanned/updated defs. etc. That's the part I not keen on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
b00sfuk Posted July 5, 2007 If there are no new processes being created or destroyed the real-time usage will fall to zero as it won't be processing anything new. I think that is the point, it does not for me (unless I open a properties window for example). E.g. If I boot my PC , enable real time protection and then do not touch it, the CPU spikes still continue ad infinitum (even though no new processes are being created). I currently only enable realtime protection when browsing as the spikes affect gameplay etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SUPERAntiSpy Posted July 6, 2007 The spikes are normal as we have indicated in several threads and discussions - they are NOT slowing down your computer - task manager shows "timeslices", not overall use. If you are not noticing any slow down, there should be no problem - watching task manager is not the way to monitor application resource usage Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ocky Posted July 6, 2007 Sure there are several threads and discussions about this, and you are right, Task Manager is not the "Bible" for 'real' memory usage by applications. Fact is, on some folks systems, (like mine and b00sfuk's) real-time enabled does impact system performance to some degree. This despite my running a reasonably powerful system (even by todays standards) with 2 GB RAM. For instance a r/click scan on a file/folder takes a couple of seconds before SAS jumps to the task at hand. The spikes occur as soon as I launch SAS from the s/cut on the start menu, and will not cease until intervention as mentioned before. Needless to say disabling real-time does not display the symptoms mentioned. Anyway I was happy to pay for the upgrade to Pro because I was so pleased with the free version ! Due to moving house, for me the topic is temporarily closed. There are no ill feelings and "please stay on the carpet" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites