hit ctrl -alt-delete and bring up the task manager window and then click on processes and double click CPU to get them sorted by the cpu usage with the ones using lots of cycles at the top of the list. Google the process names and see if one is a virus..
How much memory is this process taking? What is the second largest memory amount? How does the first number compare when you run it on the other system that works? If you ctrl-alt-del the other system, is the memory performance the same (i.e. is your OEC process running at the top on both, and is it that far ahead in terms of memory hogging than the second process?). What happens if you don't run that program for awhile? Does the computer still exhibit any of the same problems? If not, I would definitely focus on that OEC app. Uninstall it and run the computer for awhile, if it runs smooth, the app is likely the culprit. From what you've described, I don't really think the OS is the problem, conceivably the slightly weaker CPU can't handle the program. Is it a newer program (Post 2GHz CPU, look up forums to see what it really requires). Perhaps reinstalling might also help.
For the last three weeks, I had the same problem and I also use OEC. The game became to figure it out and not do a total reinstall. Fortunately, I think I fixed it. Here's what worked for me, (some steps are probably not necessary but...) 1 - do the task manager thing and google the processeses 2 - go to majorgeeks.com and follow the instructions for spyware removal off the home page 3 - when your satisfied your machine is clean of virus,spyware, and rootkits, run the check disk utility by going to START>MY COMPUTER>RIGHT CLICK YOUR HARD DRIVE>PROPERTIES>TOOLS> ERROR CHECKING. this will probably schedule a check disk on your next reboot. 4 - download> install and run these programs from majorgeeks a) winsockxpfix (virus/spyware removers sometimes screwup the winsock) b) Jkdefrag (imo the best out there) c) tcpoptimizer d) ccleaner e) currports from nirsoft.net Hope this helps...hope this works peace one last thing, when your looking at your processes in the task manager the system idle process should be high. Thats telling you how much of your cpu is available and is not slowing your computer down.
I skipped a few pages but you don't seem to have a diagnosis yet. 1. Do the alt-ctrl-del thing and look at the processes tab. Sort by CPU (cpu usage). Which process is spiking? 2. Also, have you done something thats causing your CPU to run in a slow mode (ie, if its 2.4GHz its only running at 600MHz so a process that used to take 20% is now taking 99% at peak). Something like Rightmark CPU clock utility will let you 1. monitor that and 2. change it.
Good method if it's truly a virus, but overkill if the app/hardware is the problem. This above post gives more credence to the virus/spyware theory, since the poster had that problem. A fast way to possibly diagnose it is to go to task mgr (ctrl-alt-del) and just start killing processes that aren't normal (if you aren't familiar with what processes are normal don't try it). If you see a million more weird processes pop up after you've deleted questionable one, you've got a virus and you can proceed to some of the methods outlined above (I prefer hijack this, for starters). What concerns me about the virus/troubleshoot route is that you said the number one mem hog is the OEC app. I'd focus on why that is hogging so much memory first and is that normal? rainman, does your process also run the most memory on the computer process list (task mgr)? You should both compare the memory drain for the application and where it lies on tsk mgr mem bar relative to next largest app. My largest hog is usually firefox, at about 100,000k. For a metric example, excel is a distant second at about 30,000k (static, may be more during number crunching).
Here's something that is just fyi; I don't know how it might help. I am running OEC as well. Both the last version and this new version have problems on a dual processor AMD machine I have. They appear to have a wild pointer that hoses this machine; I have put their s/w into a debug environment, and both the old version and the new version misbehave on this machine. Seems it might have something to do with the dual processors. I don't have the time to pin it down further. Needless to say, I run the dom on a laptop and over there (core 2 duo) the s/w does fine.
Yes, but is this after the OEC has been cycled? If you boot the machine and do not open OEC, does the problem happen at all? I found that even after the app was closed, the machine was partly hosed until re-booted. The app is completely stable on the other machine.