Update monitor, but ...

[Dale10101]

When I use my computer there are times when it is bogged by apparently updating software. I do not know what programs are updating, if I did I might go to those programs and modify when they update or prevent them from doing so.

Is there software which can tell me what programs have updated and when during the last, say, 24 hours.

Also, when my computer bogs and I open windows task manager and see the CPU from 50 - 90% occupied can I tell what program is causing this high rate of usage? See several processes jumping to the top of the list doesn't seem to help, the impression that I get is that some important processes are possibly being called by one of many different programs.

Note, I am not looking for a program that will tell what I need to download to keep my software current as I have [commercial reference edited out] to do that>

Thanks, Dale

[George.J]

Try GlassWire.

Not only it is a great network security monitor showing your use of internet in incredible detail with graphs and such, it'll also alert you when application information is changed (i.e when a software updates and when it's finished updating).

It has become my must-have utility.

It even tracks if Windows shell version is changed, so it's not limited to softwares.

[Anupam]

Welcome to the forum.

When you say:

Originally Posted by Dale10101

When I use my computer there are times when it is bogged by apparently updating software.

How do you know the computer is being bogged down by software which are being updated, and not by any other process? It's just a guess, or you are saying this on some basis?

There can be other reasons too for CPU activity.

Task Manager is a good way to find out which processes are causing high CPU usage. You should order the processes by decreasing amount of CPU, and it will tell you which processes are using high CPU. That should give you an idea. Why do you say it's not useful? It IS useful.

As for software which update automatically, these can be many, like Adobe Reader, browsers like Google Chrome, iTunes/QuickTime, etc. You should check your installed software list to see which software are these which could be updating automatically.

High CPU usage can also be caused by other things like antivirus updating its definitions, or automatic scanning by antivirus, or some other scheduled program running itself.

Again, Task Manager will give you an idea.

Or, in case of malware infection too, the malware can cause high CPU usage. If you suspect that, scan your system.

To summarize, high CPU usage can be caused by many things.. not just software updates.

[MidnightCowboy]

It might also be prudent to contact support for the security program I edited out. There are known issues with this software causing system slowdowns.

[Burn-IT]

I use one of Mark Russinovich's wonderful tools called Process Explorer. I have it running all the time.

[Dale10101]

Thanks all.

The reason I think/guess the bogging is about software updating is because the CPU usage usually drops off quickly if I use the VAIO front panel switch to shut off my internet connection.

I am sure you are right about the task manager being useful .... if you really know what you are doing. I look at the processes and it seems to me that when I look up the function of the processes I find that they are general use processes that might be called from any number of applications.

This bogging doesn't necessarily occur every day but often does, the computer gets busy the fan kicks into over drive and simple things like typing in word7 slows down or even becomes unresponsive for perhaps 10 - 30 seconds. Also, tryiung to open the task manager takes a long time too. After perhaps 5 - 20 minutes everything returns to normal ... no problem, until next time.

I also note that if I leave my computer on all night when I trying key in to the black screen sometimes, not always, I need to perform a hardware reboot to regain control of the computer. Most of the time I have no trouble with my computer so my problems are mostly irritation and curiosity ... at least for now.

I was hoping for a list of programs that have called for an update for some past few hours so that I could correlate them with the time of activity. Perhaps there is no such list available.

I will try some of the suggestions offered, thanks for all help.

[Dale10101]

About glasswire ... this sounds very interesting and might be just what I am looking for but some question if I may.

1) It is totally free, yes?
2) Would I need to turn off my firewall.
3) What sort of CPU overhead does this additional program entail.
4) Can I simply turn it off and go back to the firewall if I choose?

Thanks.

[George.J]

Originally Posted by Dale10101

About glasswire ... this sounds very interesting and might be just what I am looking for but some question if I may.

1) It is totally free, yes?
2) Would I need to turn off my McAfee firewall.
3) What sort of CPU overhead does this additional program entail.
4) Can I simply turn it off and go back to the McAfee firewall if I choose?

Thanks.

1. Yes it is totally free, but it's still in beta stage, but fairly stable
2. No it will work fine with your current firewall.
3. Over a long period of time, all these alerts, and the information about internet usage and the corresponding graphs accumulates, and this seems to take up RAM. But if you go to Settings->Client->Clear History, your RAM usage comes back to normal. But this removes all the history.
4. GlassWire should work with any Firewall you're using now, it's designed to be more of a security monitor for your system. But you can turn the firewall feature off, if you like.



Here's the alerts section of the various softwares that were updated.

[Anupam]

You are just assuming that software are trying to update themselves. As stated earlier, it's not necessary that the high CPU usage is being caused by software updates only. There can be other reasons.

It's quite a possibility that your system might be infected with malware. I suggest running scans with your antivirus, and with other security software too. The antivirus you are using is only considered a decent antivirus, and not something good. As MC said earlier, the antivirus itself could be the cause of system slowdown.

I suggest running scan with MalwareBytes Antimalware free version, from here:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/antimalware/

I suggest running scan with another antivirus too... preferably Kaspersky Rescue Disk, which is available as a CD image ISO file, for free.

http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses...disk#downloads

Click on the Distributive button for download on the above page. It is an ISO file that you will have to burn to a CD/DVD, and then you have to boot your computer with that CD, and then run scan.

Task Manager is a good resource to locate the program that is hogging CPU. It is your thinking that it's not useful. Just try to note down the programs that regularly stay up in that list, or keep jumping up regularly. And then search for those processes or programs if you are not familiar with them. Or, ask here.

You can also use Process Explorer as mentioned by Burn-IT... or use GlassWire if you want. It's on you.

And if you already have a firewall running, you can always access its logs and try to see which programs were accessing the internet.

[Dale10101]

Thanks again, all, for your help, this is a great resource. I will try your suggestions. Thanks.