My CPU and RAM usage is really high, but task manager does not show the culprit.

MikeyD123

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Jan 14, 2015
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In my current build I have:
Intel i7-2600k
16gb of G.Skill ripjaws RAM

The problem started back in January and I have not been able to solve this issue since.
Every time I boot my PC, It gets really slow and programs fail to start (ie. steam client bootstrapper, BitTorrent, and Google Chrome)
My Task Manager at any given point is reading anywhere from 60-90% CPU usage and about 12-14 gigs of RAM being used. Before this problem My CPU would rest around 10% usage and RAM at about 2.5-3 gigs while doing things like watching YouTube videos while streaming music and having 3-4 applications open simultaniously.
Task manager does not show any processes using this much CPU or RAM resources. So I installed Microsoft's open resources monitor and found that wbengine.exe and vds.exe are using lots of my CPU and anything remotely related to McAfee is eating up my RAM.

So the question is, does disabling these processes and deleting McAfee fix my problem? or is this a bigger issue that makes these processes drain my CPU and physical memory.

Also, the amount that these programs use of my CPU and RAM are not even remotely close to the amount that are being used by the system at any given time. When I performed a windows troubleshoot, it came back requesting that I disable some application from booting at start up, which I did and have seen no change in my PC's usages. And if it matters at all, my CPU is not running hot at all, it reads at about 36 Celsius (or 96 Fahrenheit).

Any help is much appreciated,
Mike
 

wllmgrms

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Feb 20, 2015
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Ehhh... most paid for antiviruses use up a decent amount of resources. But shouldn't be using up as much as you are seeing. Honestly, if you know 100% it's McAfee slowing down your computer, delete it and install Avast antivirus. It's free, and I've used for a while on my personal computer and have no issue with it, and it does not slow down my computer one bit. And I have an older Core 2 Quad rig.

About your wbengine.exe try this link and read about it. As far as vds.exe goes, it looks like a controller for multiple harddrive setup. Do you have several harddrives running? I could be wrong, so someone else feel free to chime in. I did some searching on the 2 and found that.
 

Aspiring techie

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Mar 24, 2015
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Definitely change the antivirus. McAfee is a resource hog anyway, best to get rid of it, even if it's not the problem.
Do you know how to change the frequency of tasks? If you do, then try to make the wbengine.exe run less often and see if that works.
One other possibility is that you have some malware. Unlikely, but it could be a culprit. Install Malwarebytes and Spybot and see if they find anything.
 

snowctrl

Distinguished
All seems very weird.... Agreed I would ditch McAfee, but I would recommend BitDefender Free Edition, the free (for personal use only) version of one of the best current anti-viruses. Also install Malwarebytes and let it run a full scan.

I would run HDtune (again there is a free edition) on all your drives because the sort of ultra-slow behaviour you're seeing is consistent with a dy-ing hard drive (so get everything backed up if you haven't akready...)

If you want some help with identifying and disabling unneccesary Windows Services etc, try using The Ultimate Troubleshooter - I've ued this program successfully for a number of years now to deal with these sorts of problems. And if there's a nasty loose there's a good chance it'll spot that too and advise on how to rid yourself of it.

I love the 2600K btw - how fast have you got it running? A great chip...