"NOT Responding" freeze when saving or opening files

[smshepard]

Hi,  I'm running Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit, (release version - paid for it).  In the last 10 days or so, when I try to save something from MS Office apps, but also from non MS apps, the "Save As" (or whatever the situation) window opens and rapidly 'freezes' with NOT RESPONDING displayed on the task-bar above the window.  Often this will go away after about 10-15 seconds but it is quite irritating and very predictable.  I've cleaned the registry, defragmented my 2 partition (C, D) 500 Gb disk but to no avail.
 I'm using a registered version of Advanced System Care and Norton Security Suite (furnished by my ISP, Comcast). Should be up to date with Windows Updates.  Anyone with similar experience who has prevailed (fixed this quirk) please respond and I'll be forever grateful.
Thanks much,
Steve in Seattle

[DMHolt57]

Do you get any message about explorer.exe has to close?  And can you save a file with Norton turned off?

[riso]

It seems that your CPU usage could be 100% due a proces going on who is ''eating'' your resources.
Try to find out the process(es) who is(are) causing the problem by hitting crtl alt del and Windows Task Manager will open, look at running processes and Cpu usage, when you see 100% usage stop that proces.
More info on Windows Task Manager:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Task_Manager

Tech Support

[smshepard]

Hi, Thanks for the tip on the 'Task Manager'.  I opened the 'Resource Monitor as well, then watched as I opened Word (Jump to about 53% on CPU) typed some text and used "save as" command, this sometimes got a CPU jump around 75% but usually lower - definitely not higher.  Unless I'm missing something, CPU OVERLOAD, apparently isn't the culprit.  Thank you for the sound idea, Regards from Seattle, USA

[smshepard]

Thanks for the ideas.  No other messages appear, and as I think I mentioned, there's just a 10-15 second lag before all is okay again.  Shutting off Norton was a good troubleshooting tip.  It made no difference though.  Thanks for the ideas.
Steve - Seattle, USA

[incurablegeek]

Not wishing to disrespect anyone but the problem is emphatically caused by NORTON. I had the same problem on Win 7 32 bit (CPU at 100% all the time and NOT RESPONDING for just about everything) and drew the obvious conclusion initially that I was lacking in system resources - just a 3.0 GHz Pentium with only 2 GB of RAM. NOT SO. After I had the identical problem on my new Quad-Core w/8 GB of RAM. JavaJolt eventually identified the culprit, that being the bloated, system resource hogging Norton Internet Security 2010. After I took out the Norton (now using ESET, MS Security Essentials, MalwareBytes & a couple of others) I now never have that problem.

Don't just "turn off" the Norton, whatever that means. You've got to kill the beast completely and that means excising all Norton's hooks in your Registry. You can try Advanced Uninstaller Pro, but I'm not sure that will excise all the devious Norton hooks in your registry. Sorry but the best way to kill Norton is with a CLEAN INSTALL.

                                                    The culprit is definitely NORTON. Trust me on that one.

Regards,

Incurablegeek

[javajolt]

I hate being the bearer of bad tidings...however I cannot emphasize what incurablegeek is conveying, he is dead on 200%.  Stay away from Mcafee too.

[Jake]

I hate being the bearer of bad tidings...however I cannot emphasize what incurablegeek is conveying, he is dead on 200%.  Stay away from Mcafee too.

Both antivirus suites generally cause a lot more headaches than they are worth.  You did mention however that you purchased Windows 7, implying you still have the disc.  A clean install is your best bet, and we here on the forum can point you to various free antivirus solutions.  

These are only a few of the more popular ones, many more exist.

MSE:
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
(my personal favourite)

AVG Free:
http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage

Avast!
http://avast.com

Avira
http://www.free-av.de/en/trialpay_download/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html

Keep in mind however these articles from ArsTechnica:

http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2010/05/multicore-cpus-move-attack-from-theoretical-to-practical.ars
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/05/microsoft-mse-safe-from-windows-kernel-hook-attack.ars

It states that every antivirus solution, free or otherwise, except MSE, is vulnerable to attacks due to their kernel hooks and the multithreaded nature of modern processes.  Essentially, they open themselves up to attack with the advent of the multicore processor.  This type of attack has yet to be seen, but if it starts to happen, millions of users will be unprotected.