Spyware Doctor process at 50%

[THX]

Ever since a recent upgrade to Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus (6.0.1.440) the pctsSvc.exe process is always hovering around 50% CPU usage and never goes down.

I've actually had to shutdown the entire Spyware Doctor program in order to use my computer effectively.

Is anyone else having this problem?

Is there a solution in the works?

(screenshot of Task Manager attached)

[haapy]

If you have CCleaner, please run it. It is a very handy temp file cleanup program.

If not, go to control panel, internet options. Delete your history, temp files and cookies.

See if this makes a difference.

[RC-Bruin]

I think a lot of people are having the problem. The only solution seems to be just go back to the old version of the program and wait and see if they fix the problem.

Ever since a recent upgrade to Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus (6.0.1.440) the pctsSvc.exe process is always hovering around 50% CPU usage and never goes down.

I've actually had to shutdown the entire Spyware Doctor program in order to use my computer effectively.

Is anyone else having this problem?

Is there a solution in the works?

(screenshot of Task Manager attached)

[Bianca150]

Ever since a recent upgrade to Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus (6.0.1.440) the pctsSvc.exe process is always hovering around 50% CPU usage and never goes down.

I've actually had to shutdown the entire Spyware Doctor program in order to use my computer effectively.

Is anyone else having this problem?

Is there a solution in the works?

(screenshot of Task Manager attached)

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I have a Vista ultimate 64bit system OS with 4GB of RAM, and my PC still fluctuates from 40 - 70% when I'm running applications in my PC, but when its idle, it goes low to 20%. Side bar makes a lot difference in your CPU performance if you turn it off.

Question is how much RAM do you have in your PC? When was the last time you perform a maintainance in your PC like disk cleanup or defragmentation?

I saw your screen shot and it seems like your outlook is the one taking up more of your CPU process, maybe it syncs now and then. Of course since Spyware Doctor has a behavioral base type of service and real time protection, as long as there's activity running in your system Spyware Doctor is there to monitor it.

So, my point is you should not worry about your system being at 50%. You should be worried if it continuously goes up to 100%, in which most of the other people are complaining about. Besides you won't find any security software now a days that is not as resource hog as Spyware Doctor.

Try closing your Windows side bar, it would lower your CPU process to at least 40%.

[Bianca150]

I agree that you run Cclearner, it could help.

[reboot_dude]

I guess that means you have a dual core cpu :D

[JBGY]

Hi,

Just registered here because lately I've been having the same problem. PctsSvc.exe taking up 50% of CPU usage all the time, even when I have no programs running.

I've been using Spyware Doctor for almost a year and this problem started only recently. I used CCleaner to get rid of temp files but that didn't help.

I guess it can't be normal that it uses up so much CPU-usage? I was really happy with how fast Spyware was but now I sometimes have to turn it off just to get things done =[

Help would be much appreciated =]

[The PIT]

CCleaner wouldn't make any difference.
What other programs are running at startup?? I would be tempted to disable some of them and you may find the one Spyware Doctor disagrees with.

[acuracls]

Ever since a recent upgrade to Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus (6.0.1.440) the pctsSvc.exe process is always hovering around 50% CPU usage and never goes down.

I've actually had to shutdown the entire Spyware Doctor program in order to use my computer effectively.

Is anyone else having this problem?

Is there a solution in the works?

(screenshot of Task Manager attached)
THX,

I ran into the same problem on both a Celeron based desktop and a dual-core Intel processor on a laptop. The desktop was running XP Home Edition SP3 and the laptop XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP3. The desktop would run around 98% CPU on the pctsSvc.exe process and the dual-core at about 49-50% all the time when the only application running was a single IE7 browser session.

The culprit was Cookie Guard under IntelliGuard. I found that if I disabled Cookie Guard both PCs went back to normal where the System Idle Process was running between 95 and 98% as it should. I have had no problems of this kind for the last 3-4 months.

I opened a ticket on PCTools and I believe the support staff said they were able to recreate the issue and it had been escalated and their development team was currently looking into it. This was way back on 02-16-2009 and I haven't heard anything back since that time.

[JBGY]

My problem seems to be solved by an upgrade, didn't do anything special myself.

[Ashby]

I have the same problem. I just noticed it within the last week. I reinstalled SD/AV, and it did not correct it. I have XP SP3, Pent. 4, 3.2 GHz, 1 GB RAM.

Ashby

[c_edge]

I have the same problem. I just noticed it within the last week. I reinstalled SD/AV, and it did not correct it. I have XP SP3, Pent. 4, 3.2 GHz, 1 GB RAM.

Ashby

So this problem just started happening within the last week? did you do anything special to your computer? make any adjustments? did you install a new version of SD or its always been the same one running? what version of sd is installed?

[Ashby]

I was running the latest version (445?) and then after the problem I uninstalled it and installed the current latest version (the one they scaled back to, 441?). I noticed a problem freezing on a website, ran the task manager and saw that SD was eating 50% of the CPU and IE was eating almost all of the rest. I then installed IE8. SD is still eating 50% of the CPU much of the time, and IE8 occasionally spikes up, but SD does drop down to acceptable levels. Just during the course of typing this, SD was at 50% for a while and then dropped to 0. I don't understand it (but there's much I don't understand about computers). As long as IE's CPU usage stays low, SD's voracious appetite doesn't seem to prevent browsing, but when IE joins the CPU party, browsing is pretty much done with.

[haapy]

ashby, did you run ccleaner using both the cleaner and registry icons?

[Ashby]

I have not. I'm familiar with CCleaner but have not heard of bot the cleaner and registry icons. Can you tell me a bit about them? I've run Registry Mechanic and Windows file cleaner.

[haapy]

The Cleaner option removes all temp internet files, cookies and other junk. It has a option to save cookies if you do not want to clean them all.

The Registry option clean errors from the registry.

I use both (I also have RM).

It is a very trustworthy product and quite popular as well as free.

[Ashby]

Thanks. I misunderstood your prior note to mean "bot the cleaner" and "registry icon" were cleaning programs in addition to CCleaner. I installed CCleaner and ran both the file and registry cleaning functions. I'll report back if I notice the problem in the future. As I type this, all is well.

[haapy]

My bad. Grammar error and typo which I corrected in the prior post. Glad all is good. :)