dwm.exe and explorer.exe-- now the HD or fan is running a bit loud

Maybe I am concerned over nothing, i know I cannot seem to find anything about this on the internet.

I am running Win7 On a Dell computer.
Current Malwarebytes, Ccleaner, Avast....current versions of FireFox Lite or Opera Stable.
I also did a defrag today, a virus and malware scan.
See no odd processes running.

My dwm.exe would usually run at about 1400-1500 K and explorer.exe would vary, usually about 20,000 K.
Yesterday, the computer was running hard/weird....and the Task Manager was swinging up and down VERY fast.....I was running a MahJong game and it made it go wonky.

Now, the dwm.exe never makes it to 500 K, and the explorer.exe is running at less than what has been normal.
Everything seems to run OK...except the new version of FireFox is crap, and runs too much CPU....to the point I have stopped using it.

I know what those two processes do, but have no idea why they would run less Memory.
Should I care???

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Could have been background processes? Scans for software or hardware updates?

a reply to: JinMI

I dunno.
I did start using Glary Utilities....not sure I like it, and did turn off a couple of update thingies, like Adobe.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

The 'Creative Update' for Win 10 is being staged for deployment via Windows Update.

Perhaps it's some sort of audit or compatibility patch for 7?

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

You could always check out your ms.config and see whats going on in that area

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

If you just started using something new....that could be it....also offsite, non-detectable and encrypted hard to remove malware...that will tell you you need to locate the application that installed it...which of course, you cant.

Look for P.U.P. in results (Potentially Unwanted Programs)in scans with anti-virus, maleware and Windows Defender Checks...it'll show up...you can quarantine and remove...but will prob. reactivate as it does over and over.

One shows up in your PROGRAMS as "STACKS-" something and you wont be able to move or block it.Task mgr will show it running as well in up to 8 at once.

PS..I use Window 7-upgraded to Win 10, Kaspersky, Malewarebytes and Window Defender. Use Chrome basically...or Internet Explorer.

Good Luck

MS

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
Maybe I am concerned over nothing, i know I cannot seem to find anything about this on the internet.

I am running Win7 On a Dell computer.
Current Malwarebytes, Ccleaner, Avast....current versions of FireFox Lite or Opera Stable.
I also did a defrag today, a virus and malware scan.
See no odd processes running.

My dwm.exe would usually run at about 1400-1500 K and explorer.exe would vary, usually about 20,000 K.
Yesterday, the computer was running hard/weird....and the Task Manager was swinging up and down VERY fast.....I was running a MahJong game and it made it go wonky.

Now, the dwm.exe never makes it to 500 K, and the explorer.exe is running at less than what has been normal.
Everything seems to run OK...except the new version of FireFox is crap, and runs too much CPU....to the point I have stopped using it.

I know what those two processes do, but have no idea why they would run less Memory.
Should I care???

Isnt explorer.exe outdated and not being used anymore? Update your browser to spartin or what ever the hell they call it know. This might fix the issues

Lol also dont run multiple antivirus at once its just going to eat up cpu and memory usage! If your going to use one av i would suggest malware bytes!. Load all other av's onto a usb thumb drive with Ccleaner and use them only when needed but uninstall later or better yet screw av's and just load a virtual machine and make sure its not the same version of windows or make it a linux!

If the virtual machine gets a virus it wont infect your computer from linux to windows. However a windows to windows could happen however the virtual machine is a sandbox so chances are it cant infect your actual os if set up correctly

avast sucks, get rid of it

the only scanners you need are malwarebytes, malwarebytes adwcleaner and malwarebytes anti-rootkit.. scan with those.. but not at the same time...

get rid of glary utilities also, it sucks

also if you search SystemPropertiesPerformance from start menu, you can choose to put it on max performance.. all those animations are useless

you can also disable dmw on windows 7 if you want.. it eats up resources... its another useless thing imo

NVM, sorry.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I have had this pc for over 4 years and not once thought about cpu load or anything else...run 25 scans at once while playing video games or whatever else...

Methinks its time to upgrade your computers...use ssd drives and never defrag again.

This happens to me once in a while. It seems to happen with music videos I have stored on my laptop, sometimes while watching a movie on file but seems to be quite regular like I said with music videos. So while watching I can suddenly physically hear the machine running hard. Can't explain it but with mouse on empty spot on toolbar, right click and open up task manager, click on the dwm or iexplore that's running hard likely above 50pct. Quite obvious and click to end process, usually ends after that but once in a while starts back up immediately, just end process again and that's it, should stop.

Can't explain what it is. I run AVG, have never had any other issues and have had this HP laptop 4 years now. So give that a shot, I say don't worry about it just do the above, alls good

Good luck

P.s. There are different iexplore and explorer or whatever process, it's possible you'll accidentally end browser session and have to start search again so if doing anything important just log out to be safe, never happen with the dwm one, anyway, that's that

Well, not using the most current version of FireFox stops the CPU running 100%.....opening something like nhl.com is a total mess!!!!
Or Amazon.

OPening nhl.com on OPera causes no issues.

From what I can tell, dwm.exe is a necessary process.

I was also under the impression that malwarebytes was NOT antivirus.
And you could run it with a regular AV.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Avast is a pain in the avast, which is why I'm running adaware free without additional anti-virus whatsoever. Best "one for all" solution ever.

dwm.exe is your "desktop window manager". Change the theme to classic windows mode, that might help.

a reply to: PublicOpinion

I think it is already in the classic theme.....the issue isn't dwm.exe frunning high.....it's running much lower than previously.
But it's been a few days now....and it seems to be stable.
And much better now that I don't use FireFox as much.

Well, hmmmm......the HD is running loud now.
I have no clue if the noise is related at all to the issues that made me start this thread.
I used canned air earlier.

It is not running hot.
It's a WD, and at least 3 years old.
Running in a Dell Optiplex 760....