wmpnetwk.exe? Windows7 help!

Moose,

Here are some links to go look at,

www.blackviper.com...
forums.cnet.com...
www.answersthatwork.com...

read through them and they will show you what you can turn off
and how to do so,If you are not on a network or have all sorts
of peripherals running there is a lot that you can do to
take the load off of your system.


Edit,

Moose,I noticed your start up list on the previous page, definitely turn off the Adobe stuff,

(If the only thing that you use Adobe for is a PDF reader then uninstall the whole program
and use www.foxitsoftware.com... It is heaps lighter and quicker
to start up)
You can also turn off the Java updater and the Google updater as well,leaving your AVG on.

Violet.

I am a serial windows fiddler...

reply to post by MoosKept240

You have a "system battery" inside the case that powers the chip that holds your hardware settings. If it goes out your bios will reset to defaults--which can cause problems. Some older computers won't start at all without the cmos powered, but I don't know if yours is one of them.

You have to open the case. It's a button-cell battery about the size of a nickel, but thicker. Pop it out. It will probably say CR232 right on it. But whatever it says on it, that's what you want to replace it with. You can find them online for a few cents each (if you buy multiples). Or you can buy it at Radio Shack at Radio Shack prices. Or you may be able to find it at WalMart.

But before you do any of that, you should go into setup (I think yours uses F2 for setup) and make note of your settings. You'll need a pad and a pencil.

As for your wireless mouse: I know that Microsoft mice need to stay pretty close to the transmitter--like within a foot or so. I know--that sort of defeats the purpose--but that's their weakness. You might try a NexxTech.

Also, your USB port could be wobbled-out. Try a different one. If you have a USB port on the front of the machine, using that might help. Also, phones can interefere with wireless mice. Try and notice if a ringing phone is causing the problem. Or it could be weak or corroded batteries.

Who knows--you may get all your computer problems fixed tonight after all....

ETA: Oh: I forgot to tell you that your battery is mounted on the motherboard. It's very shiny, hard to miss. It may be lying flat. If so, there will be a little "release" next to it. Push the release outward. The battery will pop right out. When you reinstall, the wider side of the battery--the "plus" side--goes upward. (That will be the side with the CR232 on it.)

Originally posted by MoosKept240
reply to post by nineix

 

I just want to be sure:

This is what is under my startup tab

creative updreg
creative diagnostics agent
adobe acrobat
adobe reader and acrobat manager
avg
java platform se auto updater
vprotect application??????
google update

Thanks again, I appreciate all your help!

Note: Ex_CT2 is not wrong in voicing disagreement about turning everything off in the startup group.

It's not going to hurt you to leave all that stuff checked.
It's not going to hurt you to turn it all off either.
AVG, if I recall, will turn itself back on as a security feature against malware, or you disabling it.
VProtect, i think is part of AVG too.
The rest you listed are just update agents that phone home ever so often to see if there's a new version of Adobe, Java, Google, whatever.

I personally don't like all that stuff active, using up resources, and writing love letters home behind my back without my knowing about it. I do my updates manually. Some folks like the convenience of this stuff doing it all on auto.
To each his/her own.

I recommend google searching Win 7 performance tips and tricks and learning about ways to adjust the system to your own personal preferences.

As far as replacing the Mobo battery, you've got good instructions above. The only thing I would add to that is to make sure you touch something metal that's grounded before digging around inside the case. This discharges any static electricity you may have built up, and saves you the headache of developing additional spooky system borad issues caused by static discharge that's occurred at low enough voltage that you didn't feel the shock, but high enough to cause shenannigans with the electronic plumbing.

Originally posted by MoosKept240
reply to post by nineix

 

I just want to be sure:

This is what is under my startup tab

creative updreg
creative diagnostics agent
adobe acrobat
adobe reader and acrobat manager
avg
java platform se auto updater
vprotect application??????
google update

Thanks again, I appreciate all your help!

Yeah, that's all pretty much useless crap. AVG and Vprotect are both part of AVG antivirus. Might as well leave them. Creative updreg (or anything else with the letters UPD in it) is very likely a phone-home-for-update. Trash it. The Java updater will probably also turn itself back on. If you right-click on it you can configure it so that it doesn't automatically check for updates, and then kill it.

reply to post by Ex_CT2


Well that just sounds to easy. Its late so I will get a new battery for it tomorrow. Thanks a lot!

My mouse problem is more, its wireless and I wonder off with it, or leave it in bed and kick it off and lose it constantly.

Besides how much battery it eats I like. Its a logitech.



OK, so how about this question:

If I walk to hard next to my machine, then it locks up.
If i fiddle with any of the wires in the back it locks up.
If my foot slips and I touch it, it locks up.

I am usually very delicate around it, and it doesn't happen often, because of me being careful, but sometimes I will have a friend come over or something and they will walk next to it, and noises and such.

I heard this could be my hard drive crapping out, but... It has done this for like a year, maybe.

what do you think?

Originally posted by MoosKept240
reply to post by Ex_CT2

 

Well that just sounds to easy. Its late so I will get a new battery for it tomorrow. Thanks a lot!

My mouse problem is more, its wireless and I wonder off with it, or leave it in bed and kick it off and lose it constantly.

Besides how much battery it eats I like. Its a logitech.



OK, so how about this question:

If I walk to hard next to my machine, then it locks up.
If i fiddle with any of the wires in the back it locks up.
If my foot slips and I touch it, it locks up.

I am usually very delicate around it, and it doesn't happen often, because of me being careful, but sometimes I will have a friend come over or something and they will walk next to it, and noises and such.

I heard this could be my hard drive crapping out, but... It has done this for like a year, maybe.

what do you think?

sounds like a short somewhere.
to trouble shoot stuff like this, bare-bones your system down to just the monitor, regular mouse, and keyboard. Unplug speakers, printer, internet connection and anything else you've got plugged into it.

If it still locks up with just the basic keyboard, mouse, and monitor, then it may be a loose connection inside. Reseat all the power cables and ribbons to devices like harddrive, cd, etc.

If it's still locking up, then you might have system board issues.
If you can't replicate the lockup bare-bones, then, plug in printer, and try bumping the system to see if it locks up. add the internet connection, then speakers and so on until after each thing you plug in you find the culprit that's causing the short.

If you manage to get everything plugged back in and the system stops locking up, then, you had a loose connection on one of the devices and you fixed it by unplugging everything and then putting it all back together again.

Originally posted by MoosKept240
reply to post by Ex_CT2

 

My mouse problem is more, its wireless and I wonder off with it, or leave it in bed and kick it off and lose it constantly.

what do you think?

Moose,

I had this problem as well, I found that by taking a three inch nail gun in
my left hand and double tapping the back of my right hand while holding my mouse
solved the issue...

But seriously, In regards to the lockup, I have no real answer,maybe the hard drive is a bit prone
to movement, If that is the case and there is any chance of failure (There is always a chance with any
HD) them make sure, and i can't stress this strongly enough, make sure that your valuable docs and
pics are backed up somewhere,Stick,ext drive,cd, whatever, Once they are gone you can't get them back and
that would be a tragedy best avoided...

Violet.

Originally posted by MoosKept240
reply to post by Ex_CT2

 

Well that just sounds to easy. Its late so I will get a new battery for it tomorrow. Thanks a lot!

My mouse problem is more, its wireless and I wonder off with it, or leave it in bed and kick it off and lose it constantly.

Besides how much battery it eats I like. Its a logitech.



OK, so how about this question:

If I walk to hard next to my machine, then it locks up.
If i fiddle with any of the wires in the back it locks up.
If my foot slips and I touch it, it locks up.

I am usually very delicate around it, and it doesn't happen often, because of me being careful, but sometimes I will have a friend come over or something and they will walk next to it, and noises and such.

I heard this could be my hard drive crapping out, but... It has done this for like a year, maybe.

what do you think?

I don't know. It may be related to your dead-or-dying system battery. Sometimes a lock-up will happen if your hard drive loses its connection. I've even seen them continue to run for awhile with the hard drive unplugged; it will eventually pop up an error to the effect that it can't read to or write from the disk.

While you have the case open to replace the battery, it's always a good time to re-seat everything and look for other potential problems. First check the hard drive cabling. There will be a flat "ribbon cable" running from the motherboard to your hard drive. Wiggle it vigorously at both ends. Whether it seems loose or not, pull it out and re-seat it. That's the data cable. Also check the power cable going into the hard drive. That will be the one with four wires and a white molex connector at the end. (In the unlikely event that you have a SATA drive, the data cable will be a small, flat cable slightly more than a half-inch wide--usually red, but they do come in other colors. Re-seat it anyway. Also, SATA will have a 5-wire power connection and a black plug.)

While you have it open is also a good time to vacuum it out. They will collect a butt-load of dust. Dust tends to act as an insulator, and will hold heat against electronic parts--and heat is, of course, the enemy of electronic efficiency. Do not underestimate how much of a problem a coating of dust can be. Pay particular attention to the fan mounted on the motherboard. It will be mounted on top of a heat-sink; the combination of the two is for the purpose of cooling the CPU. Look particularly between the fins of the heat-sink--always lots of dust there.

In any event--even if you decide not to vacuum--be sure everything is properly seated.

Anything else? It's just about my bedtime....

reply to post by nineix


Just unhook the cord, or remove the board? Like I use wi-fi on my pc, so I have the little card in there. And same with the sound card. Should I remove those as well. I don't have many cords, just power and monitor, and sound, wireless mouse keyboard.

I will try some of those things in the A.M. tomorrow. Really I should clean it while I am at it.

I am getting tired, so I will probably head to bed soon,

but I can not thank you all enough. To me it feels like a whole new computer, and after I put a new battery in it, I might even start turning it off at night. This just made my day. Even after having the worst headache ever today.

Originally posted by BlackViolet

Originally posted by MoosKept240
reply to post by Ex_CT2

 

I had this problem as well, I found that by taking a three inch nail gun in
my left hand and double tapping the back of my right hand while holding my mouse
solved the issue...

edit on 16-1-2012 by BlackViolet because: (no reason given)

Aha. Just the solution I've been looking for!

edit on 1/16/2012 by Ex_CT2 because: (no reason given)

reply to post by Ex_CT2


Should be it. Well do you know next weeks powerball? That would be great!

Yeah, tomorrow I will get in there. Its nice cause its that black dell where the case splits in half with a button. I havent been in there in quite a while. Maybe I will find some treasure!

Thanks again! Have a great night!

reply to post by Ex_CT2


No probs Ex,

Always a way to solve these small dilemmas, BTW, I have this great idea
for not losing car keys but the T & C's prevent me from printing it..hehe,

Anyway, sorry for taking your thread OT Moose, Glad that you got some
things sorted, Have a good rest and see you for the next round of life's adventures.

Violet.

I really want to thank you for your help.
I cleaned everything out today, and I am just speechless as to how much better my pc is running. I have a few different HD's in it, and it used to make me wait a while to access those files, but now it's instant. The same with after I wake it up after it goes to sleep. I used to have to wait a good 5 minutes before it would operate smoothly and now its just perfect.

I can not believe after 2 years. It now runs better than when I got it. It is like a brand new machine. The whole reason I bought my laptop was because of it. Just fantastic, and I appreciate every bit of help and guidance to get this done.

If anyone ever has an automotive question just PM me and I will do anything I can do to help you.

Thanks again.

Originally posted by MoosKept240
I really want to thank you for your help.
I cleaned everything out today, and I am just speechless as to how much better my pc is running. I have a few different HD's in it, and it used to make me wait a while to access those files, but now it's instant. The same with after I wake it up after it goes to sleep. I used to have to wait a good 5 minutes before it would operate smoothly and now its just perfect.

I can not believe after 2 years. It now runs better than when I got it. It is like a brand new machine. The whole reason I bought my laptop was because of it. Just fantastic, and I appreciate every bit of help and guidance to get this done.

If anyone ever has an automotive question just PM me and I will do anything I can do to help you.

Thanks again.

Thanks for the offer, MoosKept.

I just remembered this thread a couple of minutes ago and thought I'd check in to see how it went.

Even though it's running better, you could probably improve it even further by doing some housecleaning and maintenance like defragging, pruning the registry, clearing out trash files, antivirus scan, and so on. I highly recommend Advanced System Care from iobit. You can find it at www.download.cnet.com. Just type Advanced System Care Free in the search bar. A butt-load of results will come up--none of them what you're looking for. Go to the left-hand side of the page and look under "By License Type" and click "Free." The page will reload, and it should be right at the top. Download and install it.

After it installs, let it run and select "Deep Care." The first time you use it, check ALL the modules. Run it every month or so. As you do, you'll note that some of the modules will no longer show any problems that need fixing. Eventually you can run it every 3 or 4 months or even less frequently.

I think you'll be extremely pleased at the result....

ETA: I'm the IT Manager at my job, and I do this stuff all day every day. If you have anything further or need help with anything computer-related you can U2U me.

Signing off....

Moose

I am gonna second Ex's recommendation of the IObit Advanced System program,It is really good.
Also they have a defrag that is better than the Windows one IMO,

www.iobit.com...

Some others that make for smooth computing and keep your system clean

www.wisecleaner.com...

www.piriform.com...

www.stevengould.org...

They are all free and work well,

Violet.

reply to post by MoosKept240


Good to hear you're satisfied with the results!

I'm a former corporate Infotech Consultant, working the industry over 15 years. I've set up and managed nationwide, and metropolitan WANs with Cisco routers, managed information security for clients, fought with aging tangled spaghetti mess server/comms closets, argued endlessly with telcos, and battled with windows machines server side, and desktop system side in a business/corporate environment since Win98.
I'm kinda glad I don't do that any more, but, whatever the case, the experience is there if you've got any questions.

If you're ever feeling an urge to experiment, you might want to download and burn a copy of Ubuntu Linux to CD.
It can be run directly from CD without worry of making changes to your system, and give you a feel for what the Linux OS is all about.

You might like the improvement of performance, plus the peace of mind that you really don't need antivirus software with Linux. Further, if you decided to go full commit, there's tons of open source free software out for Linux that for Windows systems often costs a pretty penny.
Gimp, and alternative to Adobe Photoshop is one of these. It's got about the same horsepower in features as PS, and it's free! There are distributions available for Windows systems too.
Star Office give you everything you need in an office package like Microsoft Office. Star Office like Gimp, and most other Linux programs is also free.

Linux, however, is much different than MS Windows. It takes some learning, and it's not for everyone. On the surface, you might like it.
It's not for everyone.
There's also different flavors of Linux out there; Fedora, Suse, Debian, Ubuntu, Mint and others.
If you're interested, google up 'Linux Distros', and you can search hits for the differences.

It's just a suggestion. Your system will run faster, and you won't ever have to worry about viruses.

I personally, actually like and prefer Windows, so, I'm not trying to sell you drinking the Linux Koolaide because I'm one of those crazy Linux nut jobs types.
Windows fed me my entire IT career because it breaks. I thus know Windows systems, and am comfortable with the occasional argument where I need to convince my computer that I will not tolerate insubordination from a machine.
Windows is also more popular, so, there's more games, and software choices everywhere as well as many good support forums.
Linux has good support forums too, but, the plethora of choices in software you get with Windows isn't there, unless you do something like run a Windows shell off of your Linux box so that you can indeed play Skyrim. or whatever latest eyegasm game is out.

anyway, yeah, Chirp up, and if I don't know the answer right off, I can point you in the right direction. If you decide to experiment with Linux, I won't be able to help you much beyond the suggestions I've already offered, but, there's plenty Linux forums out there you can send out the old F1 to.
(pressing F1 brings up the Help window) F1 = Help! nerdjoke. eh.

Originally posted by nineix
reply to post by MoosKept240

 

start, run, msconfig.
go to startup tab, and then uncheck pretty much everything, especially if wmpnetwk.exe is listed.

this doesn't uninstall anything. it just stops those programs from starting up automatically and eating up resources whenever you start your computer.

next, restart your computer.

It's windows mediaplayer that's wrecking havok on your computer.

next, google VLC Player. Download VLC player and use VLC Player to watch videos, play music, and what have you.
It's free, and low resource impact.

Also, follow the steps the above poster suggested. Turn off the Windows media player service.
Avoid using Windows media player.

Real good advice here, MoosKept240. Also disable third party cookies, never save temp, *temp* or encrypted files to the drive, disable all remote access in Administrator Tools, especially "Remote Registry." If this is enabled, anyone can remotely activate and alter your Windows Registry from a remote location. I work on computers for a partial living, I always un-install WMP, and clear all of the registry entries for it. then I install VLC Player, come with all codecs to pay everything, even a Mozilla plug in, and does not store anything or allow remote access. With the Download Helper for Firefox, you can download and play all Flash Video from most every site.
I also use Avira Free Anti Virus, and Comodo Firewall, along with Spybot, and CCleaner. Then I teach my customer how to use these tools. I also install and use Registry Cleaner, another freeware program that lets you clean out and tweak the Windows Registry. It will not work on Windows 7.