RedShoe

Ok, since there seems to be an unusull amount of tech savvy people here, I'm hoping one of you know the answer to this.

I run Windows 2000 Pro and lately my computer has been slow. So I hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete, and brought up the Windows Task Manager. In "Performance" my CPU Usage is peaked at 100% (only one IE Browser window open).

In "Process", "mshta.exe" is using 99% of my CPU.

In "Applications" the only task is GFY.
Why all of a sudden is the mshta.exe using 99% of my resources, and how do I solve it?

It even uses it when I close everything. It's constantly using 99%.

Is it an important exe file? Can I just dump it?

I would go to the tech section of Microsoft, but that site just confuses me even more. I figure here I would probably get a faster more reliable answer.

Thanks.

Trax

did you try to create a backup of the file... del it... and restart??
should be no big problem.. when its not working anymore simply go in DOS and put it where it was..
when everything is still working... fine
hope that helped a little bit
i never had that problem but 99% is a little bit too much
i´d say thats def. not normal

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Trax

ezekiel

Try asking your question here, http://communities.microsoft.com/new...p=GSS&slcid=us
there's always someone who know whats up there...

On the left frame go to windows->windows2000->widows2000general




[This message has been edited by ezekiel (edited 08-16-2001).]

theWatsonian

I haven't dealt with this problem yet but you may me able to clean your cache of a script that your mshta is running.
Try running these commands in the Run box:
SFC/PURGECACHE
SFC/SCANNOW
If that didn't work I would attempt to repair the installation - you should seek professional assistance before doing anything that may jeopardize your data.
But maybe one of the other GFYers know more about this.

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PornShare reviewer - I look at dirty pictures
ICQ four2four0four928

zipE

try hitting your computer really hard ...... usually works for me

Theo

try what thewatsonian posted. do not delete it. Also run antivirus because the certain file is used by many worms

Wilber

Unfortunately running a virus checker will not see it b/c its run through
mshta.exe which is an entrusted file.

There is a popular program (I will not give the name here b/c the kiddies
visiting here will go grab it) and this program will actually embed trojans,
viruses and other executables directly into a web page as a script. My guess
RedShoe is you clicked "OK" when prompted to "entrust" a download and
therefore allowed access via VB to infect your system.

99% of your CPU is most likely a worm. Virus soft will not see it. There is
a program available to disallow any further hta downloads
ftp://ftp.nsclean.com/pub/htastop.exe

You do not need to run the exe it starts on its own right after completing
the d/l. To remove htastop.exe just delete it.

As far as your prob goes...well aside of doing a complex registry filtering
and other ugly stuff I would suggest you have to do the biggy...save what
you need and then fdisk and then reinstall windows.

Its a good idea to say "NO" to entrusted downloading...always no matter
where you are...even Microsoft.

Oh...last thought. One I know of (A worm using this method) is called Elva.
The file is named "card.hta" search your HD for this one first.

afrocreep

you could always end task and see what happens, it doesn't sound like a typical service running so it shouldn't hurt anything.

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Come home with me or I'll dispatch my legions of flying monkeys!

Theo

i think wilber we saw the same page surfing google

Gemini

mshta.exe > HTML Application HOST

http://howfunny.top263.net/techarticle/techdoc108.htm is where I found it. Might be more info on that site.

MS talks about it with printers/drivers, IE, and a bunch of other things. Another site says it handles the add/remove in the tools.

Must be another of Gates great management files gone awry. He seems to have one in every version and they are always junk.

RedShoe

Reinstall windows?!?! No way. There has got to be a way around this.
I can reinstall IE5 (since I think that's what's wrecked). But I've never re-installed software after I've been using it for so long. So, I would like to backup the mail and favorites folders.

Does anyone know where the mail folder, and the favorites folders are on the HD? I did a search, but wasn't sucessful. I'll keep trying. Thanks for all your help.

Gemini

Doesn't 2000 have the IE rebuild option> In the add/remove in 98, you could choose remove IE and it popped a box asking to delete or rebuild. I think I saw it inside IE itself before too.

Kimmykim

Mail and Favorites is easiest to do by exporting them -- but I'd do anything to avoid having to reinstall Win -- geez every saved password, every setting, all that stuff is a pain in the ass to track down.

I'm wondering if you can't backup and then try replacing this mshta file with a new copy -- but at the moment I am not sure what it does, what's stored in it and what it affects -- and the freaking MS is taking so long to produce search results its driving me nuts!

afrocreep

c:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Favourites

and as for your email, if its outlook express

C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

might even be there for Outlook express



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Come home with me or I'll dispatch my legions of flying monkeys!

lagwagon

just download ie and reinstall

Xanobyte

I've hit 99% plenty of times... when I have 40 instances of IE running with Java applets... if one of them locks up, there ya go. 99% cpu and no response from any of the open apps.
Alot of things can cause this, it's not necessarily a virus or anything. Go download Microsoft RegClean and run it.... clean up the errors in your registry, then run a defrag and reboot. Then see what you got. But don't jump to any one conclusion, because alot of factors go into that stuff. I.E. whats your connection to the net, what other apps you're running, how long your sys has been up and how full your ram is.... so figure it out, but do it rationally before you go rampantly F-Disking shit.

And I advise against trying to "repair" Win2k. If that's where the problem lies... back up your data, format c:\ and reinstall. Don't fuck around wasting days trying to figure it out... I can do a full reinstall, complete with software and data in about four hours.

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I wanna be a porn webmaster when I grow up!

[This message has been edited by Xanobyte (edited 08-16-2001).]

Wilber

RedShoe.
If your not sure where favs is and how to backup your mail and accounts then I
would say stay away from the registry, fdisk, and reinstalling windows. You
need a tech to look at the machine if this 99% usage persists with only 1 IE running.
Open a DOSPrompt and type "netstat" to see if there are any odd hooks running
on your comp. Last year was pretty popular for hackers jumpin' aboard the RC5
project. RC5 offers $10,000.00 for cracking encryption bits. Hackers were
spreading trojans and worms to gain as much online cpu-usage as they could
steal, you might have run across one of these little beauties. Netstat will show
you if anything unwanted is hooked.


Soul_Rebel.
If your talking about the card.hta info then that's a yes. How would anybody find out
anything w/o Google? Ever since Google came into existence my search-life has
been complete. Mamma use to be my fav but they buggered it 2 months after its
inception and it hasn't been the same since.
Poo pas opopse levedi?