Opening Task Manager Slows PC to Crawl - Windows 10 Pro 1709

Anonymous
2017-12-11T16:03:07+00:00

Hi all,

I've had an issue with Windows 10 Pro really freezing up and not being responsive after opening up Task Manager. The numbers shown for performance and CPU utilization are not pegged at all. 

This is on a Dell T3500 with a SSD OS drive, W3580 cpu, 24GB RAM, and an AMD Radeon Pro WX7100.

The computer is on a Domain with Webroot installed as AV. I usually have Solidworks and a couple of other programs open. I do not have any hardware bottlenecks as far as I can see. I also looked at the Event Viewer, and apart from a couple Group Policy warnings, nothing out of the ordinary, and no system events registered at the time of opening Task Manager.

Thanks for the insights, gents n ladies.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-01-06T12:22:45+00:00

    Webroot looks like the culprit in my case too.

    Having set WR to allow taskmgr.exe (https://www.webroot.com/En_US/SecureAnywhere/PC/Content/C5_Quarantine/CH5b_BlockingAllowingFiles.htm),the PC no longer slows to a crawl when Task Manager and Firefox are open.

    To see whether the problem relates to the Webroot Filtering Extension in Firefox, I tried enabling it and disabling it. Didn't affect performance with TM open, so I assume that 'allowing' TM in Webroot is the step that matters.

    I'll try Chrome later and report whether the WR fix holds good for it as well.

    Unfortunately this didn't help when I tried it.  Took about 3 minutes to regain control of my computer (2 Xeon Processors, 48g RAM, 1T SSD) when I tried opening Task Manager while Firefox was running after allowing Task Manager in Webroot.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-01-05T14:47:48+00:00

    Webroot looks like the culprit in my case too.

    Having set WR to allow taskmgr.exe (https://www.webroot.com/En_US/SecureAnywhere/PC/Content/C5_Quarantine/CH5b_BlockingAllowingFiles.htm),the PC no longer slows to a crawl when Task Manager and Firefox are open.

    To see whether the problem relates to the Webroot Filtertering Extension in Firefox, I tried enabling it and disabling it. Didn't affect performance with TM open, so I assume that 'allowing' TM in Webroot is the step that matters.

    I'll try Chrome later and report whether the WR fix holds good for it as well.

    I thought that was the smoking gun, as turning off Webroot made Task Manager immediately responsive while Firefox was running on my laptop (i7, 8g RAM, 1T standard disk drive).  However, when I tried same on my much more powerful desktop (2 Xeon X5670 processors, 48g RAM, 1T SSD), it slowed it to a crawl as usual.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-01-05T14:44:17+00:00

    Webroot looks like the culprit in my case too.

    Having set WR to allow taskmgr.exe (https://www.webroot.com/En_US/SecureAnywhere/PC/Content/C5_Quarantine/CH5b_BlockingAllowingFiles.htm),the PC no longer slows to a crawl when Task Manager and Firefox are open.

    To see whether the problem relates to the Webroot Filtering Extension in Firefox, I tried enabling it and disabling it. Didn't affect performance with TM open, so I assume that 'allowing' TM in Webroot is the step that matters.

    I'll try Chrome later and report whether the WR fix holds good for it as well.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-01-05T14:02:14+00:00

    Yes! Think Webroot SecureAnywhere has some aggressive heuristics or real-time protection going on?

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-01-05T13:09:43+00:00

    Ah, so it is a Task Manager issue perhaps more than a Chrome or Firefox issue. Perhaps those browsers trigger something weird that Task Manager can't quite handle?

    Are you using Webroot antivirus? My computer has the same issue and it started the day after I installed. They claim the issue is firefox quantum, however it doesn't explain why headless chrome is doing the same thing.

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