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
    2018-01-05T14:44:17+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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  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
    2018-01-06T12:22:45+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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  4. Anonymous
    2018-01-08T17:22:16+00:00

    Apologies - I'm also still having the issue, although not consistently. After I posted, the PC went into sleep mode and, on wakening, the FF/TM combo froze it. Just now, TM/FF worked fine when I tested, then after restarting the PC, it froze as soon as Task Manager opened while FF was running.

    I've disabled TM again. System Explorer by Mister Group -- http://systemexplorer.net/ --works for me as an alternative.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-01-08T18:19:25+00:00

    I noticed the same issue.  Lately when I tried accessing Task Manager, it just slows my PC to a crawl, and I can replicate the same issue on another laptop.  PC is a 4.5GHz 4790K with 32gb ram, so I highly doubt hardware is the culprit.

    Tested with Firefox open and it slows to a crawl. Closed Firefox and tested and works ok.  Not sure what's causing this behind the scenes.

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