DesktopX using too much CPU power and services.exe Problem Help

Well, to start with, don't worry about how much CPU services.exe is using because that is a Windows service and if you kill it there's no telling what you'll mess up. According to WinTasks here on my machine services.exe is the Windows Service Controller, so if that is eating a bunch of your CPU you may have a service that is mis-behaving. However finding it may prove to be a bit difficult. As for DX, does the CPU usage level off after a bit or is it constantly using that much CPU? What types of objects are you using? Is this an older machine with an older video card or less RAM? It's possible that your computer is having to work harder to handle the objects of they are using lots of transparency or other similar features. I am currently running IconX with custom settings that make my desktop icons almost completely transparent until they are moused over at which time they become visible and their title is displayed. I am also using a clock object, a calendar object, a weather object, and two small text objects for up-time and IP Address and DX is using 0% of my CPU and 23MB of memory. This is on a 2.53 GHz P4 with 1GB of memory. Maybe a few more details on your two systems will help us isolate your problem..

as f0r3 says the graphical capability of the Pc has a lot to do with it. If you have a graphics card that can handle the alpha blending in it's own processor then it'll use much less cpu in taskmanager. If the cpu has to do all the work then it'll cause what you describe. What graphics card are in both? It's possible upgraded drivers or a driver tweak on the one that uses too much cpu would correct that problem depending on the card and memory. also the resolution and bit depth may have a part to play.

Hey thanks guys for the quick replies. Well the computers are very similar.Except for a couple things. Comp1 works fine. Comp2 does not. C1 has a nvidia feforce fx5200 128mb. C2 has a geforce4 MX 440 64mb. Could thisbe my problem much older and not as ggod graphic card in C2. If you think so I guess I am off to the computer store to get a new one. Please let me know your thoughts? thanks

Also forgot here are the specs on the PC's

C1
AtlonXP 2800
1GB DDR
GEForce FX 5200 128mb Video
OS-XP Pro w/SP1
650GB HD

C2
AthlonXP 1800
640MB SDRAM (Can switch this to DDR, Should I?)
GeForce MX440 64MB Video
OS-XP Pro w/SP1
160GB HD

I hope this helps if I need more info let me know. I think I should buy a new video card for PC 2 and maybe switch to DDR ram. The mobo has slots for ddr. What do you think?
thanks

C2 machine is still a nice machine, but the SDRAM and Video are definitely slowing you down a bit

I have a p4 2.4 (a little better than yours), but you have more memory, and a better graphics card (mine is a mobility radeon 7500 w/ 32 megs). I have never experienced a problem with dx and my cpu. I would run a spybot and an antivirus to make sure you have nothing hiding in there to cause services.exe to do run with that much cpu. Mine runs at around 0 cpu doing nothing, and sometimes jumps to 5%. Reasonably unless you are doing something your cpu should hardly be working. Normally my cpu is used at about 1%. with dx, what you need to do is make sure that its not a misbehaving object. Unload objects until you find a culprit. What might happen is that when you unload an object your dx cpu usage drop, that object is the culprit.

kongit! Are you running DDR or SDRAM? I was just wondering because I just got done with the scan (spybot destroyer)of my computer and it found a couple cookies but nothing major. Removed them and it still does the same thing. What is strange if I load a different type of desktop say the kids one or something basic it is fine, (I am trying to use Longhorn & Novemberish theme) But when I run any of the more complicated ones it instantly shoots up to 50-60% CPU. I thought maybe it was just the theme I was using but it works fine on C1. Also when I unload DX, "services.exe" drops to 0% so I know it has to be related to the DX program. Any other ideals, Could the video real;y be my problem or the ram. I thought DX didn't use much system resources from all that I have read. Thanks to all.

ddr, so yeah the sdram might be the problem.

I would try the free solution of running Spybot(It's Free) and NAV before spending money unneedingly. I had a 64MB video card on a PIII733 and I didn't have any problems. I recently upgraded the video card when it went bad though.

Don't know if this is the place to ak but anyway if I am going to get new ram should I go with 1gb of DDR 2700 or should I go to 512 DDR dual channel 3200. this would be ofcourse 2 256 chips. Here is my problem I do a lot of video editing and gameing. Would the 512DDR DC 3200 be enough or should I get the 1gb DDR 2700? If I get the Dual channel DDR I wont be able to go anymore than 512 later because it only has 2 slots for DDR or well it has 3 slots 2 for dual and 1 for single channel but I don't thing you can mix the DDR. Any help please and suggestions on vieo cards that won't break the bank.

I am still a little hesitant to spend the money but it doesn't make sense why it won't work on this pc. Thanksto all

MickeyAce, I really don't think changing the type of memory will affect the CPU utilization. Unless the CPU is being used because you are running out of memory, in which case your hard-drive should be active also because it would need to dump items from memory into your disk cache. I would recommend starting with video card drivers. Have you installed the latest drivers for your video card on C2? Do the themes that cause this CPU usage have lots of objects that are transparent or semi-transparent?

As for the services.exe process dropping when you kill DX most probably DX is requesting something that services.exe is acting on. Looking at the modules that are loaded by services.exe shows a list that includes:

GDI32.dll
kernel32.dll
user32.dll
userenv.dll

and several others. So, if DX is making calls to one of these modules that may explain the jump in CPU usage for services.exe.

Yes, as pjpowell said, if your graphics card can't handle the tasks that DX is giving it then it will use the system processor to do the work. Transparency could cause a very high CPU utilization because every time your screen changes it has to repaint.

Hope this helps!

Download the XPBench software https://www.stardock.com/products/xpbench/ and run it
that should check if constant alpha blending and per pixel alpha blending are accelerated by your card.

If they are then it's not the vid card
the next thing is the internet connection. It might be an object in the theme that is using that
might be worth gradually stripping the theme until it stops using so much cpu
or at least disabling scripts until it stops using so much cpu

I ran the test this is the results
Black as Transparent 1.422
47% Visibility 1.257
50% Visibility 1.2486
100% Visibility 1.4373
Overall layered windows score 5
Overall benchmark 5

Ok what does all this mean? Good or Bad? If this is good then I am still lost with my problem. Thanks

Just ran the test on C1 (the one that it works on) Looks like it is a big diffeence.
Black as transparent 3.8263
47% Visibility 3.2097
50% Visibility 3.092
100% Visibility 3.7898
Overall Layered windows score 13
Overall Benchmark 13
So what I am guessing is I need a new video card? what do you all think?

Did it say on the first screen that both things had hardware support on c2?

The numbers can be meaningless. Trust what your eyes see when that window moves on the screen
is it noticably slower than on c1?

If so then it may be drivers or the card itself. To be absoluteley sure it's to do with that (and I suspect it is)you'd need to slap it in pc1 and see if it has the same problems. That rules out everything lese and leaves something to do with the gfx card.

Might even be some tweaks you've used to make games run faster or something.

I've found that any theme/DX object which interogates the network through-put causes high CPU usage for this machine, and with services.exe too just as you report. If the theme you're usuing includes this feature, then delete just those objects and see if it improves things.

Hey there. Let me preface this by stating I'm no expert; but, I have found that whenever I use a theme with network statistics objects in it, my CPU useage, like yours, jumps up quite a bit. I have a P4 1.8Ghz WinXP with Nvidia Gforce 2MX200 card with 32mb of ram and system ram of 512mb. When I've turned off/deleted the net stats objects in a theme, my cpu useage drops back to normal (.5-5%) for my system. Not to degrade DX; but, I prefer using Sysmetrix for system info. It causes NO uplift in the CPU useage, regardless of the skin used. At least on my system. I'm pretty convinced the problem lies in the SD plugins, NOT my computer. Hope this helps.

Hello every1,

I have had similiar issues with cpu usage rising ever so slightly when loading various themes. This may sound off topic but; cpu rises when a theme has a text state clock as part of the theme. If I delete the clock all together, cpu useage go to 0. If I increase the font of the text in the clock, the cpu usage goes up in proportion to the size of the font. If the font increases to say 32 my cpu usage runs about 40%. Font 12 cpu usage is at about 5%. I have p4 processor, 2.53 ghz, 512 mb, etc (plenty of power!). I never bothered to find out why it was always the clock but It sort of fits this thread so I figured maybe It might help, maybe it wont, or maybe someone might help me. It sounds very similiar to what Mr Maggot had to say but with me its the clock.