Help - explorer.exe eating memory and CPU

[bovinda]

Noticed the family computer lagging over the last couple days. Checked task manager today and it shows explorer.exe is using a ton of memory, and often a lot of CPU.

I've tried: restarting, checking for Windows updates, running Norton full-scan, TSSDkiller. Everything seems fine.

After restarting, it's normal. But within a few minutes, it bumps up again. Right now for example, it's using 0% CPU, but over 5 Gb of memory.

I'm running Windows 7.

I'm sure I'm not the first to have this problem, but quick google searches don't turn up anything useful. Any suggestions?

 

[denis280]

looks like malware to me.get malwarebyte

 

[ArisVer]

What happens when you end the task?

 

[inachu]

boot into safe mode and remove all temp files. Can help speed up the anti virus scanning.

also disable the restore feature. Could be norton deleted but the auto restore feature brings the files back.

 

[cubby1223]

Along with clearing temp directories (if you run combofix it may find something new to remove, but also clears out temp directories), something may have goofed up somewhere and placed many thousands of files inside a single directory. At about 30k Windows starts dragging significantly.

Like a version of google earth once had a bug that didn't clear out it's own cache directory, and would fill that directory to the hundreds of thousands of files, and however many gigabytes you had available on the drive.

 

[bovinda]

Thanks guys. When I tried to end the process, it just wouldn't respond. I downloaded Malwarebytes, and it found 2 different trojans. It seems to have resolved the problem. I'm going to go change all my passwords. Thank you!

 

[meeshu]

I was going to suggest running Malwarebytes Anti Malware as well, but hesitated as Norton and TDSSKiller had already been run.

Most anti-malware programs don't cover ALL known malware so it is usually recommended to run (on demand) several good anti-malware programs such as Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Emsisoft Anti-Malware.

 

[inachu]

I once had to use retail norton and 6 other freebies and sharware to find all infections.

 

[denis280]

Thanks guys. When I tried to end the process, it just wouldn't respond. I downloaded Malwarebytes, and it found 2 different trojans. It seems to have resolved the problem. I'm going to go change all my passwords. Thank you!

Glad you got it.and thanks for sharing.