Win2K, IE5, MS mouse with scroll wheel

[SUOrangeman]

For those of you with the above conditions, I need a quick favor.

1. Open up the task manager to the processes tab.
2. Click on "CPU" so that everything is sorting by utilization. (DNETC is on top right? Hehe. )
3. Now, go over to you IE window and scroll rapidly back & forth with your scroll wheel.

Does the IE task jump to a unusually high utilization? Right now, I can get up to 93% on a P3-733, 256MB system. Sure, this is an extreme case, but even casual scrolling can produce similar results.

This is the second system I've seen do this. What is going on here?

-SUO

 

[Raincity]

I am also getting high IE usage. I have a p3700 and 256 ram and a Logitech wireless scroll mouse.

Rain

 

[owensdj]

SUOrangeman, my IE goes to between 50% and 70% processor utilization when I scroll with the wheel on a Logitech Trackman Marble Wheel trackball. I have a P3-667, 256MB machine running Win2K Pro SP1. And yes, DNETC IS on the top for me. Heheh.

 

[Shuxclams]

Hey I managed 82%! P-III 450 128MB RAM W2K SP1, Logitech First Mouse+, wierd.....










SHUX

 

[SUOrangeman]

Well, at least I know that I am not alone. As far as I can tell the same behavior does not exist in WinME.

Anyway, I only noticed the "problem" because WinAmp and IE5 Radio began to stutter badly when I scrolled. You can't tell me that scrolling is so important that MP3s and streaming audio begin to skip due to a lack of CPU cycles.

-SUO

 

[owensdj]

SUOrangeman, if wheel scrolling in IE causes your WinAmp to stutter, just increase WinAmp's process priority to High using the Task Manager.

 

[SUOrangeman]

Check this:

I'm running two displays. When I have an IE window open on the second display and do my scroll wheel jiggle, IE's CPU utilization jumps as usual ... BUT WINAMP DOESN'T STUTTER. On the primary display, WinAmp stutters when I scroll in IE.

-SUO

 

[BudB]

With a P900 I also noticed significant CPU usage with my Intellimouse scroll button. Curious, I downloaded Microsoft's latest 3.2 mouse driver from their WEB site. CPU usage dropped almost in half when using the wheel for scrolling with W2K and IE5.5.

 

[SUOrangeman]

FINAL UPDATE: UsefulOne dropped me a private message since he had seen similar discussions elsewhere. He noted that IE's smooth scrolling feature seemed to be the key. So, I disable smooth scrolling and no IE's CPU util never crossed 30%.

That sounds like a winner to me!

-SUO

 

[urbantechie]

Hmm, mine doesn't even jump!