Reason for High disk/cpu Activity

Is that after rebuilding the com.apple.Safari file, Tiger?

I didn't get an automatic repair. Safari just opened normally, but the settings were reset, (font to Windows Standard, Search box was resized, etc.).

Ran process monitor, and the hard drive SOUNDS normal, but it's rechecking that darn PageIcon.png file. Also noticed it kept checking the SafeBrowsing.db file.

Screenshot: http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i308/tigernike23/safebrowsing.jpg

Ran process monitor, and the hard drive SOUNDS normal, but it's rechecking that darn PageIcon.png file. Also noticed it kept checking the SafeBrowsing.db file.

That's interesting ... the WebpageIcons.db is also located in the same Safari preferences folder as SafeBrowsing.db. In XP Pro that's the following folder (where username is the name of the user account you're seeing the behavior in):

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer\Safari

Maybe we're getting a generalised problem with that particular preferences folder?

Can you check something for me if you've got the time, Tiger? Head into your User accounts control panel and create a new user with *full administrative rights.*

Now log out of your usual account and log into the new account. (Don't use Fast User Switching to move between the accounts.)

Launch Safari in the new account ... is it checking the equivalent files in the new user account over and over again too? Or is the beast a bit calmer in that user account?

This is XP Home, and this account is the only account on the computer, so by default it has administrative rights. I got the same thing on a test account.

I'm tempted to wipe it (Safari) clean, uninstall, erase, reinstall.

Cheers!

Message was edited by: TigerNike23

Systemwide then, so much less likely to be associated with any damage to the pref files.

I think you're right, Tiger. Subtle problems with program files look a more likely candidate for the cause, now.

I'd be tempted to take out Apple Application Support as well as Safari, and also take a few other explicit precautions along the way. I've got a sort of "clean and careful" uninstall/reinstall procedure in this post, if you're interested in going that way:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10598385&#10598385

Thanks b. I've been very careful with Safari, no modifying, no customization. I just use it and occasionally run Webkit trunks (to get the full features).

Being in IT myself, this has me stumped. But I'm not shocked, did I really think a piece of Apple software would work on Windows smoothly?

Message was edited by: TigerNike23

Being in IT myself, this has me stumped. But I'm not shocked, did I really think a piece of Apple software would work on Windows smoothly?

🙂 I've found one absolutely classical programming oversight relating to +compatibility mode+ settings so far. (I've had a fair amount of experience troubleshooting the parallel consumer-end errors for that in QuickTime and iTunes over the years.)

Did you try the clean uninstall/reinstall, Tiger? (I noticed you'd closed off your topic on occasional launch errors and wondered if that was related to a success with a full uninstall/reinstall.)

I've been following this topic because my Safari 4.0.3 (531.9.1) also keeps churning away using usually 2% but sometimes up to 30% CPU and even at 2% cpu it slows the computer to a crawl, and I can't understand why such little cpu has such a big effect.

I reinstalled XP Home 2002 recently using the repair option because of other problems so Safari and other applications, drivers, etc. did not need reinstalling, but Safari still keeps the hard drive busy. So my OS is now like new.

I did uninstall and reinstall Safari 4.0.3 after repairing the OS but it made no difference.

I don't use Safari much because of the problem, I got it to test web page coding but I tend to use Google Chrome instead now as it uses the same Webkit engine but doesn't keep using cpu.

*Replying to Wickham43*

I did uninstall and reinstall Safari 4.0.3 after repairing the OS but it made no difference.

Just doublechecking. Does it make a difference if you install *Safari 4.0.4* instead?

[quote]Does it make a difference if you install Safari 4.0.4 instead?[/quote]

I've now updated to 4.0.4 and the cpu useage is still the same.

I have Safari, QuickTime and iTunes. Sometimes I update them individually, sometimes together; this time it was Safari and QuickTime together and itunes was updated together with QuickTime at the end of November.

I have AVG 9 Free and XP Home SP3 (originally 2002) all up to date.

I don't want to interrupt this topic any more; I just think there must be a common solution and as far as I know, it's a common problem.

I have AVG 9 Free

Just checking something else (since if there's a common solution, we haven't tracked it down yet) ... if you (experimentally) exclude the Safari program files folder from AVG Resident Shield scanning, does that calm down the CPU activity? See:

http://free.avg.com/ww-en/kb.pnuid-1255527053#num-2625

Message was edited by: b noir

I excluded the whole Safari folder in the C directory from AVG as suggested.

I've just opened Safari 4.0.4 again to a web page and just left the page showing, without doing anything more and had the Task Manager open and watched.

After an initial burst of cpu Safari was quiet for about a minute (as before) and then it started 2%cpu, 4%, 0% 2%, 5%, 2% 9%, 0%, 14%, 3%, 6%, and so on. It's still doing it, I can hear the hard drive. It really slowed down logging in to this forum.

I excluded the whole Safari folder in the C directory from AVG as suggested.

Okay ... let's also try excluding the *Apple Application Support* program files too. A number of your Safari-relevant dlls and resources are stored there in a Safari 4.0.4.

On an XP system, that's located at:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Apple Application Support

- excluding the Apple Application Support program files too

Done that. Same again, Safari quiet for about a minute, then started using various small % cpu.

It took about 20 seconds to open to the reply box for this topic in Firefox, when I already had the forum page open.

Edit: Safari now only using 2% and then 0% alternately and the hard drive noise has gone, but Task Manager still showing 2% or 0% (no other %).

Edit 2: It's more or less stopped now, only occasionally doing a 2% 0% rotation at about five second intervals (was one second).

I seem to remember that it gave up after about fifteen minutes before. Another post said it was continually downloading an image, but eventually stopped, and I think my Safari has now stopped trying.

Message was edited by: Wickham43

... occasionally, I feel like I'm the only person in the world whose Safari.exe is sitting there behaving itself ...

Okay ... not an interaction with program files. Preference files? Although we know from Tiger's experiments that this is a systemwide issue, and preference file damage issues are generally user-account specific, if *realtime scanning* is interfering in some exotic way with the preference files, then that could affect all preference files in all user accounts indiscriminantly, and we'd get a systemwide effect.

Let's try excluding the two Safari preferences folders, and the com.apple.Safari plist file.

You may have to turn on "Show hidden files and folders" to see those.

Where username is the name of the user account you're currently logged into, the relevant folders and files are located at:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Apple Computer\Safari

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Apple Computer\Preferences\com.apple.Safari

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer\Safari

If still no joy after applying those exclusions, try restarting the PC. (Perhaps AVG Free 9 also requires that before implementing its scanning exclusions.)

... any effect at all?

Message was edited by: b noir