Itunes slowdown with NOD32…

Discussion in 'NOD32 version 2 Forum' started by Matt_Smi, Feb 19, 2005.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Matt_Smi

    Matt_Smi Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2004
    Posts:
    359
    Yesterday I noticed that itunes was acing weird, after playing a song for about 10 seconds, CPU usage as seen by the task manager would spike to 100% for a few seconds which would cause my system to respond very slowly. I first had no idea what was causing it so I installed the newest version of itunes but that did not fix it. I then remember back to what I had changed on my system that day and remember that I had configured NOD32 using Blackspear’s extra settings. So I opened NOD32 and looked at the files AMON was scanning when I played a song. It turned out that as the CPU spiked to 100%, AMON was scanning several files such as the song, my itunes music database among several other files. I then unchecked “scan all files” under the extensions tab for AMON, re-booted and the problem was solved, itunes is now back to normal and not spiking to 100%. I would like the added security that “scan all files” provides but the slowdown it causes in itunes is unacceptable as I always and playing music on my computer. So I am wondering if I could somehow exclude AMON from scanning those files every time I play a song, maybe by adding some file extensions to the exclude list within AMON? If not I guess it’s not a big deal, as I do run weekly on demand scans which is set to scan all files.
     
  2. NAMOR

    NAMOR Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 19, 2004
    Posts:
    1,530
    Location:
    St. Louis, MO
    Hiya,

    I took a looky. Anywho I noticed that AMON causes a CPU spike on my machine (to 100%) when songs change. It seems to be scanning 3 files labled "iTunes Music Library.xml", "iTunes 4 Music Library.itl", and "TEMP File" while the spike is occuring. Try excluding the .xml and .itl files and see if it helps. They are located in the following directory "C:\Documents and Settings\XXXXX\My Documents\My Music\iTunes". I'm not exactly sure where the TEMP FILE is being created/accessed. The CPU spike for me only lasts a brief second, which causes no noticble slow down on my laptop.
     
  3. cadmus

    cadmus Registered Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2003
    Posts:
    72
    Location:
    Maui, HI
    I have experienced similar sluggishness when working with my (very large ) My Pictures folder. Since they have all been previously scanned, I simply turn off Amon. O f course I have to remember to re-enable (!), but tray icon turns red to remind me.
     
  4. Matt_Smi

    Matt_Smi Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2004
    Posts:
    359
    Thanks for checking it out, I am not sure why the spike is so short on your machine; maybe you have a faster processor (I have a 2.2 P4), I also have a huge music collection so those music library files are somewhat big. When I get a chance I will try adding the .xml and .itl extensions to the exclusion list and see if that helps.
     
  5. NAMOR

    NAMOR Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 19, 2004
    Posts:
    1,530
    Location:
    St. Louis, MO
    Re: Itunes slowdown with NOD32…

    For my laptop I have 1.6 centrino, 512 mb ram, 40 gig HD (5400 RPM). iTunes seems to run fine on it. My music collection consists of only 1300 songs. Maybe you could try to do a clean install of iTunes if the exclusion doesn't help. Redownload newest version of iTunes, Uninstall previous version, reboot, delete the iTunes directory (under C:), and reinstall. Other than that I'm not sure why it would bog the system down so much. Maybe it would be possible to exclude the entire "My Music" folder from Amon, if that is where you keep your music. Not sure that would bee a good idea though, but you might be ok if you run regular scans (ie weekly). I think I would be better than having the "scan all files" unchecked.
     
  6. Minko

    Minko Guest

    dar123

    In most circumstances, there is no need to scan on open/execute if you are scanning on create and on modify.
     
  7. Matt_Smi

    Matt_Smi Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2004
    Posts:
    359
    Well I finally got this figured out for anyone who was wondering about it or had the same problem. What I had to do was exclude both iTunes music library files, the .itl and .xml files. Then I had to check off do not scan extensionless files so it would not scan that TEMP file, which I found out is the major cause of the spike. This kept it from spiking at 100% but it was still hitting close, mostly hitting around 80% but sometimes getting up to 96%, so I had to exclude AMON from scanning MP3 and TMP files, now when I play a song AMON does not scan anything and there is no spike. Yes I have to have extensionless files and files with MP3 (Which does not really matter because I have scanned my music collection multiple times in the past and know it's clean, plus I don’t download music) and TMP extensions excluded from scanning, but that is much better than having scan all files unchecked.
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2005
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.