wfxctl32.exe hogs CPU at startup

Charles Mandeville

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Sep 23, 1998, 3:00:00 AM9/23/98

to

David,

Below is an extract from the Article ID: Q157044 in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base which addresses this issue. Please refer to this document in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base for explanation of this phenomenon.

==============================================================

Some Applications Appear to Consume 100% of CPU Time
Last reviewed: March 27, 1997
Article ID: Q157044

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0

SUMMARY
Microsoft Windows NT allows users to monitor CPU usage through Task Manager
and Performance Monitor. If these tools are used in Windows NT 4.0, some
applications may appear to be consuming 100 percent of the CPU time, while
Windows NT is waiting for other actions to occur.

MORE INFORMATION
Windows NT 4.0 allows an application to consume all of the CPU time if no
other thread is waiting for CPU time. As soon as another thread requests CPU
time, regardless of the priority of that thread, Windows NT 4.0 yields
control and CPU time will drop back to normal levels.

The behavior described above is the result of a change made to the way in
which Windows NT 4.0 manages CPU time. This behavior is by design and has no
negative affect on Windows NT 4.0 or application performance.

=================================================================

Regards,

Charles Mandeville
Senior Product Support Analyst - On-Line Services
Symantec Corporation
Symantec Mobile Update
WinFax PRO 8.x/9.0 NT Support

David D. Stubbs wrote in message <980823144858.9342658778@servicenews>...
Configuration Information:
Operating system: Windows NT 4.0

Hi!

Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Task Manager shows wfxctl32.exe almost
completely consuming CPU resources for the first three minutes
(exactly) it's running in the machine. This condition seems to block
smooth loading and operation of MS Outlook 98 (mapi conflict?) during
that time.

Wfxctl32.exe also consumes about 9.5MB during that time. Very hungry
little piggy!

Is there any setting I can change that will attenuate this behavior?

Thanks very much!

David

David D. Stubbs

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Sep 24, 1998, 3:00:00 AM9/24/98

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While it may be true that Task Manager merely REPORTS 100% usage,
when I log in (which starts winfax) and immediately launch Outlook,
Outlook does not complete displaying its parts and is simply not
available for any mouse action until wfxctl32 has had its 3 minutes.
Sad but true.

It's very irritating.

David

Charles Mandeville [Symantec]

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Sep 24, 1998, 3:00:00 AM9/24/98

to

David,

This is a known issue with Windows itself as evidenced by the Article ID:
Q157044 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. There is not much we can do about
this issue as stems from the operating system.

Regards,

Charles Mandeville
Senior Product Support Analyst - On-Line Services
Symantec Corporation

WinFax PRO 8.x/9.0 NT Support

Symantec Mobile Update

David D. Stubbs wrote in message <980824164104.4303240140@servicenews>...

Simon Hetzel

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Sep 26, 1998, 3:00:00 AM9/26/98

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David D. Stubbs wrote in message <980824164104.4303240140@servicenews>...
>While it may be true that Task Manager merely REPORTS 100% usage,
>when I log in (which starts winfax) and immediately launch Outlook,
>Outlook does not complete displaying its parts and is simply not
>available for any mouse action until wfxctl32 has had its 3 minutes.
>Sad but true.

Don't run the controller unless you really have to - take it out of your
start-up group.

If you have the WinFax Pro service running you can still send and receive
Faxes (but without notification and manual-answer facilities). You also
save a massive 12M of memory.

NB this probably doesn't work for Talkworks - I don't use voice facilities
so I've never tried.

If you need the controller try running it from the Task Scheduler. If you
set it to run between certain hours and re-check ("restart") every x minutes
the controller will be running most of the time but is unlikely to be run as
soon as you reboot your machine.

Simon Hetzel

(no Spam - remove the obvious from my address to reply by e-mail)