Games skipping

It started yesterday, as if out of nowhere. I booted up World of Warcraft and the game was lagging. May sound simple, but it isn't. Every 6 seconds or so the game 'skips' for half a second, creating half a second of lag. I have tried to play Counter Strike Source and I get the same problem. This makes my games virtually unplayable, imagine trying to shoot somebody in counter strike then the game skips, creating lag, and you die. I tried shutting down nearly every background process and the problem persists.

CPU: AMD Athlon 3000+ 2.2ghz
GPU: ATI Radeon X800 XL OCed
MOBO: Asus A7V8X-X
RAM: 1gb DDR 400

Typical thing to do when experiencing things like this scan with anti-virus and anti-spyware software. If you don't have any check out this stuff:

Anti-Spyware
----------------
Spybot: Search & Destroy
Ad-Aware

Anti-Virus
------------
AVG Free
Avast!

Download only one of the two anti-virus scanners above. All the above software is free, or have free versions available. Make sure to update them before scanning. I've used both Avast! and AVG, and believe them to be a couple of the best free virus scanners out there. If you don't mind spending some money, Kaspersky is one of the best I've used (and is still really nice on the resources). Should the virus scanner that you download find something, also run a couple online scans just to be sure (and run in safe mode to be extra sure).

Online Scans
----------------
TrendMicro HouseCall
BitDefender Free Online Scan
Panda Active Scan
Kaspersky Online Scan (Only finds, does not remove unless you use their trial.)

There you are. If you are still having problems post a Hijack This! log.

A second gigabyte of memory might help a little as well. Do what The FadedMaster suggested first though.

A virus scan and spyware scan indicate no threats. What else could possibly be causing this?

Here is my HijackThis log

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 7:58:34 PM, on 5/5/2007
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6000.16414)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Ahead\InCD\InCDsrv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Logitech\QCDriver\LVCOMS.EXE
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_01\bin\jusched.exe
C:\Gmail Notifier\gnotify.exe
C:\Program Files\Ahead\InCD\InCD.exe
C:\Program Files\lg_fwupdate\fwupdate.exe
C:\ASUS\WLAN Card Utilities\Center.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\msnmsgr.exe
C:\Logitech\Desktop Messenger\8876480\Program\LogitechDesktopMessenger.exe
C:\FRAPS\FRAPS.EXE
C:\Bendah0wns\Apache2\bin\Apache.exe
C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\MOM.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ASWLSVC.exe
C:\Program Files\Symantec\LiveUpdate\ALUSchedulerSvc.exe
C:\Xfire\Xfire.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgamsvr.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgupsvc.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgemc.exe
C:\Bendah0wns\Apache2\bin\Apache.exe
C:\Bendah0wns\MySQL\bin\mysqld-nt.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\PnkBstrA.exe
C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\SMAgent.exe
C:\Alcohol 120%\Alcohol 120\StarWind\StarWindService.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Viewpoint\Common\ViewpointService.exe
C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\ccc.exe
C:\UltraVNC\WinVNC.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Viewpoint\Viewpoint Manager\ViewMgr.exe
C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\usnsvc.exe
C:\Steam\Steam.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dxdiag.exe
C:\Program Files\Grisoft\AVG7\avgwb.dat
C:\Hijackthis\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.ijji.com/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Reader\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.ocx
O2 - BHO: BitComet ClickCapture - {39F7E362-828A-4B5A-BCAF-5B79BFDFEA60} - C:\BitComet\tools\BitCometBHO_1.1.3.19.dll
O2 - BHO: Malicious Scripts Scanner - {55EA1964-F5E4-4D6A-B9B2-125B37655FCB} - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Prevx\pxbho.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_01\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {7E853D72-626A-48EC-A868-BA8D5E23E045} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: Viewpoint Toolbar BHO - {A7327C09-B521-4EDB-8509-7D2660C9EC98} - C:\Program Files\Viewpoint\Viewpoint Toolbar\3.8.0\ViewBarBHO.dll
O2 - BHO: MU Online Toolbar Helper - {D3138B39-C8A6-440B-9D42-50F766AEA8C7} - C:\Program Files\MU Online Toolbar\v3.2.0.0\MU_Online_Toolbar.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Viewpoint Toolbar - {F8AD5AA5-D966-4667-9DAF-2561D68B2012} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Viewpoint\Toolbar Runtime\3.8.0\IEViewBar.dll
O3 - Toolbar: MU Online Toolbar - {B9D1647F-A66A-4695-B249-07901A45FF59} - C:\Program Files\MU Online Toolbar\v3.2.0.0\MU_Online_Toolbar.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LVCOMS] C:\Program Files\Common Files\Logitech\QCDriver\LVCOMS.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_01\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [{0228e555-4f9c-4e35-a3ec-b109a192b4c2}] C:\Gmail Notifier\gnotify.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Logitech Hardware Abstraction Layer] KHALMNPR.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [InCD] C:\Program Files\Ahead\InCD\InCD.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NeroFilterCheck] C:\WINDOWS\system32\NeroCheck.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LGODDFU] "C:\Program Files\lg_fwupdate\fwupdate.exe" blrun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG7_CC] C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgcc.exe /STARTUP
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RivaTunerStartupDaemon] "C:\RivaTuner\RivaTuner.exe" /S
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Control Center] C:\ASUS\WLAN Card Utilities\Center.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [msnmsgr] "C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\msnmsgr.exe" /background
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [BgMonitor_{79662E04-7C6C-4d9f-84C7-88D8A56B10AA}] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\Lib\NMBgMonitor.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [LDM] C:\Logitech\Desktop Messenger\8876480\Program\LogitechDesktopMessenger.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [updateMgr] "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\AdobeUpdateManager.exe" AcRdB7_0_8 -reboot 1
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Fraps] C:\FRAPS\FRAPS.EXE
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [StartCCC] C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\CLIStart.exe
O4 - Startup: Adobe Gamma.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
O4 - Startup: Xfire.lnk = C:\Xfire\Xfire.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Logitech Desktop Messenger.lnk = C:\Logitech\Desktop Messenger\8876480\Program\LogitechDesktopMessenger.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Logitech SetPoint.lnk = C:\Logitech\SetPoint\SetPoint.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\OSA9.EXE
O4 - Global Startup: Trend Micro Anti-Spyware.lnk = C:\Trend Micro Anti-Spyware\Tmas.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: &D&ownload &with BitComet - res://C:\BitComet\BitComet.exe/AddLink.htm
O8 - Extra context menu item: &D&ownload all video with BitComet - res://C:\BitComet\BitComet.exe/AddVideo.htm
O8 - Extra context menu item: &D&ownload all with BitComet - res://C:\BitComet\BitComet.exe/AddAllLink.htm
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_01\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_01\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - %windir%\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - %windir%\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe (file missing)
O11 - Options group: [INTERNATIONAL] International*
O12 - Plugin for .spop: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Plugins\NPDocBox.dll
O16 - DPF: {00B71CFB-6864-4346-A978-C0A14556272C} (Checkers Class) - http://messenger.zone.msn.com/binary...r.cab31267.cab
O16 - DPF: {8E0D4DE5-3180-4024-A327-4DFAD1796A8D} (MessengerStatsClient Class) - http://messenger.zone.msn.com/binary...t.cab31267.cab
O16 - DPF: {A2E05F45-F127-4092-B9F7-9A02C3E04C77} (HGPlugin7USA Class) - http://gamedownload.ijjimax.com/game...Plugin7USA.cab
O16 - DPF: {CD995117-98E5-4169-9920-6C12D4C0B548} (HGPlugin9USA Class) - http://gamedownload.ijjimax.com/game...Plugin9USA.cab
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://fpdownload2.macromedia.com/ge...sh/swflash.cab
O18 - Protocol: bwfile-8876480 - {9462A756-7B47-47BC-8C80-C34B9B80B32B} - C:\Logitech\Desktop Messenger\8876480\Program\GAPlugProtocol-8876480.dll
O18 - Protocol: livecall - {828030A1-22C1-4009-854F-8E305202313F} - C:\PROGRA~1\MSNMES~1\MSGRAP~1.DLL
O18 - Protocol: msnim - {828030A1-22C1-4009-854F-8E305202313F} - C:\PROGRA~1\MSNMES~1\MSGRAP~1.DLL
O20 - Winlogon Notify: NavLogon - C:\WINDOWS\
O20 - Winlogon Notify: WBSrv - C:\WINDOW~2\wbsrv.dll
O20 - Winlogon Notify: WgaLogon - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WgaLogon.dll
O21 - SSODL: WPDShServiceObj - {AAA288BA-9A4C-45B0-95D7-94D524869DB5} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\WPDShServiceObj.dll
O23 - Service: Adobe LM Service - Adobe Systems - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe Systems Shared\Service\Adobelmsvc.exe
O23 - Service: Apache2 - Unknown owner - C:\Bendah0wns\Apache2\bin\Apache.exe" -k runservice (file missing)
O23 - Service: ASWLSVC - Unknown owner - C:\WINDOWS\system32\ASWLSVC.exe
O23 - Service: Ati HotKey Poller - ATI Technologies Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
O23 - Service: ATI Smart - Unknown owner - C:\WINDOWS\system32\ati2sgag.exe
O23 - Service: Automatic LiveUpdate Scheduler - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Symantec\LiveUpdate\ALUSchedulerSvc.exe
O23 - Service: AVG7 Alert Manager Server (Avg7Alrt) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgamsvr.exe
O23 - Service: AVG7 Update Service (Avg7UpdSvc) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgupsvc.exe
O23 - Service: AVG E-mail Scanner (AVGEMS) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVG7\avgemc.exe
O23 - Service: Cerberus FTP Server - Grant Averett - C:\Bendah0wns FTP\Cerberus.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: InCD Helper (InCDsrv) - Nero AG - C:\Program Files\Ahead\InCD\InCDsrv.exe
O23 - Service: LiveUpdate - Symantec Corporation - C:\PROGRA~1\Symantec\LIVEUP~1\LUCOMS~1.EXE
O23 - Service: mysql - Unknown owner - C:\Bendah0wns\MySQL\bin\mysqld-nt.exe
O23 - Service: PnkBstrA - Unknown owner - C:\WINDOWS\system32\PnkBstrA.exe
O23 - Service: PnkBstrB - Unknown owner - C:\WINDOWS\system32\PnkBstrB.exe
O23 - Service: SoundMAX Agent Service (SoundMAX Agent Service (default)) - Analog Devices, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\SMAgent.exe
O23 - Service: StarWind iSCSI Service (StarWindService) - Rocket Division Software - C:\Alcohol 120%\Alcohol 120\StarWind\StarWindService.exe
O23 - Service: Viewpoint Manager Service - Viewpoint Corporation - C:\Program Files\Viewpoint\Common\ViewpointService.exe
O23 - Service: VNC Server (winvnc) - Unknown owner - C:\UltraVNC\WinVNC.exe" -service (file missing)

My best guess would be that you're running a webserver from your computer.

I'm assuming this only happens (the lag that is) when you're playing online, right?

EDIT: Also, you will probably want to remove the Symantec update program, it appears it's running and it doesn't look like you have any actual Symantec products on your computer.

I removed the Symantec program as well as disabled my webserver and I am still getting the same problem. This is VERY frustrating.

Ok, as I type this I can see it is happening with my whole PC, not just in games. My text lags every 6 seconds or so. What the hell?

I decided to watch my CPU usage in the ctrl+alt+delete menu. Every six seconds or so the meter goes up by about 24, then drops back down to the original percentage just as fast.

How can I determine just what process is spiking?

Go to the processes tab, and click on the CPU column. It will arrange them by CPU usage. It could be Gnotify as well. It could be that it's checking for mail too often.

I solved this problem, it was just Xfire. New patch fixed it.

Originally Posted by Bendah

I solved this problem, it was just Xfire. New patch fixed it.

Glad to hear your problem was fixed. Was it xFire showing up to be using yer CPU then?

A spike to 25% CPU usage is no big deal if you have a dual core CPU. You might want to take a look at the X2 processors (and the mobos that take them if your current one doesn't) to upgrade things a bit. AMD has cut some of it's prices by as much as 75 or 80% in the last year or so.