Nice job! Thanks. Here is the following breakdown, FYI:
Going by number alone, 42 processes is within a good range, so is 31. (I have 37 with Firefox open with 7 tabs, OE minimized) But here is a breakdown you might find interesting:
Of the top 13 highest resources users, (26,000 to 5,000k) 7 are McAfee related.
Of the remaining 18 processes, 3 more are McAfee related
Total McAfee processes running: 10
1. mcshield.exe>> McAfee On-Access Antivirus Scanner >>21,200> hi resource user
2. McNASvc.exe>> McAfee Network Agent.>> 10,600k
3. McProxy.exe>> known issue in McAfee 2007, it happens on some particular websites only. When it happens the new internet connection would be blocked, until the previous connection times out, as you are seeing. It's actually normal to see many internet connections made by mcproxy, but it's not normal for any of those connections get stuck. The best way to get over this problem is upgrading to McAfee 2008, 6,000k
4. McAgent.exe>> is process ensures the computer's virus definitions are up to date by communicating with the McAfee VirusScan server on the network.>>7,000
5. mcsysmon.exe>> McAfee SystemGuards Service, component of Mcafee VirusScan.>> 3,000k
6. mcmscsvc.exe>> User Management Application from McAfee, Inc. belonging to McAfee SecurityCenter>> 1,000k
7. McSACore.exe>> McAfee Site Advisor Service.>> 5,000k
8. MpfSrv.exe>> McAfee Personal Firewall Service>> 6,000k
9. msksrver.exe>> .part of McAfee SpamKiller.> high resource user>> 7,000k
This is a good example of why I prefer stand alone programs to suites. All suites come with 'extra' processes and all go on the Startup menu. But this is an individual choice of the user.
The other 3 high resource users:
1. Java Quick Start Service. Can be disabled. Came with the 6u10 update:
O23 - Service: Java Quick Starter (JavaQuickStarterService) - Sun Microsystems, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jqs.exe
Start> Run> services.msc> right click on this Service> Properties> change startup Type to Disabled.
2. scardsvr.exe>> Related to SmartCard readers and sometimes uses lots of system resources. Does not need to start on boot 2,600
3. MsMpEng.exe>> Microsoft Windows Defender Antispyware.>> very high resource user>> 26,000
Now to the HijackThis log:
These need to be removed:
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = about:blank
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://
The exception is if you have set a homepage to display as blank. If you have, leave that entry but remove the second one.
Remove this from the Trusted Zone:
O15 - Trusted Zone:
http://www.earthcaller.com
Open IE: Tools> Internet Options> Security tab> Trusted zone> highlight and remove.
Please give me an assessment of your system:
Are initial problems gone?
Do you notice increased speed in load, surf and shutdown time?
Do you have any other system matters you want to address?
Please rescan with HijackThis and attach a new log. Then we should be through.
