CPU Resources Taken W MagicJack & AVG

[holmziep]

Hello all

I have a Dell 4600 running at 2.5 gigs, with 1.5 gig memory. I run AVG Free, which is an antivirus program.

When I plug in my magicjack, CPU usage increases from almost 0 to over 70%, peaking up to 90%. Machine runs warm, it's just unnecessary.

Have been in touch with AVG, you will see my post in the AVG Free forum under the same title above.

AVG Free had me take a snapshot of some log files, and asked me if I could try disabled the AVG Cache Server, and see if performance improved. It greatly improve with the cache server disabled (and the resulting slower performance of AVG, of course). From the AVG log files, AVG folks noticed the "I" drive (the second magicjack drive in MY machine), is being mounted excessively. It looks like the "I" drive is being mounted something like 80 time a second. This causes problems for other programs too.

What gives? Of course AVG program checks any changing files.

One of AVG's first comments, and not knowing about magicjacks two USB drives, was about "reformatting the drive which was being mounted continuously". Strangely enough I read references to reformatting the USB drive(s) on THIS forum also. No sure, but AVG may prefer NTFS over FAT or FAT32, a comment they made earlier in our correspondence. Read the thread, you'll see...

But then I read a line in the Wiki: "As of March 2010, a Magic Jack upgrade forces dismount of the usb drives after it starts"...?!? That was at: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/MagicJack/ ... ash_Screen

I guess that is not happening, is it?

FYI, There is a good person, jirka82, over at the AVG Free forum who has been working with me, perhaps a chance to compare notes. I have both the AVG Free logging files, plus Process Monitor.exe which I can zip and send to you. I am not sure what I AM LOOKING for, but I know the volume designations of the different drives in my machine.

I realize you are all volunteers, and I appreciate your efforts!

I will be back, actually here quite a bit...perhaps tomorrow

Regards, and at your service,

holmziep

[holmziep]

Folks, I want to say that I like and want to support magicJack, I think it's great, and I understand about the minimal support issue. My object is not to create a p____ match between AVG Free and magicJack. I think of my participation here as a healthy challenge, not to badmouth a product which I use every day. I AM fairly am new to forums and this way of communicating. any suggestions on etiquette would be appreciated.

That said: Gee, does anyone else have my problem? May I provide more info? FYI, I am running XP sp3. I am at your service, just ask.

I am providing some quotes from the AVG team below regarding what has been described as excessive mounting of my "I" drive, (Second magicjack drive, supposedly dismounted, now I learn...).

Quotes below:
-------------------------------------------------
(AVG Team)

Hi,

please be informed that the MagicJack is mounting drive 80 times per second. This results in extreme load for AVG WatchDog (avgwdsvc) and Cache Server (avgchsvx).

As mentioned previously, we will try to implement some tolerance for such behavior in AVG, but the behavior is not correct and could affect other applications as well.

You can keep the Cache Server disabled as the only current work-around.

Thanks.

***************AVG Team

(Here is part of My (holmziep) reply)

BUT: To make sure I have conveyed the conditions of this machine clearly, let me just state the following:

I have the magicjack on (plugged in) right now It is allocated 49,408 K of Mem.

CPU activity with the AVG Cache Server disabled is (returns back to normal, holmziep) around 0% until i move the mouse or type. I have about 31 processes running currently, including Task Manager, of course.

So: IF the MagicJack is mounting the drive excessively, which drive? Is it the H or the I drive? If so, that's the removable USB drive(s) on the little magicjack itself. Is it even necessary to scan or monitor such dedicated "drives"?

AVG team reply

Volume ID f3e774cd-997d-11de-bd73-0007e94d7940 is being mounted according to the provided logs. However, I cannot tell which drive letter is assigned to this volume based on the provided data. It is indeed necessary to scan volumes that are used for storage as there could be an infection, but the problem resides elsewhere is not the case. Not the scanning is a problem; the drive should not be mounted several times per second at all. You will notice high CPU load by the avgcsrvx process if there would be a problem with scanning.

The easiest way how to find out volume ID's of installed volumes is to running the mountvol command from commandline without any parameters.

This (excessive drive mounting, holmziep) really should be investigated by MagicJack's developer. If they have no support, the mentioned blog could be possible way (providing the blog is monitored by MagicJack's representative).

Thanks.

***************AVG Team

(This is my NEXT reply)

Hi again jirka82, it's the MagicJack "I" drive I was talking about...

I performed mountvol from the commandline, it is the "I" drive being mounted.

This is the SECOND "YMAX magicJack USB Device" which, if I catch it within 12 seconds of inserting, indicates:

Type: Removable Disk; File system: FAT (not FAT 32); Used space - 358,400 bytes; Free space 18,089,984 bytes; Capacity 18,448,384 bytes.

After that period, the Properties change to indicate a CD/DVD with no disk, O bytes in all three places.

AND NOW I have read in several places that: "As of March 2010, a Magic Jack upgrade forces dismount of the usb drives after it starts".

quotes end
----------------------------------------------------

So, my brethren, I don't know enough to really grasp what is happening here, and even if the questions I have make any sense:

Why is the "I" drive in my machine (the 2nd of MagicJack's USB Removable Devices) being mounted excessively if it has been dismounted? Is the "I" drive or its function moved now to a newly created logical partition in the "C" drive?

I would really dig any sort of reply, even a "BOO", "get lost", or "what are you , crazy?" would do, really.

Regards,
holmziep

[diggum12]

First, have you selected an option in AVG to ignore MJ operations? I think it has that availability, but I can't recall. I'm not at my home desk at the moment, which also uses AVG & XPSP3.

On another note, check into Data Execution Prevention (DEP.)

Right click on My Computer, Properties, Advanced Tab, Performance, Settings, Data Execution Prevention Tab. Choose "Turn on DEP for all except those I select."

Click add, browse out to the MJ folder file, and select any and all MJ .exe's you can. This should help.

[holmziep]

First, have you selected an option in AVG to ignore MJ operations? I think it has that availability, but I can't recall. I'm not at my home desk at the moment, which also uses AVG & XPSP3.

On another note, check into Data Execution Prevention (DEP.)

Right click on My Computer, Properties, Advanced Tab, Performance, Settings, Data Execution Prevention Tab. Choose "Turn on DEP for all except those I select."

Click add, browse out to the MJ folder file, and select any and all MJ .exe's you can. This should help.

Hey. diggum12, Tks for your interest...

The short answers are yes, I did and it didn't work, and No, that ain't what DEP is for, is it? I explain:

First of all: Truth is that we are stuck in a world where one problem with one computer is not the centerpiece of any forum, and who can blame 'em? No one pays people to solve our problems. Shutting off AVG's (9.xx) Cache Server is a simple workaround, and has no big downside, and for this I appreciate the helpful folks over at the AVG Free support Forum.

FYI, I have have excluded both the magicJack.exe file and the directory path to it, at different times. Right now they are both excluded. Nadda.

Could I not exclude the file or path to what or where ever the drives morph to? Sounds like something simple for magicJack to address. Aren't there other AVG9/magicJack users with their machines grinding away constantly as AVG's Cache Server tries in error to check the second removable drive (my "I" drive) supposedly being mounted some 80 times a second when it is really dismounted?????

Re your second suggestion: how would turning OFF the "Data Execution PREVENTION" for magicJack.exe cease the relationship between my YMAX "I" drive (supposedly dismounted?) and the AVG 9.xx Cache Server? Idono. DEP marks some memory locations as "non-executable". Used by the OS and services by default. Or the option to add ALL programs and then optionally exclude those as the user sees fit. Right now magicJack IS excluded by default. Plus: As my processor here does not support hardware DEP, it would be emulated (less effectively) in software, and there goes more clock cycles down the drain. Further, If a program DOES try to run code—malicious or not—from a protected location, DEP closes the program and displays a notification. Yippee. I guess that would happen 80 times a second, each time my non-existent "I" drive is supposedly mounted and is "caught" by the AVG Cache Server.

Sounds like a scene out of Wild Kingdom, don't it?

Respectfully: Thank you again for your comments, and I would be please to entertain any additional comments you or any one else may offer![/u][/i]