# PC Performance Problem (alliteration free with purchase)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-performance-problem-alliteration-free-with-purchase/247231>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 26, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-performance-problem-alliteration-free-with-purchase/247231 "2004-05-26T20:14:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-performance-problem-alliteration-free-with-purchase/247231/1 "2004-05-26T20:14:25Z")

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My wife’s new work computer was running slow, so I went in to take a look at it. It’s an HP, Pentium 4, 2.8ish GHz, 512 MB RAM, XP Home. It seems that once the printer has been used during a session, the print spooler (spoolsv.exe) eats up all the CPU time, even after printing is done. Also, the printer pauses for several seconds during printing; it didn’t do this with her old computer. If I stop the spooler service performance improves, but then she can’t print anything. I thought it might be a printer driver problem, so I got the latest one from HP (LaserJet 4000 series), but it wasn’t XP certified and the printer didn’t work with it at all, so I reverted to the standard XP driver. Any thoughts?

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**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-performance-problem-alliteration-free-with-purchase/247231/2 "2004-05-26T21:39:52Z")

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Possibilities turned up from googling…

1. Stuck print job. I’m guessing you already checked this, but just in case – that’ll take CPU to 100%.

2. Incompatibility with certain versions of Novell Netware. Installing an updated version of Netware seems to help.

3. Virus/malware of some kind.

4. Corrupted software (spoolsv.exe itself). Some reports of fixing the problem with an uninstall and reinstall of the printer drivers.

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**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-performance-problem-alliteration-free-with-purchase/247231/3 "2004-05-26T23:46:59Z")

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I googled it first, but had a hard time sorting out the needle from the hay, ya know? 1 and 3 I already thought of. I had her get the latest virus updates for McAfee, and she’s gonna run a full scan tonight. I could also try Adaware and Spybot if that doesn’t work. 2 and 4 hadn’t occured to me, I’ll try those too. Maybe the Clockwork robots got into the system…