This is a followup to a question I asked about a 18 months ago - and which
didn't get satisfactorily answered.  Today, I may have got a partial
solution - but I'll lay it out again and see if it rings bells for anyone
else.

Once every so often (I'm talking months here) some unknown process starts up
on my W98SE system.  This is indicated by the hourglass icon which appears
for a few seconds, then disappears, then returns for a few seconds, then
disappears...and so on, ad infinitum, for hours at a time. It's not random,
but a very predictable and rythmic cycle.

It's pointless trying to do anything while this........whatever it is is
going on, as the CPU is kept busy with the mystery process.

(I should say before I go any further that this is not a result of FindFast
being installed or any similar add-on junk, as I keep my system very lean
and mean.  And this problem has persisted through several Windows installs
and rebuilds.  It's not GoBack indexing files, as I'm not currently running
it, neither is it due to any viral activity)

So I thought I'd have another go at running PrcView to try and reveal what
my computer was doing behind my back.  I've tried several times in the past
to use this app, but, being a bear of little brain, I've never been able to
understand just what the heck the thing was telling me.

This time, either I've got more intelligent (unlikely) or the new version of
PrcView that I just downloaded is more user-friendly, as the prog seemed to
make more sense.

I started off 'killing' all of the harmless running processes, but the
hourglass still kept flickering on and off.  Finally, I had no option but to
begin despatching 'serious' files. I began with Msgsrv32, and that was it -
the hourglass activity stopped immediately.

Only trouble was, so did most other Windows processes, which necessitated a
reboot.  However, after rebooting, Windows seems to be behaving itself, and
the hourglass activity has stopped.

I straight away did a google search for msgsrv32 and turned up a number of
references on the subject, most of which stressed the importance of the
application, referring to it as the 'air traffic controller' of Windows.

So what I did by 'killing' it may have been simply to 'shoot the messenger',
and maybe the real culprit is still lurking about.  I'd be interested to
hear if anyone else has had similar experiences.


Ian Porter
Computer Guys Inc.
Arrowtown
New Zealand
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