System slowdown [Archive] - FlashFXP Forums

02-20-2006, 05:15 AM

This happens with FlashFXP 3.2 build 1080 and 3.3.5 build 1110 alike.

I have noticed that sometimes wilst during transfers to/from site or even when deleting a file/files at site that my system does slow down to the point where the mouse is almost strugling to move...

So I opened the Task manager and found that wilst flashfxp.exe was consuming anything from 30 to 56% of the processor time another process (alg.exe) was running concurrently using up anything inbtween 30 to 50% of the processor time.

Wilst I am running an ICS and thus the alg.exe is necessary I dont know why the alg.exe is being used in these instances since the transfer from flashfxp is within a closed network and the internet connection is not needed.

Once the transfer is finished both processes are using nil% of CPU time.

This usage by these processes when system slowdown ocurres happens when flashfxp is transfering files.

This does not happen all the time it's a intermitent ocurrence I would say 7 out of ten times I use flashfxp in any one session.

TWDesigns

02-21-2006, 01:27 PM

There's another tread with people having the same problems. I just figured out what was slowing mine down finally and was getting ready to post when I saw your thread.

My mouse jumps all over the screen and FlashFXp uses a ton of resources.
I found that if I turn my firewall off the problem goes away instantly. If I turn it back on the problem starts back up slowly.

I'm running Norton Client Security 2.0.

Firewall on = problem
Firewall off = no problem

Not sure who's side the problem is on. I've been running both together for a long time but upgraded both Norton and FlashFXp a week or so ago which is when the problem started.

----------------------------------------
Some information that might help the support team.

Running either Stable or Beta Version of FlashFXP (have tried both)
I have 0 problems with anything else other than flashfxp.
I usually am running Photoshop, GoLive, Dreamweaver, Streaming MP3's and etc with no problems
I get no problems when trasnfering files through GoLive or Dreamweaver FTP.

AMD 64 3200+
1g Ram
Dual SATA Raid 0
Windows XP Sp2 + All Updates.
3com Giga NIC

Maybe some more people could post here that are having the same problem with what firewall version they are running.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Seome

02-21-2006, 02:27 PM

If your firewall/anti-virus is slowing FlashFXP down there are several things to check.

First make sure you do not have byte level scanning enabled by your anti-virus software as this will slow your computer down excessively during file transfers. If you do have it active make sure it is only active when you actually open a file not move/save it.

Another thing to check is for any "worm" protection. Some firewalls will have a worm protection which scans all incoming data for trojans and worms. When this is active on FTP transfers it can cause some significant resource use by your system.

You can limit some of the scanning/blocking by your Firewall/Anti-virus by making sure that FlashFXP is listed in the exceptions list for both.

In some cases CPU usage of the firewall/anti-virus can be increased by having file compression turned on on a file, if your anti-virus is attempting to scan the compressed file as it arrives and then your CPU is also having to un-compress the file this may be a part of your problem.

Do any of these things help you?

-Chris
Inicom Networks Support

02-22-2006, 03:43 AM

Seome

02-22-2006, 11:53 AM

I am sorry that you felt my response was ignoring you, it was a reply to both posts. I sent you a PM explaining further.

Alg.exe is usually part of the Windows Internet Connection Sharing and Internet Connection Firewall. The "Internet" part of those names is misleading, these components monitor and affect ANY external connection made by your computer including local network connections, not just ones on the internet. Because of this all of the suggestions for checking the firewall apply to your issue.

Your Firewall is configured to allow FlashFXP to access the internet you said. What Firewall are you using? Do you have the Windows XP Firewall on as well? Have you checked if your Firewall has any sort of worm protection scanning it is doing of incoming files? Is there an Anti-virus program that may be doing scanning of files as they are incoming?

After checking out the firewall/anti-virus the next step would be to check if file compression is being used with these FTP transfers. Do you have compression turned on for the site you are connecting to, and if so does your FlashFXP session log show it is being used? File compression could cause a heavy resource use as files are uncompressed at the local level.

A third possible problem related the alg.exe is it is a filename that some worm/trojan/spywares will use, have you done any checks for these problems recently? If you turn off ICS and ICF but still have alg.exe using CPU time this is the most likely problem.

If all of these things are unsuccesful at finding the problem please post more information on your problem including a session log for one of these transfers and as complete of description of your system, security setup and network setup as possible.

02-22-2006, 12:43 PM

Wilst I never mentioned firewall on my post/topic I wonder how your reply could in anyway respond to my comment/post/topic since nohere is/was it mentioned...

However to reply to your questions...

The firewall is Norton 2006 as is the antivirus.... The windows firewall is off...

No compression is used anywhere since I use it to tranfer PC to PC...

The IP used for these tranfers is on the allowed list for the networking part of the firewall as is also the Networkcard used...

My system is 150% free of virus/trojas/adware/malware (alg.exe is the real deal) and so forth check every day (as well as defragging)... Having the the ICS unabled is no better... disconnecting from internet (phisically) shutting down firewall and antivirus, makes no diference...

I have an Abit AN7 motherboard bios 1.9
Belkin gigabit network card/wired
Windows XP pro SP2 all updates to today
1 maxtor 80GB HDD with OS and software..
2 Maxtor SCSI 300GB disks (non raid)
2 Plextor 716A
I leadtek 256mb DDR
1 Leadtek PVR2000

**all latest drivers and updates...

ICS connection sharing for xboxlive
anotherPC (betatest PC) non internet access
Security is the firewall Norton 2006/antivirus 2006
*cable modem (RJ45) Broadband NTL

I will still post a log...

Unfortunatly I will also discontinue the use of Flasfxp after less than a week of use and buying it.... consider the money I spent a gift since you dont refund.... your product is very buggy and only works properly as a trial.... Go figure... activate it and it behaves like a piece of you know what....

A waste of money... Bad customer service (none so far from website postings not forum).... http://www.inicom.net/pages/en.contact.php

Website support is a laugh, quite honestly after the few days I have posted my woes and suggestions all I get is some apathic replies and moans and then some...

I liked Flashfxp as a trial overall I feel as I was lured into buying it...

as for the matter at hand... between your first reply and now the latest... read the Posts reply accordingly...apology accepted...

@TWDESIGNS

Piggy back all you want mate but make your reply/addition relevant to the Original poster/topic issue posted, watering it down is not nice, but I know this was not your intention...

I dont mean to sound rude/disrespectful to anyone here but call this what it is for the admin....

Learning Curve

Sorry about the rant eh?

bigstar

02-22-2006, 01:18 PM

Locust, I tested your scenario and I was able to reproduce nearly identical results. I'm not entirely sure why this is occuring and why ICS is conflicting in this way with FlashFXP.

When ICS is disabled and I switch back to my normal network setup this behavior disapears.
(normal setup, PC1 -> Gigabit switch -> PC2)

My first thought was to use the "Bind sockets to IP" option via the site profile to determine if binding to the ICS NIC would solve the problem, but I didn't notice any difference. You may want to try this as you may get different results.

You might also try switching between PASV and PORT mode. I didn't notice any difference but you might.

At this time more testing is required to determine the exact cause of this problem.

Seome

02-22-2006, 02:02 PM

(This message mostly irrelevant due to bigstar's post above but leaving for people who have a speed issue where alg.exe is not the high CPU user)

With problems of CPU speed usage on the local computer the firewall is the culprit in a very significant majority of the cases so that is the best place to start troubleshooting. It does not look like I explained this sufficiently originally but as I said in my PM, I thought you were the one who sent the email on the topic and linked to this thread and firewalls were mentioned there.

Norton Internet Security and Norton Internet Firewall have a component named something like "Internet Worm Protection" in the firewall which has been found to slow FlashFXP down as this component scans all data that passes through the Firewall. Any byte-level scanning of the Anti-virus software that may also be turned on in Norton could significantly slow down your computer during file transfers.

Another question on the firewalls, did this problem not occur before you registered your software? If it only occurred after registering it is likely that your Firewall is no longer giving exception status to FlashFXP because of the changed executable with registering. Can you please try removing FlashFXP.exe from your firewalls exceptions list and then re-adding it? The IP address allowance you have set in your firewall allows the connection to be made but won't necessarily cause FlashFXP or data from that location to be trusted by your computer's security.

Thats all on the firewalls, hopefully that and the earlier things are enough to rule out those issues. You are correct that it does not sound like a Firewall or Anti-virus issue as one of the Norton services would be expected to have high CPU usage during the slowdown, but it is possible that there is an issue with how those services tie in with the alg.exe service.

The high CPU usage by alg.exe does suggest the problem is somehow related to the way ICS is working on your machine. Does the alg.exe usage jump on your "host" machine during transfers even if the transfers should not be involving that machine at all, say from your beta test machine to your xbox? Is there any reason you can think of that your other machines may be using the ICS connection during a file transfer? A complete session log for one of these connections could be helpful, to copy easily copy a log just right click on the lower right Session Log window in FlashFXP and select "copy to clipboard" and then paste the log in a reply message. We especially need the beginning headers/first commands and a few succesful/unsuccesful file transfer commands.

Best Regards,

-Chris
Inicom Networks Support

PS. You mention poor/non-existant support from our Contact Us forms. I cannot find any messages sent from you on this topic in our support system, most messages receive a reply within a day or two. Did you send the messages to support? All Contact Us forms to support/information/sales go directly to our support staff and are generally answerd promptly.

02-22-2006, 04:53 PM

@bigstar

Binding socket to IP is a 3.4 beta addition the 3.2 doest share I believe... I had transfer/rename/overrite issues with this beta version... so no I wont try that....
But I had same slowdown issues with that version too (as per my first post).

I have tried combinations of settings and even disabling firewalls/ICS/antivirus and so on...

As a fact in one of any transfer with FlashFXP if you terminate the alg.exe service flashfxp will loose connection to site connected... (alg.exe is connected to ICS and windows firewall mainly) but as the name states is application layer gateway... I am willing to bet that there is some sort of code flashfxp core that is communicating (shall we say) in 'unusal' way with alg.exe... this is only to be found out by the Developers of FlashFXP.

@Seome

I cant begin to say its not a firewall as mentioned now 3 times.... since I switch them (antivirus/firwall) off and still experience the same scenario.... So if it's switched off (processes terminated) it cant possibly be that.... can it?

I have configured my firewall and reasigned your flashfxp service to the allowed IP's/permit all communications after I registered because I restaured a disk image (Acronis true Image 9 build 2337) of my xp installation (same as reeinstalling xp but not) so it cant be that either.... (ok?)

Unless I use flashfxp the process alg.exe stays at nil% of CPU usage regardless of what I do with ICS...

****removed log***** reason (im not working for you for free)

As for your last comment on my support submissions you can be 100% sure I have placed several and none were yet replied... half more than one day ago and the latest yesterday (20 hours +/-) If you cant find them well isnt that just convinient....

Not that I am trying to insinuate anything here....

Just that there's a weel missing on your truck somewhere

Have fun now... I have had just about enough....

@bigstar

Man I have lost almost 3 days with this piece of dump dont take this the wrong way man but I really have a live besides banging my head against the wall trying to sort out other peoples ill software that above all they charge for.... there's better for free out there....

Im out.... nite nite....

Seome

02-22-2006, 07:06 PM

I did not see Bigstar had replied to this issue before my last response was posted. He is the lead developer and creator of FlashFXP and as he can duplicate this problem he is the one who can best find a solution to it.

With speed problems such as you were experiencing the Firewall/AV is the issue in 95% of cases so it is usually a good place to start with to at least establish a baseline. Some security software has a security "feature" that some monitoring/blocking will still continue even with the software turned "off" so even when it seems unlikely its worth checking as a problem source. I am sorry that all of my suggestions in that direction appear to have been a wild-goose-chase in your specific case.

bigstar

02-22-2006, 08:42 PM

Locust,

After further testing I was able to eliminate the high CPU usage in alg.exe and flashfxp.exe when using ICS. To solve the problem I ran the following Winsock Fix http://www.snapfiles.com/get/winsockxpfix.html and rebooted my system.

FlashFXP doesn't communicate with alg, It uses standard winsock API's for socket connections.

I had transfer/rename/overrite issues with this beta version This was fixed along time ago and should no longer be an issue with the current beta release.

02-23-2006, 04:03 AM

I have had my system restored yet again and without installing any antivirus or firewall...

Posted by: Seome
With speed problems such as you were experiencing the Firewall/AV is the issue in 95% of cases so it is usually a good place to start with to at least establish a baseline.

I can confirm that antivirus and firewall have nothing involved in causing isssues such as this it's the other 5% (how tipical of me to fall on such small odds, story of my life)

Has for the winsock fix windows xp sp2 (what Im using) has inbuilt commands to fix a currupted winsock... (just for viewers reference and futher understanding of theire PC's).

Start Menu>run>cmd (press ok)

**To view the current winsock catalog type on the DOS window type> netsh winsock show catalog

**This will remove any non standard LSP (layered service provider) Any non standard installed will have to be reeinstalled...

To reset type on open DOS window to reset winsock > netsh winsock reset catalog (tap enter)

Go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259 for further interesting material on winsock2

And that shows me I have/had and will continue to enjoy a healthy winsock (nock on wood)...

Unfortunatly I have made these checks and even done what the tool you posted does but I rather not install/run any unecessary software/tool (even if it does automatically what I can do just as easily with a few taps on keyboard).

@Seome

Posted by: Seome
I did not see Bigstar had replied to this issue before my last response was posted

Maybe it's time for some holidays away for stress buddy... After all this is becomming an habit of not actually reading previous posts before pressing that submit button on the board... Or is it the time zones

happy holidays Seome :)

MxxCon

02-23-2006, 08:07 AM

wow :(
Locust you are one of the most rude, ungrateful and impatient users on this forum.
bigstar is the developer of flashfxp. stuff that he says, he isn't pulling it out of his ass. he has the source code he knows how flashfxp works better than anybody.
people that post here do it on their own free will and time for their love of flashfxp, and yet you come here and calling it a piece of shit and other really uncalled for named.
you are rude, ungrateful and impatient.

02-23-2006, 09:32 AM

@MMxxcon...

I dont mean to get anyones backs up, least of all the developers of Flashfxp... All my comments wilst a may be direct but never vulgar or untrue... I can only base my idea on a piece of software that I have experienced.... At least I have paid for it...Supported it...and not Pirated it...

If I have offended you in any way well I must have missed it but just in case I did let me know and I will apologise...

Please know that I find your comments vulgar, offensive and uncalled for... If bigstar has fallen offended my my remarks then he should say so....

Last I am not ungrateful, maybe unpatient.... but rude well. I will let this topic be the judge of that...