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Windows Vista A problem with dwm.exe

Discussion in 'Legacy Windows' started by sandilew, 2008/11/23.

  1. 2008/11/23
    sandilew Lifetime Subscription

    sandilew Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    For some reason, just today so far, a process (dwm.exe) has been using far more CPU than it should and it was slowing down my PC terribly. Using Task Manager I ended the process, and everything was just fine. The process began running again immediately, but no longer being a CPU hog.

    Could someone explain what the process is, and what would cause this strange behavior?

    Thanks for any help.
     
  2. 2008/11/24
    Steve R Jones

    Steve R Jones SuperGeek Staff

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    One of the new features in Windows Vista is the Desktop Window Manager (DWM). It responsible for the graphical effects such as live window previews and a glass-like frame around windows (Aero Glass), without draining your CPU. A DWM-capable graphics card is required to enable the 3D effects and Aero Glass. (In older Windows Vista Beta versions, the DWM effects are controlled by the User Experience Session Management Service via "uxss.exe ".) You can increase the computer performance if you switch to Classic Mode (turn off Aero Glass and Animations), or reducing the screen resolution.
    http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process/dwm.exe.html
     

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  4. 2008/11/24
    sandilew Lifetime Subscription

    sandilew Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Hi Steve,
    Thank you for that information. I would hope that my computer is set up to use dwm.exe with no problems. I just purchased it this year, and it came with Windows Vista Home Premium OS. I did recently turn OFF the User Account Control because it was driving me nuts!! I am the one and ONLY user of my PC, and therefore I am listed as Administrator, but I still have to give permission for every little thing. But what bothered me most was when I would try to do something and I was given the message "access denied "....you do not have permission to run this or do this. What's with that? And just who is supposed to give me permission seeing as how it's my machine? Totally ****** me off. So I shut off the User Account Control, and that is when dwm.exe went ballistic. So far today there is no problem.

    Thank you,
    Sandie
     
  5. 2008/11/24
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    As I have said many times before, turning off UAC is a very bad move & going to introduce trouble.

    Use this instead.
     
    Arie,
    #4
  6. 2008/11/24
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

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  7. 2008/11/24
    sandilew Lifetime Subscription

    sandilew Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Aerie will be pleased to note I turned on User Accounts, as he recommended. So far dwm.exe has not given me any more problems. But if Vista tells me again access is denied, I will turn it off until I do what I want, then put it back on again.

    Matt, the article you recommended kept saying it applied when upgrading to Vista. I did not upgrade, I started with Vista. But I still set the view of the folders to show hidden files. Maybe that will work. Thank you.

    Thank you all. It's great knowing there is always someone here that knows so much more than I do when I have a problem. You guys are great!

    Sandie
     
  8. 2008/11/26
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Well, what are you trying to access when you get the access denied? You'll have to 'work' with Vista's new ways. You can't do things the same way as in XP, that's for sure.
     
    Arie,
    #7
  9. 2008/11/26
    sandilew Lifetime Subscription

    sandilew Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Hi Arie,
    I have a PC game called Brainsbreaker. It is a jigsaw puzzle game for the computer. I was "creating" a new puzzle using my wallpaper and the program allowed me to open it, tell it what picture I wanted to create into a jigsaw puzzle, and then chose the number of pieces, the name of the picture. It allowed me to go through all the motions, but then when I hit the button to finalize the procedure or "create" the puzzle, it told me "access denied." IMHO it should have denied me from opening the game in the first place if it was going to block anything. Not wait until I was running the program and then deny access at the very end of the process.

    I see that if I want to do most things I have to CHOOSE to run as Administrator, and it just seems that should not happen when I am the only person in user accounts, the only person operating this machine whatsover. Microsoft really messed up here and it is very annoying. Other than that user accounts thing, I have really enjoyed my Vista OS in every way.

    Have a great Thanksgiving,
    Sandie
     
  10. 2008/11/26
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Well, I'm pretty sure that you installed the game with UAC turned off. Why? I installed the game (it asked me for Admin permission) & it runs fine without any problems or any additional prompts.

    Yes, there are a few things that will require you to elevate your permissions, that's the way Vista was designed. If you installed programs with UAC turned off the way you had done, you'll keep running into trouble.

    Anyway, MS listened & you'll be able to adjust UAC in Windows 7 the way you want it. And of course you can do it as I point out in my article Taming Vista's User Account Control
     
    Arie,
    #9
  11. 2008/11/26
    sandilew Lifetime Subscription

    sandilew Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Hi Arie,
    When I first bought this new PC I didn't really understand UAC and how it worked, but it very well be that I looked into it to find a way to end it. I do know that my Brainsbreaker game was one of the first programs I installed, and I remember having that problem with it several times. It wouldn't let me place a puzzle piece, for example. I had to shut it down and right click, choose Run as Administrator, and then I could move the pieces again.

    From what I can remember, it was little annoyances like that which sent me to turning UAC off in the first place. How quickly I learned how to do that, I can't say. Those first weeks were confusing, so there was a lot of trial and error until I found my way around.

    Just a bit of story/history. I made the mistake of purchasing through Best Buy. When I first set up the PC there were problems everywhere. I couldn't set up my mail program without errors, all kinds of things. Finally I called Dell, they told me since I purchased at Best Buy I had to call Geek Squad. So I do that, and Geek Squad tells me I have to call Dell support. For 3 days they all gave me the runaround, and needless to say I was not very pleased. I continued having problems with several programs and not being new the computer, I was confused about why simple things were not working right. I contacted someone in Dell support AGAIN on-line. About the one thing I could do was connect properly, thank goodness. Anyway, the man was very patient with me, and after I explained how I had been tossed back and forth from Dell and Best Buy he asked me to be more specific and explain my problem or problems. After I finished he told me he suspected a bad install. The OS had not been installed correctly or something had gone wrong during the initial install. So he gave me instruction on how to restore back to factory settings and start over. I was extremely angry that a brand new computer, only days old would require a complete restore, but I did as he told me. After I restored the machine and installed everything new it was like having a totally different machine. Everything worked very well, but for those annoying UAC permissions. And suddenly other programs I didn't know existed started running too. Like auto-updates for Dell, the Dell support system, my Windows Mail set up easy and worked right immediately, and a few other programs I had been totally unaware of. My point, remind your readers that a new PC is no guarantee there will be no problems, and sometimes doing a total restore can be a very good thing..........LOL

    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

    Sandie
     

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