Solved USB key slows my system

dheian

New Member
Just started using a USB key to carry some files around between home and my laptop.

When I plug the key into my laptop, Vista 64 slows down noticeably. The light on the key keeps flashing and no matter what window I'm in, the spinning busy disc by the mouse pointer keeps going like the Ever Ready bunny. Task Manager shows the CPU hustling towards 100%.

At first I thought it was the indexing, but after disabling windows search and rebooting, he problem is still there?

Any ideas?
 

My Computer

Hello Dheian, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You can use Resource Monitor to look under the CPU bar to see what is using up the CPU to help determine what it may be. Some antivirus programs have an option to scan any external device (ex: your USB key) when plugged in. It could be it scanning the USB key in the background.

Hope this helps some,
Shawn
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
Either that or there's a nasty on the USB key. You should check into disabling autorun and autoplay on USB key drives. I think there's a trick to it like making a file autorun.inf with a bunch of periods at the end or whatever. There's some do it yourself method if you google.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G
    2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
I think about ReadyBoost, maybe your system is measuring USB key speed to decide to use or not ReadyBoost. Check it in properties of USB drive in "My computer"
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N-E SLI
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    2 x NVidia 8600 GTS
    Sound Card
    Integrated CM-6501
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 19" + LG 17"
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024@32bit@75MHz
    Hard Drives
    1 x Seagate 120GB SATA (OS installation)
    1 x Seagate 200GB SATA
    2 x Seagate 320GB SATA (Hardware RAID 0)
    1 x Seagate 250GB IDE (in external USB box)
    1 x TrekStor 750GB USB
    PSU
    650W
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop EX 100
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Optical
    Internet Speed
    8192 kbps / 640 kbps
It appears to have been windows defender running each time I plugged it in. I do regular checks anyway, so stopping the auto scan stopped the issue.
 

My Computer

Dheian,

I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted. Thank you for posting back with what you found to be the problem. :)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy Y0F94AV
    CPU
    i7-7500U @ 2.70 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB DDR4-2133
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
    Sound Card
    Conexant ISST Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17.3" UHD IPS touch
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512 GB M.2 SSD
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