Windows 10 freezes with high memory usage by Feeds program / process

[rameshiyer]

Have been facing a strange issue for the past few days. About an hour after I start my Dell PC with Windows 10 64-bit installed, it just freezes / hangs, and doesn't immediately respond to any keyboard / mouse inputs. I notice the constant usage of the HDD. After about 15 minutes it starts responding to whatever keyboard keys (even Ctrl+Alt+Del) were pressed while the system was frozen. Just when the system starts to respond, I checked the Task Manager and noticed that a process "Feeds" shows it's constantly using HDD at about 5-6 Mbps, but memory usage still high at about 85-90 %. Is this due to any recent Windows update, as I didn't face this issue until a few days ago. Haven't installed or uninstalled any application s/w in recent weeks.

Any help to fix this annoying (besides potential damage to HDD over time) issue would be much appreciated. TIA

 

[ubuysa]

What are the specs of the PC?

It may be that your system is paging memory to and from the disk, that will make it slowdown or even freeze.

Open the Windows Resource Monitor (enter resmon in the Run command box). On the header for the Memory section is a counter called Hard Page Faults/sec, watch that number as you work. If it stays above 0 for long periods then you are out likely of RAM. The processes at the top of the list in the Memory section are the ones consuming the most RAM, what are they?

Another possibility given your symptoms, is excessive hard disk use or a poorly performing hard disk. How full is your hard disk? If it's more than about 70% full you'd be wise to delete or archive some stuff off there.

In the Resource Monitor, on the header of the Disk section, is a counter called % Highest Active Time. What is that number? The closer it is to 100% then the busier your disk is. The processes at the top of the list in the Disk section are the ones using your disk the most. What are they?

 

[rameshiyer]

My PC is just 3 years old and runs on Intel Core i3 8100 CPU, has 12Gb RAM, and 1Tb HDD. Don't have much s/w installed and I use only the popular browsers for my work (Edge, FF, and Chrome). When my PC boots, it shows about 30% of RAM being consumed, i.e. about 3.5 Gb of 11.8 Gb total available memory. So, lack RAM isn't the issue.
The 1 TB HDD is also not the issue as I have barely 80 Gb of my own data on my HDD (mostly store on my ext HDD or some on Cloud). Both C: and D: drives show over 50% and 90% free respectively. So HDD storage seems fine too.
But I noticed that a BitDefender TS process - bdsrevicehost consumes over 800 Mb, as noticed in the WRM as suggested by you. Hence, have now escalated the issue to BD Tech Support team. Hope the find the solution soon.
Will update here if BD was the culprit, which will rule out any issue with Windows 10 per se.

 

[ubuysa]

My PC is just 3 years old and runs on Intel Core i3 8100 CPU, has 12Gb RAM, and 1Tb HDD. Don't have much s/w installed and I use only the popular browsers for my work (Edge, FF, and Chrome). When my PC boots, it shows about 30% of RAM being consumed, i.e. about 3.5 Gb of 11.8 Gb total available memory. So, lack RAM isn't the issue.

'In-Use' RAM is not a measure of RAM exhaustion - only the Hard Page Fault Rate can confirm that.

The 1 TB HDD is also not the issue as I have barely 80 Gb of my own data on my HDD (mostly store on my ext HDD or some on Cloud). Both C: and D: drives show over 50% and 90% free respectively. So HDD storage seems fine too.

The keyt figure I asked for from the Resource Monitor is the % Active Time, that's a measure of how busy the drive is.

But I noticed that a BitDefender TS process - bdsrevicehost consumes over 800 Mb, as noticed in the WRM as suggested by you. Hence, have now escalated the issue to BD Tech Support team. Hope the find the solution soon.
Will update here if BD was the culprit, which will rule out any issue with Windows 10 per se.

I didn't suggest you provide those Resource Monitor numbers for no good reason, it's because my long experience tells me that they are the best indicators of RAM shortage and an over-busy HDD.

If, for example, you do have a process that consumes excessive RAM on occasion and thus your system starts to page memory, then that will certainly cause slowdowns and freezes. That's why I asked for the (fairly long-term) Hard Page Fault Rate.

Similarly, if you have a process that hammers the HDD, and since it's the only drive, that may cause slowdowns and freezes - especially if the data being used is fragmented over the drive. An HDD with a poor response time (typically caused by fragmentation) and a very busy file or files, will cause slowdowns and even freezes. That's why I asked for the % Highest Active Time.

The biggest cause of freezes and slowdowns are RAM shortage and HDD issues. These days having only one storage drive is unwise and having an HDD as the only storage drive is doubly unwise.

 

[BlackVR]

I just had a similar issue, some stuttering and slowdowns, checked the task manager and the "feeds" app was using 11GB of RAM at the time. I killed the process and everything went back to normal, but I don't really know what "Feeds" is. The only thing that it shows as a sub process is "search routine."

Certainly seems like a memory leak in something.

 

[BigFeet]

I just had a similar issue, some stuttering and slowdowns, checked the task manager and the "feeds" app was using 11GB of RAM at the time. I killed the process and everything went back to normal, but I don't really know what "Feeds" is. The only thing that it shows as a sub process is "search routine."

Certainly seems like a memory leak in something.

I believe the feeds app is the news and weather app on the taskbar next to the clock. To turn it off, right click on a blank area of the taskbar, select "News and interests", then select "turn off". See if that helps.

 

[rameshiyer]

'In-Use' RAM is not a measure of RAM exhaustion - only the Hard Page Fault Rate can confirm that.

The keyt figure I asked for from the Resource Monitor is the % Active Time, that's a measure of how busy the drive is.

I didn't suggest you provide those Resource Monitor numbers for no good reason, it's because my long experience tells me that they are the best indicators of RAM shortage and an over-busy HDD.

If, for example, you do have a process that consumes excessive RAM on occasion and thus your system starts to page memory, then that will certainly cause slowdowns and freezes. That's why I asked for the (fairly long-term) Hard Page Fault Rate.

Similarly, if you have a process that hammers the HDD, and since it's the only drive, that may cause slowdowns and freezes - especially if the data being used is fragmented over the drive. An HDD with a poor response time (typically caused by fragmentation) and a very busy file or files, will cause slowdowns and even freezes. That's why I asked for the % Highest Active Time.

The biggest cause of freezes and slowdowns are RAM shortage and HDD issues. These days having only one storage drive is unwise and having an HDD as the only storage drive is doubly unwise.

@ubuysa thanks for the detailed feedback on my earlier post. Am not an IT pro, so can only do some basic troubleshooting. Figured that probably both, the bdservicehost process (BitDefender Total Security) and the Feeds (Windows) process, were the culprits. Have reported the bdservicehost issue to BD Tech Support guys to resolve as it occurs intermittently, and so does the Feeds process.
Turns out even @BlackVR has noticed this issue. Saw your response to his/her post, and have turned off the News & Weather app now. Hope this helps prevent the RAM &/ HDD usage spike.

 

[ubuysa]

@ubuysa thanks for the detailed feedback on my earlier post. Am not an IT pro, so can only do some basic troubleshooting. Figured that probably both, the bdservicehost process (BitDefender Total Security) and the Feeds (Windows) process, were the culprits. Have reported the bdservicehost issue to BD Tech Support guys to resolve as it occurs intermittently, and so does the Feeds process.
Turns out even @BlackVR has noticed this issue. Saw your response to his/her post, and have turned off the News & Weather app now. Hope this helps prevent the RAM &/ HDD usage spike.

I saw your earlier post regarding the Feeds app and you do seem to have found an issue there (I keep all that stuff turned off). In addition, I'm not a fan at all of most third party security software. Windows Defender and Firewall are plenty good enough IMO. I have seen over the years a great many niggles, small issues, and even BSODs caused by third party security tools. If you even think that BitDefender might be causing you problems I would uninstall it.

 

[rameshiyer]

I saw your earlier post regarding the Feeds app and you do seem to have found an issue there (I keep all that stuff turned off). In addition, I'm not a fan at all of most third party security software. Windows Defender and Firewall are plenty good enough IMO. I have seen over the years a great many niggles, small issues, and even BSODs caused by third party security tools. If you even think that BitDefender might be causing you problems I would uninstall it.

Well. I would have happily uninstalled BitDefender and not installed any 3rd party security s/w if Windows were secure enough for me to browse the internet with just Windows Defender & Firewall for protection (even from malware & ransomware, not just good old viruses and trojans). This is my home PC hence have installed a popular 3rd party security s/w.
Turning off News & Weather App did seem to help lower RAM &/ HDD usage, as I haven't noticed any spike from Feeds App yet. Would like to disable / turn off all optional / irrelevant features / Apps in Windows.

 

[ubuysa]

Well. I would have happily uninstalled BitDefender and not installed any 3rd party security s/w if Windows were secure enough for me to browse the internet with just Windows Defender & Firewall for protection (even from malware & ransomware, not just good old viruses and trojans). This is my home PC hence have installed a popular 3rd party security s/w.
Turning off News & Weather App did seem to help lower RAM &/ HDD usage, as I haven't noticed any spike from Feeds App yet. Would like to disable / turn off all optional / irrelevant features / Apps in Windows.

Windows Defender and Firewall are plenty good enough. Defender also has a lot of exploit protections built in too. IMO the adverts put out by third party anti malware vendors is just hype to frighten you into buying their products.

 

[BigFeet]

I ditched bitdefender years ago. It's protection is top notch, but the program itself left a lot to be desired. Some pages took forever to load (youtube), and sometimes the updater failed to work. Sometimes the updater pegged my cpu at 100% for long periods of time. I just use defender and the free version of malwarebytes.

 

[rameshiyer]

I would continue to use a reputed 3rd part security s/w like BD simply because WD doesn't warn me if I inadvertently click on a link which takes me to an unsafe website, which BD does. Also, malware & ransomware have become increasingly common so don't feel safe using just WD. But as @BigFeet says, the downside is the system resources 3rd party s/w hog. A necessary evil, I guess.

 

[jimmy b]

Feeds = terrible hijacker of resources; horrible idea.

 

[arkanfariss]

update to lasted windows version bro, its bug