PCHealth/System Restore

[Red Boy]

I am running Windows ME. I note that in my Start Up menu, there is the program PCHealth. I also have seen that it has been suggested that it can be disabled at Start Up with impunity. I would like to do so. But what I don't know is if the PCHealth program is tied into System Restore in Windows ME. Does anyone in the forum know? Because I do not want to affect System Restore.

Thanks,
Red Boy

 

[mtbird]

It most certainly is associated with system restore. This should explain a bit more.......

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=267952


Debe

 

[kilowatt1]

The entry PCHealth (pchschd.exe) in MSConfig/Startup is nothing more than a scheduler and does not turn off PCHealth.

"Firstly the PCHealth scheduler in the Task Scheduler can be very easily
prevented from running by a) disabling the entry in the Task Scheduler and,
b) unchecking the entry in MSConfig | Startup. It is the Startup entry that
is restoring it to the Task Scheduler.

As for what the PCHealth Scheduler for Data Collection does, the following
might be of some help. The PCHealth Scheduler for Data Collection routine
(pchschd.exe) initiates the collection of information for use by Help &
Support's System Information's History view. This allows users to see
changes over a period of time to their system such as drivers. The details
collected are contained in the files CollectedData???.xml files in the
folder ..\windows\pchealth\helpctr\DataColl.

Pchschd.exe is set to run every 10 minutes but actually does little and has
virtually no impact on the running of the system. This program simply
checks when run to see if your system is currently idle, if not it then
simply checks again in 10 minutes. If however the system is idle and has
been for the last few minutes it launches winmgmt.exe which collects details
of the current system configuration after which pchschd is set to check
again in six hours. There have been a number of reports of winmgmt..exe not
exiting when it has completed the collection of data and even cases where it
has consumed all available cpu cycles. In such cases it can and should be
terminated via the Task Manager.

If you have no use for such data there is no impact on the OS by disabling
both the entry for PCHealth in both MSConfig | Startup and the Task
Scheduler"

So in essance, you can uncheck this application in MSConfig/Startup as it will not interfere with the system restore process should you need to use it.

Hope this explains it a little better for you.

Kilowatt

 

[Red Boy]

Thanks guys, I knew that this forum would have the answer. And I thank you both.

Red Boy

 

[John Burns]

Hey - thanks for this information. I have been weeks trying to determine why my computer is showing 35% to 85% CPU usage when I run PitStop test on it. Believe me have tried a lot of things to combat it - but disabling PChlth.exe on my startup seems to resolve the problem. I now show 0% to 25% CPU usagewhen I run the PitStop tests. Appreciate your posts on this. I disabled it ONLY in MSConfig/Startup - not in the Task Scheduler. 2 Questions - - -will disabling this as I did have any effect on my Norton Anti-Virus automatic update feature? And, will any Restore points be made now - other than the ones I manually enter? Thanks for your help on this.

 

[edsod]

You will have no problems with restore points.
I disabled PCHealth a year ago and SR always creates it's points.
The thing I don't know is if SR really works good cause I never needed it .....

 

[kilowatt1]

John,

Since NAV is a stand alone or seperate program disabling PCHealth will not effect it. Also, it will not effect restore point capability.

Hope this helps.

Kilowatt

 

[John Burns]

That's what I wanted to hear - thanks for response. Really appreciate the info, edsod & Kilowatt!