Britec Tech Support Forum

Hi everyone, version 1.9.0.8 is now available:

- Added the ability to add offline tools to the toolbox (functionality available from the “Custom Tools” tab):


- Updated the “GSmartControl” download method, since GSmartControl has recently beginning to offer two different versions: one for Windows XP and other for Windows Vista and later.

- Replaced “FixWin” with a link to “Microsoft Easy Fix” (previously known as “Microsoft Fix it”).

- Replaced “ComboFix” with “HitmanPro”.

- Several other minor improvements and fixes.

As always, your feedback is welcome.

Thanks!

Ps: sorry for the typo in the "throw" word in the custom tools tab.

(07-22-2017, 05:17 PM)AlexCa Wrote: [ -> ]Hi everyone, version 1.9.0.8 is now available:

- Added the ability to add offline tools to the toolbox (functionality available from the “Custom Tools” tab).

- Updated the “GSmartControl” download method, since GSmartControl has recently beginning to offer two different versions: one for Windows XP and other for Windows Vista and later.

- Replaced “FixWin” with a link to “Microsoft Easy Fix” (previously known as “Microsoft Fix it”).

- Replaced “ComboFix” with “HitmanPro”.

- Several other minor improvements and fixes.

As always, your feedback is welcome.

Thanks!

Great! Thanks for the update Alex....

I used the portable version and it loaded with ease

(07-23-2017, 02:57 PM)Timster Wrote: [ -> ]Ah Alex you finally brought HitmanPro back. I did recommend bringing it back a while back. I think that was a smart move.  

I am going to be honest here so take this as constructive.

Now on most Windows 10 computers that I run this tool on that come through my shop there is a long delay when "Loading Please Wait..." When I say long I mean upwards of 3.5min. This is getting to be the case more often than not. Most of the time the computers are not even infected and are wired to my network. I have witnessed this delay even in safe mode. I will say that the reduced functionality mode loads quickly every time. Alex I know you are aware of this issue hence the reduced functionality option. It seems that whatever code is being used to aggregate the system specs is hanging on a particular resource? Just an observation.

I have also been comparing the performance monitor built into WRT to the performance monitor in Windows and often they do not match. In some cases way off. I notice it mostly with ram usage reporting and cpu usage reporting.

Hey Tim, no problem! It's great to have some feedback, and even better by someone that is using the tool everyday and in several different computers! I really appreciate it.

About the performance monitor, I think that what you're observing are different values based on different moments when the refresh of those values occurs in WRT and in the Performance Monitor (they will not get and display the values at the exact some time, hence the differences). But if you test in a stable situation you'll see that the results are pretty much the same. Take a look at this video: https://sendvid.com/tley23x3 (or maybe just try it yourself, it's pretty easy: open the Performance Monitor, open WRT, run a quick scan while comparing the values).

"% Commited Bytes in Use" in Performance Monitor correspond to "RAM(%use)" in WRT.
"% Processor Time" in Performance Monitor correspond to "CPU(%use)" in WRT.

Note that the values presented by Performance Monitor regarding CPU usage are different from the ones presented by Task Manager (from what I observed, the value shown in Task Manager is normally about 10% higher). About RAM usage i haven't noticed differences. I haven't found a way to "plug" into Task Manager and grab it's values (and for all I can tell, I don't think that Microsoft provides one). In fact all tutorials and documentation I've found are about using Performance Monitor accomplish the task. I even tested some other programs (like HWinfo, Process Explorer, OpenHardware Monitor), and all of them present values close to Performance Monitor and different from Task Manager regarding CPU usage.

As for the startup delay issue, would you mind running a special version of WRT for me? This version would be exactly the same as the current one, but it will create a text log telling how much time each resource took to load at startup (I think I can do that). That way you could send me the logs of a few affected machines so I can see where it's taking more time. That would be of a great help. I would do it myself, but I'm not able to reproduce the problem. I use the program everyday but the computers are somehow similar in software they run, so probably there's something I'm missing.

Thanks!

(07-25-2017, 02:06 AM)AlexCa Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-23-2017, 02:57 PM)Timster Wrote: [ -> ]Ah Alex you finally brought HitmanPro back. I did recommend bringing it back a while back. I think that was a smart move.  

I am going to be honest here so take this as constructive.

Now on most Windows 10 computers that I run this tool on that come through my shop there is a long delay when "Loading Please Wait..." When I say long I mean upwards of 3.5min. This is getting to be the case more often than not. Most of the time the computers are not even infected and are wired to my network. I have witnessed this delay even in safe mode. I will say that the reduced functionality mode loads quickly every time. Alex I know you are aware of this issue hence the reduced functionality option. It seems that whatever code is being used to aggregate the system specs is hanging on a particular resource? Just an observation.

I have also been comparing the performance monitor built into WRT to the performance monitor in Windows and often they do not match. In some cases way off. I notice it mostly with ram usage reporting and cpu usage reporting.

Hey Tim, no problem! It's great to have some feedback, and even better by someone that is using the tool everyday and in several different computers! I really appreciate it.

About the performance monitor, I think that what you're observing are different values based on different moments when the refresh of those values occurs in WRT and in the Performance Monitor (they will not get and display the values at the exact some time, hence the differences). But if you test in a stable situation you'll see that the results are pretty much the same. Take a look at this video: https://sendvid.com/tley23x3 (or maybe try it yourself, it's pretty easy: open the Performance Monitor, open WRT, run a quick scan while comparing the values).

"% Commited Bytes in Use" in Performance Monitor correspond to "RAM(%use)" in WRT.
"% Processor Time" in Performance Monitor correspond to "CPU(%use)" in WRT.

As for the startup delay issue, would you mind running a special version of WRT for me? This version would be exactly the same as the current one, but it would create a text log telling how much time each resource took to load at startup. That way you could send me the logs of a few affected machines so I can see where it's taking more time. That would be of a great help. I would do it, but I'm not able to reproduce the problem myself. I use the program everyday, but the computers are somehow similar in software they run, so probably there's something I'm missing.

Thanks!

Sure Alex I will be happy to run the special version (when I can). Can you pm me a link?
I have observed on a few occasions the difference in performance monitoring of wrt can be WAY off. Not just by a little bit. I will try to capture this once I notice it again. I will do the best I can as I am always trying to push customers computers out the door as fast as possible. Thanks Alex

Thank you! I still haven't made it. I'll be spending a few days off and when I return I'll start working on it.

Does that happens if you observe the values while WRT and the Performance Monitor - not Task Manager or Resource Monitor - are kept opened side by side for some time?

It might happen that in CPU spike moments the results presented are different due to different refresh times (they will not get and display the values at the exact some time, hence the different results presented), but they will eventually even out. Take a look in this other video I've just made: https://sendvid.com/5cwwq8io

In the right side are the Task Manager and the Resource Monitor (these two show different CPU usage values between themselves). In the left side is Performance Monitor (from where WRT grabs the values - "%Processor Time" in the Performance Monitor corresponds to "CPU(%use)" in WRT). As I start to open programs, the values in all off them will differ from each other by a lot in a given moment. But as much as I can observe, WRT in average will pretty much follow %Processor Time in Performance Monitor, as intended.

Anyway I'll keep an eye on this on other machines, just to be sure. From what I tested in my PC, I don't think I dropped the ball up in this one, but if I did i'll do my best to fix it. Thank you for the heads up Tim.

Hi Alex,

I would also like to test this special version as well as I use this program as well, plus, I want to help you improve it because it is an awesome piece of software

I have quite a few of systems that can I test this with and would be willing to put my time to use by helping.

Thanks

RECdevicehelper

(07-25-2017, 04:55 PM)AlexCa Wrote: [ -> ]Thank you! I still haven't made it. I'll be spending a few days off and when I return I'll start working on it.

Does that happens if you observe the values while WRT and the Performance Monitor - not Task Manager or Resource Monitor - are kept opened side by side for some time?

WRT and Performance Monitor side by side yes.

Please keep in mind Alex I have witnessed this on only a couple of occasions. I check this on systems that have limited resources such as systems that have a minimum amount of memory. When I start noticing lag I observe the WRT resource levels and they look fine so I open Performance Monitor and I see a much different story and then I know why the computer is lagging. Hope this makes sense.