Audacity 2-3-0 slow GUI and high CPU (Windows 8.1)

[steve]

dwm.exe is the culprit. It and Audacity run at about 40% each while starting

OK, that answers one question - it's impossible for Audacity to flog the CPU at 90% on a multi-core machine because currently Audacity can only access one core at a time, so it seems that Audacity is flogging one core at 80%, the Desktop Window Manager is flogging the other core (of your 2 core processor) at 80%, and then 20% across 2 cores for other processes, totalling 90% combined.

As you say, Audacity should not be going much over 20% when it launches, and dwm.exe should normally sit at less than 10% (around 2% on a modern machine), so we need to try and figure out why this is happening.

A some things that come to mind:

1) Virus scanning:
What anti-virus do you use?
Is it fully updated?
Have you tried running a full in-depth scan (preferably one that runs at boot time before Windows starts)? If not, please do so as soon as is convenient (it will probably take several hours to complete).

When you added the ZIP version of Audacity, did you remove the version that was previously installed?
If you've still got the "Audacity 2.3.0 zip" file, go to this page: https://md5file.com/calculator and test the zip file. You should get "SHA-256" result of:
f57b4074a544169311830bb428d1d8fefafceb6a3b0680ae23fa1c5321c05835

2) Graphics drivers:
Check to see when your graphics card drivers were last updated.

3) You mentioned a hard drive problem.
What exactly was the problem, and how did you fix it?

[fas42]

dwm.exe is the culprit. It and Audacity run at about 40% each while starting

As you say, Audacity should not be going much over 20% when it launches, and dwm.exe should normally sit at less than 10% (around 2% on a modern machine), so we need to try and figure out why this is happening.

A some things that come to mind:

1) Virus scanning:
What anti-virus do you use?

Is it fully updated?
Have you tried running a full in-depth scan (preferably one that runs at boot time before Windows starts)? If not, please do so as soon as is convenient (it will probably take several hours to complete).

When you added the ZIP version of Audacity, did you remove the version that was previously installed?
If you've still got the "Audacity 2.3.0 zip" file, go to this page: https://md5file.com/calculator and test the zip file. You should get "SHA-256" result of:
f57b4074a544169311830bb428d1d8fefafceb6a3b0680ae23fa1c5321c05835

2) Graphics drivers:
Check to see when your graphics card drivers were last updated.

3) You mentioned a hard drive problem.
What exactly was the problem, and how did you fix it?

1) Malwarebytes, normally up to date. I just use it to scan every download before running the install, and after installing. I haven't done a full scan for a long time, but will do shortly.

2) The most likely contender. This machine, handed on by someone else with computer technical skills has always had a problem with the graphics driver - it randomly freezes, but not enough to get in the way. Worst is with some YouTube videos. To unfreeze, an interrupt from a key stroke, or unplugging something usually does the trick - sometimes spontaneously restarts while doing something - can always recover, without rebooting.

Have tried on a couple of occasions to update the driver - my memory is a little shaky here, but I think it's the end of the line for updates being available that will run on my m/c ... I've learnt to live with it.

This misbehaviour is almost completely random - one can never deliberately provoke it, except by running a 'nasty' YouTube clip

3) A hard shutdown, when trying to send it into hibernation, managed to lose the integrity of C: - wouldn't reboot. Pulled the drive out, attached via adapter to another m/c; wouldn't recognise primary partition. Recovered all data as insurance, via Recuva, had zero problems doing this. CHKDSK found errors, so requested fixing scan - all good. Drive put back in, everything back to normal, no files or functionality lost or altered.

[fas42]

Previous 3 or 4 versions of Audacity still on m/c - and run fine. Using 2.2.2 right now to do real work.

Just tested my download of the zip file - perfect match on SHA-256

[steve]

I haven't done a full scan for a long time, but will do shortly.

Do that first, and then, assuming the scan show that the system is clean, try white-listing Audacity 2.3.0, and white-list ".au" files (Audacity data files).

Have tried on a couple of occasions to update the driver - my memory is a little shaky here, but I think it's the end of the line for updates being available that will run on my m/c ... I've learnt to live with it.

Check in the Windows "Device Manager" to see if Windows has changed the drivers recently.

If the graphics card is the original one that came with a branded computer, then the best drivers to use are generally the ones for the computer manufacturer's website.

If it's an after-market upgrade, or an unbranded computer, then best to look at the graphics card (if possible) to find the manufacturer of the card, and then get the latest drivers for your operating system from their website.

Drivers supplied by Microsoft are generally the last choice if all else fails (except for when Microsoft are the manufacturer, such as Surface Pro laptops).

[fas42]

To close out this thread ... I gave up hunting for possible causes, and decided to wait for the next release to come out; in case that made this issue go away ... well, the good news is that it did! I haven't gone back to check if 2.3.0 is still slow - let sleeping dogs lie!

The only minor quibble is that I had to manually add the folder "Portable Settings", again, to enable Audacity 2.3.1 to start ...

Thanks for a great program!

[steve]

I haven't gone back to check if 2.3.0 is still slow

It will be. Windows is not my operating system of choice, and unknown to me back in October last year, an update in Audacity 2.3.0 caused it to be significantly slower than previous versions on some machines (there was some performance hit for most Windows users, but it seems that this was much worse for some than for others.

The cause of this problems was located, and as you have confirmed, it has been fixed in Audacity 2.3.1.

The only minor quibble is that I had to manually add the folder "Portable Settings", again, to enable Audacity 2.3.1 to start ...

Sounds like you've probably got some bad data in one of the configuration files:
Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Audacity\audacity.cfg
Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Audacity\pluginregistry.cfg
Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Audacity\pluginsettings.cfg

I'd suggest that you delete those three files, otherwise you will probably need to manually create a "Portable Settings" folder every tie you update Audacity.
(Note that these files are in a hidden folder)