Dear windows geeks why?

[timwilky]

Does something called Alteris try to take over my laptop whenever I am using it, steal 50% of the cpu etc.

I know it is something the corporate IT people use. But why when I am trying to run a heavy plant simulation does this carp hit me.

[Richie]

'cos it hates you...

:0) we luv you BTW... big hug... xx

[Paul the 6th]

Cos it's not running OS X

[DJFridge]

Cos it's not running OS X

That's doesn't help him - neither is anybody else!

[Epic Monkey]

I had this exact same problem on my previous employers systems. From what I gather it's their utility for monitoring what goes on and is also used to roll out updates. Unfortunately it consumed every last bit of CPU making development a real pain. I complained about it saying it was hindering me bla bla bla and they said "sorry, corporate instructions bla bla bla"
Think it's something you'll have to live with unfortunately. Unless your IT guys can give you a decent VM server without all the junk and you can run your stuff on there.

[fizzwheel]

As said above, Altiris is a tool that allows your support department to remotely image your OS and also install software such as office and whatever else they feel like remotely without having to visit your PC to do it.

It can also give a feature that allows them to remote control your machine / view your desktop. It can also also be used for audit purposes reporting to a central database the spec of your PC and what software is installed on it.

Its a pretty cool piece of software and something I implemented at our workplace many moons ago.

It has an agent on installed on your PC that I suspect is probably causing your problem. Have a look in the control panel for some services called altiris or altiris agent and stop it and that should see the CPU usage drop away. Assuming of course that they havent disabled the option to stop the service with your level of user rights...

If its using 50% of the CPU its either broken or its doing its daily scan of whats on your laptop / PC you could try speaking to your IT department and asking them to schedule the scan for a different time of day thats less intrusive.

[454697819]

have you tried turning it off and on again?

[SoulKiss]

have you tried turning it off and on again?

You forgot something

http://watchtheitcrowd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/The-IT-crowd-Picture-1.jpg

[Amadeus]

Does it use 50% of your processor even when running your simulation? Or just when the machine is basically idle?

[timwilky]

Proc explorer is showing my simulation system is using about 40%, Alteris and its sub processes using about 48-50%.

This went of for about 4 hours last night, what should have finished by about midnight was 3am this morning before it stopped. Sat in front of a screen looking for anomalies/warnings taking far longer than it should because of the bloody IT geeks toys. I tell them to keep away from my laptop as it is not an "Office" system but they come the corporate standard. I am so tempted to rip it out.

[larssonn]

We have Altiris here in Ninewells and when its doing its updates it can be slow. You can ask your local ICT to modify it so that it only uses so much CPU or does it early morning/ late at night?

[ravingdavis]

I have Altiris Agent on my corporate laptop too. It can be a real pain in the **** :(