Started having problems with several programs. Windows Explorer, DesignCAD 19, WordPerfect X4, OpenOffice applications. Unable to scroll through files in Windows Explorer accompanied by flickering on screen. Similar problem in WordPerfect and OpenOffice applications, cursor unable to be moved from top of documents. In DesignCAD constant screen redraws obscur drawings. Looked at open processes and found that with no active print jobs, spoolsv.exe using large blocks of memory and CPU cycles. Can kill process and all programs work normally until spoolsv.exe is restarted either manually or automatically. Usually, process remains off until restarted and then works OK until something is printed. Once a documents is printed, problem may or may not reappear. Also, sometimes process automatically restarts and begins causing problems.

Herm - 1.) What sort of video card do you have? 2.) Do you have the latest drivers for it?A flickering usually indicates a driver that is far from being anywhere close to being ready to go. I can't speak for WordPerfect X4, but older versions of WP (version 9, if I recall correctly) would have a very bad habit of CONSTANTLY chattering with the printer. If the printer's local, it's not such a big deal but if it's talking to a printer on a print server, the amount of network traffic is amazing to watch. This may account for, in part, the issues you're having with the spooler.

Herm2, Did you figure out what the problem was? I'm having a similar problem recently with our win2003 print server. Without any jobs, spoolersv.exe consumes 10-15% CPU with IO Read Bytes and IO Write Bytes gradually increasing. I noticed this after users started complaining about intermittent problems with printing. What I've done so far: 1. restarted spooler / server 2. Replaced spoolersv.exe and spoolss.dll from a working system with similar config. 3. Checked c:\windows\system32\spool\printers folder for any stale files No luck so far. Any thoughts are appreciated. Regards, V