WHEN IS WDFME.exe GOING TO GET FIXED?

This program is running constantly on my machine at no logical time and for no apparent reason…

It is a substantial problem and I cannot kill the program when it is running.

Does anyone from WD care about this?

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If you are using WD Smartware, this will be running all the time, as this software is doing continue backup. WD have updated the software, if you have the latest version, this should not be hitting your performance to bad.

Thanks, the SmartWare software on my laptop is the latest version but I have noticed no improvement at all by upgrading it.  WDFME.exe runs at odd times like when the laptop starts up and it just kills things. 

There is no reason it needs to run at all.  Why not just check for file changes when the backup drive is plugged in rather than all of the time. 

I have been with WD products for a while now but if this is not fixed in the next month or two they’ll never get my business again.

Fritz wrote:

Thanks, the SmartWare software on my laptop is the latest version but I have noticed no improvement at all by upgrading it.  WDFME.exe runs at odd times like when the laptop starts up and it just kills things. 

 

There is no reason it needs to run at all.  Why not just check for file changes when the backup drive is plugged in rather than all of the time. 

 

I have been with WD products for a while now but if this is not fixed in the next month or two they’ll never get my business again.

You know you don’t have to use it right? The drive works just fine with any number of other backup programs. SmartWare is just a free option they include with the drive.

Good point but I bought it in part because of the software so it’s not unreasonable to want it to work properly.

Would be keen to know the names of the good free ones so I can uninstall it.

Thanks

So an update from me on this in case anyone from WDC is in the slightly bit interested.

WDFME.exe is basically making my laptop unusable…

The program runs when the laptop starts up and then at least two more times during the course of the day.  I am unable to stop it, change any settings etc.

The fact that this occurs and no-one seems to care is a disgrace.

@Fritz, have you try to reach WD directly? Keep in mind this is a user to user forum, even thought WD check the forums occasionally, the best way to get things done is either calling or emailing WD.

To Contact WD for Technical Support
http://support.wdc.com/contact/index.asp?lang=en

Fritz wrote:

So an update from me on this in case anyone from WDC is in the slightly bit interested.

 

WDFME.exe is basically making my laptop unusable…

 

The program runs when the laptop starts up and then at least two more times during the course of the day.  I am unable to stop it, change any settings etc.

 

The fact that this occurs and no-one seems to care is a disgrace.

I am unsure why you think no one seems to care.

Here is a thread where this was being discussed at length and here is a post that somewhat answers your questions:

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-Smartware/WDFME-exe-RAM-hog/m-p/304172#M4126 

I’ve read all of the threads but the fact is that the software should work without having to delve into the depths of Windows. 

None of what they have posted has fixed the problem apart from uninstalling their software and using something else - hardly a solution…

It’s been a problem for a number of months and WD should have invested time fixing it or at least providing the users with an explanation of the problem and what they are doing about it.

Did you try Kiwi Monitor so it can automatically kill or alert you once Skynet (Smartware) gets to reach some memory peaks?

Nope, too much faffing around, shouldn’t have to kill anything, it should just work…

The software is installed on a work laptop.  I needed to get permission to get it installed and I don’t have admin rights to stop services etc. so I can’t do any of this.

The fact is it should work.

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Hello, I seem to have exactly the same problem.  The funny thing is it was not so noticeable before and seems to be getting worse with time.  I wonder if WDFME has been negatively impacted by Windows updates and WD has not been able to keep up.

There were performance problems with this software in previous versions that were eventually resolved. 

I agree that customers should expect the software bundled with the drive to work acceptably.  I am not impressed with WDs track record.

I am using Windows 7 64 bit Family edition (Premium) Service Pack 1

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Go into the program files and rename WDFME.exe files.   Main program files and Front Parlor. Worked for me.

For what it’s worth for any WD techs that read this thread, I had the same problem. My system was crawling and when I went to find out why I found WDFME.EXE using up 6.2GB of the 8GB of RAM installed on my Win7 x64 system. And I don’t even use the backup software - I manually drag things to the external drives when I want an archival copy.

This behavior appeared recently - I’ve never had it happen before.  I also recently updated my system with a number of windows updates so I’m thinking that actually might be the cause as someone else suggested earlier.

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I am experiencing the same problem for months now.
As soon as WDFME.exe is running my system (Win XP) becomes very slow. WDFME.exe is using most of the virtual memory. When I kill this process the performance improves considerably.

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I called WD tech support on 2/10/12 and discussed this WDFME resource problem with them.   When I told them this issue got worse after  the upgrade to version 1.5.1.6, they said it sounds like a bad installation.   Do a complete WD Smartware program removal and re-installation.     I tried that and now everything works 90% better.   I did this 3 days ago and have been monitoring it.    It does its thing for a few minutes on start-up and then gets out of the way.   I have been using the Category backup.  I selected the “run backup when computer is idle” box.   

Hope this helps.

Many os us have already been told that same thing (“Bad installation”), and have uninstalled, and re-installed, but it hasn’t helped at all. (“Bad installation” is also a WD problem!)

Agree, it should work right out of the box.   Maybe one more important step.   I removed it, restarted the PC and then installed it. 

I have 4GB RAM and this WDFME.exe was running at 3,268,569 KB. Its the first time it does this but this really scared me

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Thanks — I did what you suggested — removed WD Smartware and reinstalled, restarted system, set to update when idle ----- greatly improved!!  Many thanks---- regards, GG

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