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CPU Usage/System Idle Process Question


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#1
arindam43

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I am a fairly novice computer user, so my understanding of the terms in the title is probably inaccurate, but I've noticed under Task Manager that my CPU Usage never goes below 50%, even when I have no applications running at all. When I check the "Processes" tab, it shows System Idle Process (which I always thought was (100-CPU usage)% ) as being 85% or higher virtually all the time. Summing up the "CPU" values for the remaining processes seems to bear that idea out (usually less than 15%), but somehow my "CPU Usage" displayed along the bottom of the Task Manager is never less than 50%. I also know that when I do start running applications to the point that the displayed CPU Usage reaches 100%, the sum of "CPU" values for non-"System Idle Process" processes is around 50, so the value displayed for "CPU Usage" seems correct. It's very frustrating because I hit the 100% CPU Usage threshhold much quicker than I ought to - and this is on a machine I just recently acquired a few days ago, running Vista. My old laptop ran XP with an older processor and never had such issues, which is why I am asking in the Vista forum.

I suppose my question is - where can I find the programs/processes/whatever that are contributing to the seemingly baseline 50% CPU usage? I am fairly confident they are not showing up under Task Manager, since the System Idle Process is always 85%+ when I am not running anything (unless I am misunderstanding what that value is, in which case an explanation would be very helpful).

Thank you for any help you can provide!
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#2
antechmrt

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Can you provide us with a screenshot of the Task Manager?
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#3
antechmrt

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I dont know yet how to edit a post,
so I am adding a question as a new reply.

What are the sys specs of the system you are using?
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#4
arindam43

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I actually figured it out (I think) -- I disabled a few services that I don't use and the CPU Usage seems to be much more normal now. Those services were all related to the same program, and that program used to cause me a great deal of grief when I initially got the system. It was set to start when the machine started up, and resulted in 100% CPU Usage right off the bat (with that program being around 50% CPU Usage by itself). Disabling it from running at startup and disabling the corresponding services seems to have done the trick.

Thank you, though!
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#5
antechmrt

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Cheers!
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#6
arindam43

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Ok, so it turns out that I didn't actually fix it, at least not properly. Now my computer will appear to be ok when I restart, but somewhere along the way it randomly reverts to its old behavior of 50% baseline CPU usage.

I have attached a screenshot of the task manager, which is typical of the behavior I mentioned above. I am not sure which systems specs you need, could you please be more specific?

Thanks for your help!

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#7
FNP

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arindam43-


Please include the following information in your next reply:
  • The make and model of your computer.
  • The size of your hard drive, and the amount of free space left on it.
  • The amount of RAM on your computer.
  • Information on your processor, including make and speed.
Let's take a look at what's running at startup.
  • Please download Autoruns for Windows.
  • Extract the Autoruns zip folder contents to a new folder.
  • Double-click autoruns.exe to launch the program.
  • Go to File > Save As, and name it autoruns.txt
  • Remember to save as type: *.txt!
  • Please attach the file to your next reply (remember- it must be a .txt file).

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