Topic: CPU Constantly Hitting 100%.

[Beeblebrox]

I'm having a problem with the CPU on my computer.  It keeps saturating itself at 100%, even with just one window, WinAmp, and Yahoo Messenger running.  I know there's no way that light of a load should bust my machine out like this.  If anyone has any insights or tips that would help me get a handle on this I'd be most appreciative. 

Thanks in advance.

[jualdeaux]

What is it doing without those programs running?

[Dash Jones]

check to make sure no one is accessing your machine via messenger.  It's possible someone is accessing your machine and doing their own thing on it.

Other than that however.

Check to make sure that there isn't a program running in the background.

Do a ctrl+alt+del and check to see if you have any apps running, if not check your default processes running and see if there are any extra ones running there and how much processing power they are taking up.  It should show you instantly what is using all that processing power.

If nothing shows up, it could also be that you have hidden viruses, trojans/programs that you picked up otherwise.

You can go to RUN and type MSconfig and disable all startup items, as well as go to services, say hide MS items, and then disable anything that isn't related to MS, or your actual hardware.

If that doesn't help, then I'd run a spyware protection and deletion program.

And if that doesn't help, it could be a hardware problem (or you haven't found the hidden software that's doing it).

At least those are the initial steps I'd take to check out what was going on with my Processor.

[Beeblebrox]

check to make sure no one is accessing your machine via messenger.  It's possible someone is accessing your machine and doing their own thing on it.

Merciless Hell!  How can I check to see if that's happening?  If it is happening, how do I find out who and where they are so I can find them and kill them?  Although, now that you mention it, the CPU use did drop to about 77% when I shut down Yahoo Messenger. 

Check to make sure that there isn't a program running in the background.

Do a ctrl+alt+del and check to see if you have any apps running, if not check your default processes running and see if there are any extra ones running there and how much processing power they are taking up.  It should show you instantly what is using all that processing power.

My problem here is that I'm not sure which processes should or should not be running at any given moment.  I will, however, do a check on the processes list next time I notice things going south again.  I didn't think about how it displays how much juice each process is soaking up.

If nothing shows up, it could also be that you have hidden viruses, trojans/programs that you picked up otherwise.

I use AntiVir and it runs in the background all the time.  The last time I ran a check nothing popped up.  Is there a malware buster that you would recommend?

You can go to RUN and type MSconfig and disable all startup items, as well as go to services, say hide MS items, and then disable anything that isn't related to MS, or your actual hardware.

Would it be OK to let AntiVir and Sygate firewall continue to open during start up?

 

At least those are the initial steps I'd take to check out what was going on with my Processor.

Cool, thanks.  I appreciate the tips. 

[FCM_SFHQ_XC]

check to make sure no one is accessing your machine via messenger. It's possible someone is accessing your machine and doing their own thing on it.

Merciless Hell! How can I check to see if that's happening? If it is happening, how do I find out who and where they are so I can find them and kill them? Although, now that you mention it, the CPU use did drop to about 77% when I shut down Yahoo Messenger.

Check to make sure that there isn't a program running in the background.

Do a ctrl+alt+del and check to see if you have any apps running, if not check your default processes running and see if there are any extra ones running there and how much processing power they are taking up. It should show you instantly what is using all that processing power.

My problem here is that I'm not sure which processes should or should not be running at any given moment. I will, however, do a check on the processes list next time I notice things going south again. I didn't think about how it displays how much juice each process is soaking up.

If nothing shows up, it could also be that you have hidden viruses, trojans/programs that you picked up otherwise.

I use AntiVir and it runs in the background all the time. The last time I ran a check nothing popped up. Is there a malware buster that you would recommend?

You can go to RUN and type MSconfig and disable all startup items, as well as go to services, say hide MS items, and then disable anything that isn't related to MS, or your actual hardware.

Would it be OK to let AntiVir and Sygate firewall continue to open during start up?

 

At least those are the initial steps I'd take to check out what was going on with my Processor.

Cool, thanks. I appreciate the tips.

Well first of all, you can adjust what information you see in the Processes tab of the Task Manager by going to View -> Set Columns
At any given time, a Normal computer on average has somewhere in the high 20's of the number of processes running(though you can go as low as 12 on idle).
Don't know if it is a good process or not?
Search for it in the Windows Search Engine(be sure to also allow search of hidden files). Check the "date created"/"date modified" of that file it turns up. Obviously the ones "date created" as the same day as your OS install are more then likely good. Any that show up that you do not remember installing, should probably be deleted(keep a renamed backup of the .exe file somewhere though just in case it was needed for an app.), or also, Google it !

Now, also, do you get this same CPU saturation when you open IE? or MSNM? or AIM? or Teamspeak? or anything else that requires a direct internet connection other then Yahoo/WinAmp?

[Dash Jones]

Use the above advice.

Also, Messenger shouldn't be using 20%+ of your processor.  Normal processes might not even spend 10%.  For example, mine is currently running at 2 percent with three programs running, a couple dozen processes, and three internet windows open.

Definately keep your firewall up.  The anti-virus is debatable, if it's not causing any problems keep it running.  Check to see how much processor use it's utilizing however, some versions and programs occasionally get a little out of hand.  You can probably customize which processes run on the Anti-virus.

I also use adaware and spybot, but there are various other types of spyware/adaware removers out there.  Be careful looking for them because trojan makers are also aware they exist and try to fool the unwary into visiting bad sites in their searches for such types of programs.  CNET is a good location for adaware and spybot to lead you to official sites from their D/L pages, also Yahoo normally lists the official sites at the top of searches.  There are several out there however, so you can pick and choose which ever fit your needs.

You might want to recheck the firewall, to make sure no one is accessing your machine is messenger seems to be using that amount of processor speed.  Of course that depends on how fast your processor is I suppose, mine is only a 2 GHz, but for that amount I'd imagine you'd have to have something on the order of less than a GHz.

[Just plain old Punisher]

When you press ctrl-alt-del to bring up task manager, click on the processes. Type in the filenames into a goodle search window to see what they are. You might have some spyware running, try using spybot search and destroy to scan. Try disabling any auto update programs for things like yahoo messenger, real player, etc. You can do that by brining up the programs options.

[Javora]

When you press ctrl-alt-del to bring up task manager, click on the processes. Type in the filenames into a goodle search window to see what they are. You might have some spyware running, try using spybot search and destroy to scan. Try disabling any auto update programs for things like yahoo messenger, real player, etc. You can do that by brining up the programs options.

Instead of Spybot I would suggest A-Squared.  Spybot is ok but IMHO just hasn't kept up with the times.  A good place that I have found to go to see what is running on your machine is PC PitStop!.  After you finish running it's system test there is a link you can click that will tell you what processes are running and if they are required or not.  The link is a little hard to spot since it is in the middle of a paragraph so take your time reading after the test finishes.  Hope this helps.

[Bonk]

Constant 100% CPU? You haven't happened to installed iTunes have you? (God forbid)

Winamp is owned by AOL now and phones home on every startup - not acceptable - it is no longer the Nullsoft gem it once was.

Yahoo messenger? MSN messenger? Both are evil. I find IRC, teamspeak and email more than sufficient. I cannot safely recommend the use of any "messenger" client, God knows what they will do, they have gone too far and their main audience is early teenagers...

As others have suggested definitely take a look at the process tab in the task manager (select columns: CPU Usage, CPU time, Memory Usage, Peak Memory Usage, User Name, Virtual Memory Size, Handle Count, Thread Count) and check show processes for all users. Look for the CPU hog.

Another handy tool is netstat. Use it at the command line: "netstat -a"  (See "netstat /?" for additional help).

[Beeblebrox]

Awesome, thanks for the tips, guys.  I'll definitely be getting proactive in a medieval fashion on this next time I see it happening.  I do use A-Squared and it's a pretty sweet program.  However, I will definitely be visiting www.downloads.com to pick out another one---suspenders and belt on this job.  I definitely hate to hear that WimAmp has essentially become spyware as I use it constantly.  It seems like most of the decent media players spy on the user these days. 

My firewall shows a log of port scans that happen on a semi-regular basis.  I wish I knew whether those port scans were malicious or just part of surfing the internet.  I was toying with the idea of getting some sort of (free--because I'm cheap) encryption software to frustrate anyone trying to go where they're not wanted.  Any personal recommendations for a hardcore malware scanner/barrier and an easy to use encryption program?


In the meantime, everyone dig into the milk and cookies.


 

 

[IAF Lyrkiller]

I got one word, reboot the syst.

[Beeblebrox]

I checked the processes section of the task manager this time and it showed Firefox as the biggest consumer of resources at that point.  It was using over 64,000 K at one point.  I don't know much about computers but that seems a little excessive.

[FCM_SFHQ_XC]

Depends on the application of course.. some intensive games, that mem range goes into the 200,000K+, however though I don't use firefox, I do think that is a bit excessive for Firefox.
Do you get your CPU saturation when Firefox is closed?

[Beeblebrox]

No, I don't.  As soon as I close it the system drops down to more reasonable numbers.  A few minutes ago it was running at over 95,000 K.  I tried running Explorer instead and it also clocked the CPU up to 100% at around 40,000 K.  What I don't understand is that I usually only run around 3 tabs open in Firefox.  Right now it's using nearly 40,000 K just for one single window with no additional tabs at all and WinAmp.

I've been sitting here just watching it, with 3 tabs running on one page.  Memory usage for Firefox has been steadily increasing from over 38,000 K up to over 55, 000 K and it's running up faster and faster.  Closing one tab and leaving three running dropped it down to 42,000 K. 

I'm sure there must be some reasonable explanation why the simplest of tasks are burning up the CPU but I can't for the life of me think what it could be.  Since memory usage is creeping up again (over 46,000 K now since I typed the last paragraph) it must have something to do with how long a browser runs.  I swear to God I just want to gather this damn thing up in my arms and fling it through the french doors onto the back of a passing homeless guy. 

[Nemesis]

Firefox keeps a lot in memory from recently visited web pages which increases its memory usage.  Optimizing memory usage is something being targeted by Firefox 3.  That however does not affect CPU usage.  My Windows 2000 system for example has Firefox using 110,448k but 0 processor time right now.  System Idle process is using 99% of the processor (in other words the system is not active)

What process are using CPU time?  (Anti virus, Norton ?)

[Darth Sidious]

Some installs of Firefox (especially earlier 1.5.x versions) had occasional bad memory leaks.
I've had FF use up to 600,000+ after being up for 4-5 days. 

[IAF Lyrkiller]

What OS are you using, how much main memory do you have?

The reason I ask this is that if you are running alot of programs in the background the more the OS will start using virtual memory.(HDD)

Your friendly neighborhood PC tech.

[KOTH-KieranXC, Ret.]

Winamp is owned by AOL now and phones home on every startup - not acceptable - it is no longer the Nullsoft gem it once was.

Yikes, thanks for mentioning that. My computer's been running a little slow lately, and that might be a factor.

[Beeblebrox]

I'm starting to notice that the CPU hits 100% and stays there when I'm on......image-heavy websites.  Firefox is definitely the program using up the biggest chunk of the CPU as I saw that it was listed as using 99 under the CPU section of the processes chart.  It also happens with Explorer.  Are there broswer settings I'm unaware of that would limit this sort of thing?

[FA Frey XC]

Get process explorer from Microsoft's website.

It details each process, and it's sub processes in a nice GUI that's pretty easy to understand.

This can enable you to see what exactly is going on with your box.

You can also download TCPView, which is basically a netstat GUI interface that shows all your current TCP connections. This is useful when you suspect you might have malware or some other process going out and connecting to the internet behind your back.

We would need specific stats on your CPU, memory, type of memory, etc.

If you've already posted that apologies as I'm lazy and didn't read the whole thread.

Regards,