System Idle Process 97% CPU Usage...WTF

[Death.Trap]

My comp has been moving might slow lately...it randomly stutters...even when all I'm doing is moving my mouse around the screen.


If I come back to the comp after say a 5 minute break, it can take up to 30 seconds to open Firefox.

Under performance it says my CPU usage is at 4%

I've seen it spike to 100% when opening a program, even something simple like microsoft works. Right now it's bouncing between 2% and 20%.


Under processes it says that System Idle Process is using 97% of my CPU. What the hell is going on? I've done a ton of spyware scans...gotten rid of a shitload of spyware. Microsoft anti-spyware detects stuff that the other spyware programs don't, but it freezes my comp once it gets to a certain point. So I loose the data from the scan and I can't delete the programs that it's found.

Anyways....any ideas on how to fix this?

I've got a p4 2.26GHz 512 ddr sdram. Need any more info, let me know.

 

[The Terminator]

lol, System Idle Process percentage is whats left, as what percentage is NOT being used. You said ur CPU usage was spiking between 2 and 20% Ill bet you $100 that ur System Idle Process was running between 98-80%. So ya, its just telling you how much CPU percentage is left basically.

 

[DoctorGordon]

lol, System Idle Process percentage is whats left, as what percentage is NOT being used. You said ur CPU usage was spiking between 2 and 20% Ill bet you $100 that ur System Idle Process was running between 98-80%. So ya, its just telling you how much CPU percentage is left basically.

Explain this then: "If I come back to the comp after say a 5 minute break, it can take up to 30 seconds to open Firefox."

 

[Death.Trap]

Well, I didn't know that about system idle process, thanks for clearing that up.

Even without that, my system is still "stuttering" and as said above taking a long as time to open up simple programs like Firefox or microsoft word/works.

 

[Asus]

Do standard clean up stuff.
Defrag your harddrive, clear browser cache/history, close unused programs etc.

 

[Death.Trap]

Defragged a couple of days ago, and I clear the cache once or twice every week.

I normally have 29 processes...but lots of them are repeats of windows processes...like svchost(or something like that) I've had close to 10 of those running at the same time for some reason God only knows.

 

[Ranga]

check for spyware! that stuff can really slow down ur computer. I recommend microsofts latest one.

 

[JoeMan05]

Make sure you don't have some usb device plugged in that you dont need. A couple years ago my Task manager said that the "system" process was taking up like 60% of my cpu. I tried to figure it out for weeks, till finally I unplugged a digital video recorder and it went away immediately.

 

[Link]

Open your task manageer, select the processes tab and click twice on "cpu". This will make task manager list all processes in order of CPU usage. Now click to load firefox and see what process is eating up cpu time. If anything jumps to the high 80%'s or above, then that is your problem.

Other than that, check your hard drive light whilst loading. If it does a lot of flashing all through the 30's of loading, there may be a problem with it.

 

[bryanf445]

well at least your lucky and dont have the problem i have.. everytime i load up my comp theres a program that starts up under my processes...called catabr.exe...all it does is every second the cpu usage goes up and the memory usage goesup drastically..i believe it might have to do with catalyst drivers, but i got rid of catalyst drivers for other reasons. now i use all the spyware removal programs and stuff, but maybe this is just a virus. i can easily close the program by ending the task but is there a solution? im probably going to reformat really soon but my friend has my xp cd so ill have to just wait till i get it back

sorry for taking this thread but its a similar problem

 

[Shamrock]

Getting back on topic. The best bet is to probably reformat Death. Trap. It will clear everything and you will start brand new. If you want to try and completely avoid reformatting then do what these people have suggested.

 

[Death.Trap]

Getting back on topic. The best bet is to probably reformat Death. Trap. It will clear everything and you will start brand new. If you want to try and completely avoid reformatting then do what these people have suggested.

Yeah, I would have done this a while ago. But I got a new PSU and I had to take out my CD burner so it could fit...I have a stock case..everythings really tight.

But I guess I could pop my old vid card/psu in and then my cd burner as well.

For now I'm gonna try what these other guys have posted.

 

[Death.Trap]

Hmm, a couple of thigns jumped up when I started firefox. Firefox went up to 44%

Some other program that I think is part of norton jumped to 33%


And explorer bounced around from 0 to 30%

 

[firemachine69]

Make sure your machine doesn't disengage the hard drive. But it's normal to take a bit to come back, although not quite that much.

The SVCHost's have their uses, I DO NOT recommend you close them unless you know who they are and what they do.

Yes, it might spike to 100%, even with an FX-55 when opening wordpad. Remember, CPU performance is scalar, what that means is that it will (very) rapidly raise to 100%, or attempt to anyways. When the program is up, it'll throttle down usage. Idle CPU is to keep the system is sync.

 

[Kommie]

I got rid of norton and that helped for me.

 

[cschaef13]

disable norton, can help SIGNIFICANTLY

 

[oni_666]

I agree, Norton is bloatware, especially the Interent security 2005 thing, that program slows down PC's so much its taking the pi$$.
If you have Norton on, Bin it and get zomealarm and AVG or AVAST anti virus, free and simple.
Also the SVCHOST process has been known to be hijacked by several worms and trojans, If you have more than 5 instances of svchost in your processes then chance are you have a Virus.
To get rid of the latest viruses without installing any new anti virus programs go to... http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
This online anti virus scanner is great and picks up worms and trojans too.
There are a couple of worms like "worm.nast.a" that specifically target the svchost process, So be warned and get protected, Cos this little beggar disables all of XP's security features. (What there is anyway..lol).

 

[VirusType2]

Norton Rocks

I agree, Norton is bloatware, especially the Interent security 2005 thing, that program slows down PC's so much its taking the pi$$.
If you have Norton on, Bin it and get zomealarm and AVG or AVAST anti virus, free and simple.
Also the SVCHOST process has been known to be hijacked by several worms and trojans, If you have more than 5 instances of svchost in your processes then chance are you have a Virus.
To get rid of the latest viruses without installing any new anti virus programs go to... http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
This online anti virus scanner is great and picks up worms and trojans too.
There are a couple of worms like "worm.nast.a" that specifically target the svchost process, So be warned and get protected, Cos this little beggar disables all of XP's security features. (What there is anyway..lol).

Thats just not true. When I boot up it takes about 20 extra seconds to load all of Norton's programs including Personal firewall and Norton antivirus, but other than that, I notice no difference.

All of Nortons programs combined take up alot of memory yes, but it doesn't waste it, the memory it uses is for a reason, to protect your system from anything.

You can disable them from the programs themselves or...

I use msconfig in the run line then just click the services tab, then you can hide microsoft's stuff, and disable everything else (Norton). I do this before playing games.

I have no spyware, addware, viruses, Norton will pop up a message saying "you have been attacked by a virus "Bloodhound.exe" (or whatever)press ok to delete it(recommended). or more info (not recommended)
LOL
Im arogantly convinced nothing can mess with it.
Norton 2005 Rocks

 

[TrippyG]

everytime i load up my comp theres a program that starts up under my processes...called catabr.exe...all it does is every second the cpu usage goes up and the memory usage goesup drastically..

disable it loading from registry

and yeah Norton is a big system spender and it isnt that good anyway... I prefer F-Secure :thumbs:

 

[the_lone_wolf]

right now all of the norton systemworks '03 processes are using just under 7MB of memory, thats <1% of my total, and no CPU, not exactly hogging my resources at all, i have it running in the back ground 24/7, it updates automatically every 24hrs and runs a virus scan in the middle of the night every week. i don't do anything to it and it works fine, tried AVG but it just feels cheap (being free i spose it is)

 

[Kyorisu]

Tried AVG but it just feels cheap (being free i spose it is)

That's the AVG Free version. Theres also a Pro version that you must pay for. The only difference is the Pro version simply has more features than the Free version.

AVG Free addition is one of the best Free virus scanners around.

 

[TrippyG]

I used Norton for 6 years so I can tel u it sucks ass

EDIT: omg 6 years... what a waste...
Ps. Norton dont even know how to get rid of a virus

 

[VirusType2]

I used Norton for 6 years so I can tel u it sucks ass

EDIT: omg 6 years... what a waste...
Ps. Norton dont even know how to get rid of a virus

I agree I was really disapointed with the Norton 04 that came with my computer, but all that did is scan email and tell me If I got a virus, with a help base, but no "fix it" button.
The 05 version that I bought offers complete computer coverage, and automatically fixes every known virus, with Live Update it downloads new virus definitions automatically.

I love it, and swear by it, but I'll admit I never used a different brand, so I can't tell you if its better or worse than competitors.

You can clean dirt, but it will still be dirty

 

[Cole]

If you have rxmon.exe running... kill that..
I get 5x the loading speeds, 5x the fps with it off.
Dosn't say it takes up much..but it takes up shitloads..

 

[Edcrab]

That exact same thing used to happen to me.

I ran spyware checks, disabled programs- I did all sorts.

Eventually it went away by itself after a week and I never did get to the bottom of it...

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Well, I didn't know that about system idle process

I thought that was common sense.....Idk it says "system idle" ......maybe I'm just dumb.