CPU running high

[Dgarcia]

My cpu randomly begins to run high, sometimes at 100% for no apparent reason.
At least none that I can see. It causes extreme slowdown on my machine
sometimes causing webpages to take up to 7 minutes to open or close. There is
no "regular" time for this, it just happens even after i clean up, defrag,
etc. I have to sometimes shut down my PC by holding down the power button or
wait 10 minutes for the menu to open. Any tips on what could be causing this
or a way to stop it??

 

[Bill Sharpe]

My cpu randomly begins to run high, sometimes at 100% for no apparent reason.
At least none that I can see. It causes extreme slowdown on my machine
sometimes causing webpages to take up to 7 minutes to open or close. There is
no "regular" time for this, it just happens even after i clean up, defrag,
etc. I have to sometimes shut down my PC by holding down the power button or
wait 10 minutes for the menu to open. Any tips on what could be causing this
or a way to stop it??

How much RAM do you have?
How many programs are you running at the same time?
Does it happen on all web pages or just some pages?
Have you checked for malware?
The problem could be due to any of these items or lie elsewhere.

Bill

 

[JS]

It could be a sub-process or application that's running in the background
and taking all
the CPU resources, which could be the cause of your PC running slow.

To find and display what could be the problem try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/SystemInformation/ProcessExplorer.mspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and 'Show Lower
Pane' options.
Then expand the process named 'Explorer' (click on the + sign)
In the column on the left named 'CPU', look for any high CPU usage.
Next click on the CPU column to sort the processes by %CPU usage (Highest to
Lowest).
Move the mouse cursor over any process, you should see a popup with some
detailed info.
Then mouse over the process that's using most or all the CPU %.
Then click on that process to highlight it,
Now that it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
Search Online
This should display what out there on the web about that process.
You can also double click on any process to open up a more detailed
'Properties' window.
Note: some entries like Explorer, System/Services, Svchost may need to be
expanded to show the detail,
(sub processes), in this case click on the + located to the left of the
entry.

An alternate method using Process Explorer is to double click on the Graph
just below the Menu bar.
This will open the 'System Information' window, which has a larger display
of all three graphs.
Move your mouse over any spike in the CPU Usage graph to see what
process/application or service
was the cause of the spike or constant high CPU usage..

JS

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

firstly, "NEVER" force
a shutdown or pull
the plug during
an activity like the
one you describe.

in doing so you run
the risk of crashing
and corrupting
your file system.

instead, open the
task manager and
KILL any process
running by right
clicking on each.

you will find some
processes will not
allow you to kill
them but most others
will.

if the cpu is still
running wild after you
end/kill third party
processes, then pressing
ctrl alt delete twice
to do a soft reboot is
yet better than a forced
shutdown.

btw: the only time
one considers pulling
the plug on a system is
when there is nothing
left to loose.

 

[Ron Martell]

My cpu randomly begins to run high, sometimes at 100% for no apparent reason.
At least none that I can see. It causes extreme slowdown on my machine
sometimes causing webpages to take up to 7 minutes to open or close. There is
no "regular" time for this, it just happens even after i clean up, defrag,
etc. I have to sometimes shut down my PC by holding down the power button or
wait 10 minutes for the menu to open. Any tips on what could be causing this
or a way to stop it??

Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up Windows Task Manager.
Click twice on the CPU column header to sort the task list into
descending order based on CPU usage. The item at the top of the
list is the probable culprit.

Note: If Task Manager does not show the CPU column use View - Select
Columns to add it to the display.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2008)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."