System Idle Process

[Stuart]

Can anybody tell me why the "System Idle Process" uses nearly 100% of my CPU
frequently. Is this essensial? or can I stop it? If so, how?

 

[Wesley Vogel]

System Idle Process is when the system is idle or doing nothing.

2 : to run at low power and often disconnected usually so that power is not
used for useful work <the engine is idling>
Definition of idle - Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

System Idle Process reference...

[[Idle: This is a generic process that is used when no other program or
process is requiring CPU resources. It is not a bad thing if it is using 99%
of your CPU! This process is a 16 k loop that the CPU processes while it is
not doing "anything" else. If you computer is called upon to do any other
task than nothing, the idle process allows that to happen and the % used
will decrease accordingly. You can not disable the idle process. If it is
using 97% CPU, which only means that the other 3% is used by real programs.
If your idle process is constantly at a low rate (for example, 3%) something
else, an application or process is using the CPU.]]
http://web.archive.org/web/20041125021602/www.blackviper.com/WinXP/strangeservice.htm

[[Note The System Idle Process indicates the unused percentage of the CPU.]]
Task Manager may not calculate CPU usage correctly on Windows 2000, Windows
Server 2003, or Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;873289

[[System Idle Process - You cannot end this process from Task Manager.
• This process is a single thread running on each processor, which has the
sole task of accounting for processor time when the system isn't processing
other threads. In Task Manager, expect this process to account for the
majority of processor time. ]]
Default Processes in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;263201

[[Description:
the System Idle Process is not a process, more a counter which is displayed
in WinTasks used for measuring how much idle time the CPU is having at any
particular time. This counter will display how much CPU Resources, as a
percentage are 'idle' and available for use. Cannot be killed]]
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/System Idle Process/

[[System Idle Process
An option in the Windows XP Task Manager that indicates what percentage of
time the CPU is currently doing nothing but waiting for work. If no
applications are running that the user is aware of (although there may
always be some tasks running in the background), the percentage can be in
the high 90s. ]]
http://www.answers.com/topic/system-idle-process

[[System idle process
In computing, The System Idle Process is a process in the Microsoft Windows
operating system that displays, as a percentage, how much CPU resources are
"idle" and available for use at any given time. The name of this "process"
may be a misnomer, however, as the System Idle Process is more of a counter
and less of a process that actually uses the resource percentage that it
displays.]]
http://www.answers.com/topic/system-idle-process

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[R. McCarty]

System Idle process is the CPU equivalent of a bored person drumming
their fingers.When the CPU has nothing to process, it runs the Idle task.

 

[Stuart]

Thank you for that fast response.
That has answered my question.
I was getting the high percentage reading from the monitor in "FreeMemory
Pro". I went to the "Windows Task Manager processes" to discover that this
was the culprit.
Unfortuneately the FreeMemory monitor sometimes locks when the reading is
almost 100% so I didn't get to see the usage drop.
Thanks again for your help.

--
Remove 'nospam' from the address to email me

System Idle Process is when the system is idle or doing nothing.

2 : to run at low power and often disconnected usually so that power is
not
used for useful work <the engine is idling>
Definition of idle - Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

System Idle Process reference...

[[Idle: This is a generic process that is used when no other program or
process is requiring CPU resources. It is not a bad thing if it is using
99%
of your CPU! This process is a 16 k loop that the CPU processes while it
is
not doing "anything" else. If you computer is called upon to do any other
task than nothing, the idle process allows that to happen and the % used
will decrease accordingly. You can not disable the idle process. If it is
using 97% CPU, which only means that the other 3% is used by real
programs.
If your idle process is constantly at a low rate (for example, 3%)
something
else, an application or process is using the CPU.]]
http://web.archive.org/web/20041125021602/www.blackviper.com/WinXP/strangeservice.htm

[[Note The System Idle Process indicates the unused percentage of the
CPU.]]
Task Manager may not calculate CPU usage correctly on Windows 2000,
Windows
Server 2003, or Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;873289

[[System Idle Process - You cannot end this process from Task Manager.
• This process is a single thread running on each processor, which has the
sole task of accounting for processor time when the system isn't
processing
other threads. In Task Manager, expect this process to account for the
majority of processor time. ]]
Default Processes in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;263201

[[Description:
the System Idle Process is not a process, more a counter which is
displayed
in WinTasks used for measuring how much idle time the CPU is having at any
particular time. This counter will display how much CPU Resources, as a
percentage are 'idle' and available for use. Cannot be killed]]
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/System Idle Process/

[[System Idle Process
An option in the Windows XP Task Manager that indicates what percentage of
time the CPU is currently doing nothing but waiting for work. If no
applications are running that the user is aware of (although there may
always be some tasks running in the background), the percentage can be in
the high 90s. ]]
http://www.answers.com/topic/system-idle-process

[[System idle process
In computing, The System Idle Process is a process in the Microsoft
Windows
operating system that displays, as a percentage, how much CPU resources
are
"idle" and available for use at any given time. The name of this "process"
may be a misnomer, however, as the System Idle Process is more of a
counter
and less of a process that actually uses the resource percentage that it
displays.]]
http://www.answers.com/topic/system-idle-process

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Can anybody tell me why the "System Idle Process" uses nearly 100% of my
CPU frequently. Is this essensial? or can I stop it? If so, how?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Can anybody tell me why the "System Idle Process" uses nearly 100% of
my CPU frequently. Is this essensial? or can I stop it? If so, how?

"System Idle Process" is not any problem at all. That's just the name for
what the system is doing when it's not doing anything. It's there to make
the total add up to 100%

The only way to make it take up less is to use your computer to do more.
;-)

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Dump FreeMemory Pro, XP doesn't need any memory managers.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Thank you for that fast response.
That has answered my question.
I was getting the high percentage reading from the monitor in "FreeMemory
Pro". I went to the "Windows Task Manager processes" to discover that this
was the culprit.
Unfortuneately the FreeMemory monitor sometimes locks when the reading is
almost 100% so I didn't get to see the usage drop.
Thanks again for your help.

--
Remove 'nospam' from the address to email me

System Idle Process is when the system is idle or doing nothing.

2 : to run at low power and often disconnected usually so that power is
not
used for useful work <the engine is idling>
Definition of idle - Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

System Idle Process reference...

[[Idle: This is a generic process that is used when no other program or
process is requiring CPU resources. It is not a bad thing if it is using
99%
of your CPU! This process is a 16 k loop that the CPU processes while it
is
not doing "anything" else. If you computer is called upon to do any other
task than nothing, the idle process allows that to happen and the % used
will decrease accordingly. You can not disable the idle process. If it is
using 97% CPU, which only means that the other 3% is used by real
programs.
If your idle process is constantly at a low rate (for example, 3%)
something
else, an application or process is using the CPU.]]
http://web.archive.org/web/20041125021602/www.blackviper.com/WinXP/strangeservice.htm

[[Note The System Idle Process indicates the unused percentage of the
CPU.]]
Task Manager may not calculate CPU usage correctly on Windows 2000,
Windows
Server 2003, or Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;873289

[[System Idle Process - You cannot end this process from Task Manager.
• This process is a single thread running on each processor, which has
the sole task of accounting for processor time when the system isn't
processing
other threads. In Task Manager, expect this process to account for the
majority of processor time. ]]
Default Processes in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;263201

[[Description:
the System Idle Process is not a process, more a counter which is
displayed
in WinTasks used for measuring how much idle time the CPU is having at
any particular time. This counter will display how much CPU Resources,
as a percentage are 'idle' and available for use. Cannot be killed]]
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/System Idle Process/

[[System Idle Process
An option in the Windows XP Task Manager that indicates what percentage
of time the CPU is currently doing nothing but waiting for work. If no
applications are running that the user is aware of (although there may
always be some tasks running in the background), the percentage can be in
the high 90s. ]]
http://www.answers.com/topic/system-idle-process

[[System idle process
In computing, The System Idle Process is a process in the Microsoft
Windows
operating system that displays, as a percentage, how much CPU resources
are
"idle" and available for use at any given time. The name of this
"process" may be a misnomer, however, as the System Idle Process is more
of a counter
and less of a process that actually uses the resource percentage that it
displays.]]
http://www.answers.com/topic/system-idle-process

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Can anybody tell me why the "System Idle Process" uses nearly 100% of my
CPU frequently. Is this essensial? or can I stop it? If so, how?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Can anybody tell me why the "System Idle Process" uses nearly 100% of my CPU
frequently. Is this essensial? or can I stop it? If so, how?

Break out a dictionary and look up the word "idle," sometime. ;-}
The "System Idle Process" metric is the amount/percentage of time that
your CPU has nothing to do. A reading of 98-99% is generally
considered a good thing, and readings above 90% are normal. Think of
it like a car's engine idling in your driveway before you place the
car in gear.



--

Bruce Chambers

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[Rock]

System Idle process is the CPU equivalent of a bored person drumming
their fingers.When the CPU has nothing to process, it runs the Idle task.

Nice analogy.