inactive process

[E. J. Jewell]

Windows XP SP2

At times the performance of my computer gets intolerably slow and jerky.
When I look in Task Manager there is something called "System inactive
process"[1] using anything from 90 to 99% of the processor. What is
this? How can I avoid it? Task Manager won't let me terminate the
process.

[1] ... or words to that effect - I'm using the French version of XP.

 

[Malke]

Windows XP SP2

At times the performance of my computer gets intolerably slow and jerky.
When I look in Task Manager there is something called "System inactive
process"[1] using anything from 90 to 99% of the processor. What is
this? How can I avoid it? Task Manager won't let me terminate the
process.

[1] ... or words to that effect - I'm using the French version of XP.

The English version of the process is "System Idle". "Idle" means when your
computer is doing nothing, so it isn't the System Idle process that is
slowing your machine. Something else is and you need to figure out what.

Here are the general troubleshooting steps for that:

1. Make sure the computer is completely virus/malware-free:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

2. Ask yourself The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between
the time things worked and the time they didn't?

3. Try and correlate the slowdown with something you are doing/running.

4. Do normal maintenance on the machine:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Maintenance

5. See if Indexing is the culprit by turning off the Indexing service:
Start>Run>services.msc [enter] and scroll down to Indexing. Double-click
Indexing to get its Properties, then Stop and Disable.

6. If none of that helps, do clean-boot troubleshooting:

Clean boot in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

Clean-boot advanced troubleshooting in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434

How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

That should give you a start. If you need more help after you've done the
troubleshooting, post back with what you did and the results.

Malke

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Windows XP SP2

At times the performance of my computer gets intolerably slow and
jerky. When I look in Task Manager there is something called "System
inactive process"[1] using anything from 90 to 99% of the processor. What
is this? How can I avoid it? Task Manager won't let me
terminate the process.

[1] ... or words to that effect - I'm using the French version of XP.

"System Idle Process" in English.

"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%.

Look elsewhere for your performance problems. This isn't the cause.