Need help please: My CPU usage is going high for i don't know what reason.

[MLphoto]

I have windows vista and i just had my HP computer for about 3 weeks now.
Its 3GB RAM, 750GB HardDrive, nivida geforce 8500 GT video card, 4 9500 processors.

I have a gadget for vista which says my CPU is at like 0.2 when im not doing anything, maybe if i open a game up or a program it will go up to 5 which is almost nothing for me always. Now just yesterday im not using anything and its just going from 0-70 up and down for no reason. If i open a program or game is its disaster. Please if you know whats wrong with my PC help me, i really need to working good for school.

Thank you

[cdifoto]

Have you tried rebooting? It's like computer penicillin. :D

If that doesn't do it, use Ctrl+Alt+Del to see what's sucking up the resources.

[Motley]

If you pull up task manager, performance in vista, look for the processes, and try to find what is using the most cpu or memory.

To bring up task manager: CTRL+SHIFT+ESC (You can also right click on the task bar to pull up the task manager as well...)

[jjaenagle]

one of the biggest reasons for that is a virus... use ctrl alt del... open the task manager... go to processes and read/ google about each one that doesnt look familiar.

What have you downloaded or installed recently?

do you have a good antivirus? I just recently uninstalled windows xp which was at 99% cpu usage almost all the time and installed vista ultimate... it works perfectly now, but i had installed so much stuff that processes that i didnt need were still there!

Get a good antivirus... not norton or mcafee.

If you want to pay for one, go with eset nod32 or avg antivirus is a good free one.

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Sometimes if you uninstall a program, it leaves stuff behind that still loads with the computer, and you may need to get a good registry cleaner or something if nothing else works...

I had to install vista for it to erase all the junk i had.

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I probably would have uninstalled and reinstalled the os cause hp and all those other companies already equip it with so much junk.

[davidcrebelxt]

Often, Windows Defender can be a culprit for high cpu or disk usage... and oftentimes task manger doesn't show its process. Go to start menu, and type "defender" in the search bar... it should bring up an entry for defender... click to run it, and see if perhaps it isn't running a scan... if it is, see if stopping it kills the cpu usage, and schedule it to run at low-usage times.

[MLphoto]

If i reboot my PC will i loss all my programs?

I havn't downloaded anything in the last week, it just happend out of no where.

btw im using a norton internet secutiry anti-virus, trial version.

[MLphoto]

i do the atl+ctrl+delete and go to my process on task manager. I dont know what to delete lol. I got some thing running at 50,000k some at 40,000. I deleted some things but then i lost some things so i had to restart my pc.

IF I ADD RAM WILL IT HELP?

[Motley]

You haven't rebooted your PC, come on dude...

[jjaenagle]

lol... uhh... rebooting your computer "might" help.

You wont lose anything if you reboot your computer. Just make sure everything you are doing is saved, reboot, and it should be good!

That will help clear the RAM in your computer and probably get your cpu to run faster when you reboot cause you wont have so many processes running again.

You shouldnt keep your computer on that long anyways. I normally shut mine off when i dont use it, but if you just rebooted at least every other day, you should be ok. Most will say every day, but if you have a good computer, it shouldnt be that much of a problem.

Keeping it off when it isnt used will also help the life of all the parts in your system cause it wont always get hot.

[MLphoto]

by rebooting you guys mean unplug the PC let it rest, then turn it on later?
The way i did rebooting before was use my windows program to start everything all over again.

[jjaenagle]

rebooting means turning your computer off and then back on. IT does not mean unplugging anything.

Go to your start menu, or if you have vista, use the little window thing at the bottom left.

Then it should say turn off computer or something like that and turn it off.

Simple as that. Once you turn it back on, your computer should be refreshed and back to working a little quicker.

If your cpu is still acting up like that after rebooting, then you need to look into cleaning up programs, virus scans, etc

[MLphoto]

Well last night it was okay but now this morning it wont go below 40, its going crazy up and down from 40-95

[jjaenagle]

what kind of programs are you running? it could be the antivirus doin a lot of it and like what was mentioned before... vista... i would uninstall and reinstall vista and just get all that junk off and start out fresh...

and use a better antivirus...

[MLphoto]

what kind of programs are you running? it could be the antivirus doin a lot of it and like what was mentioned before... vista... i would uninstall and reinstall vista and just get all that junk off and start out fresh...

and use a better antivirus...

The only big programs i would say im running are a game, photoshop, canon programs, limewire, microsoft office.

I did some research on the net and i have seen a few people mention that after they deleted there norton internet anti-virus the problem went away.
I really like this anti-virus. I guess i should get another one...

[jjaenagle]

norton is not that great... trust me, if you move to another one, it will get so much better!

One of the other problems may be that your using way too many resource hungry programs at once. Most newer games require a lot of ram and cpu usage and would need to run just without the any other programs running. Limewire also uses a lot, especially if you are downloading a lot of things at once.

I normally run photoshop by itself just cause its such a big app.

and i dont run much of my canon stuff unless i am using it then and there... camera, printer...

Anyways... if you didnt run so much at once, it wouldbt be so high. Other than that, its kinda normal

[Collin85]

Task Manager -> Processes tab. Check exactly what's hogging up your CPU resources as it's happening.

I have no idea what kind of games you play either, but the latest commercial games will dominate your resources. Photoshop idle shouldn't each much of the CPU, although likely lots of RAM if you're in the middle of a workflow. P2P programs and Office may conjure up quirks here and there which may eat up resources (such as Office checking for updates or your P2P program trying to do a file restructure with your downloads).

[tupper]

you could also have a trojan that has hacked into one of your important system apps and opening numerous amounts of the same app. Therefore creating the CPU usage to increase dramatically.
Thats what happened on my old PC, had to reset the whole PC because it was far beyond the point of any trojan remover.
Then i bought a mac ;)

[JohnnyG]

Have you re-booted your PC yet? That might fix it.

[Collin85]

Have you re-booted your PC yet? That might fix it.

Oh yeah, I guess I didn't read the whole thread. That might certainly help. :lol: