Windows 7: Cpu spikes

So I have a HP Pavillion d7 notebook PC.



Lately I have started paying attention more to my system and realized that my CPU is spiking randomely. Sometimes it will spike from 4% to 20%. Other times it'll spike all the way up to 50% and higher. I notice that when this happens my computer may freeze and lag up for a bit.
I've taken the computer to the shop and they said I may have to buy a new computer, because running a virus scan may not fix this problem. When I check my task manager nothing add's up to these high spikes of % usage.

I've run CClearner and cleaned my registry. I've run malware bites I believe it's called. I'm at the end of my rope when it comes to this.

Has anyone had a similar problem and found a solution?

There are programs that run in the background such as auto updates and of course MS system info and screen savers and magic packets on you nic if enabled and, etc, and etc and this is perfectly normal. What problems are you having, any BSOD, hard lockups that require a restart, graphic problems?

Disable Aero in windows by going to the basic theme it might be a prob with DWM.EXE cause that happened to me once but i would repair windows or reinstall it cause it might be some damaged files including DWM.EXE

I'm not sure what you mean by a BSOD.
I believe my graphics driver is a "ATI Radeon HD graphics 3200"

My main problem is my cpu % spikes spike hard at random. Some said it could have been a problem with overheting. But I bought a laptop cooler and keep a fan blowing on my laptop so not cause this.

The problems include my laptop slowing up at random times. My internet explorer will lag sometimes. When I play my games sometimes the ping will skyrocket out of nowhere.

Check for any programs running in the back ground like virus scanners, Windows update or any other program that runs in the back ground. To check this simply right click on the task bar at the bottom of the screen and a window will pop up, click on "Start Task manager" and then a new window will open showing you what all is running in the back ground. If you don't know what is what take a snap shot of the screen and post it here.

BSOD = Blue Screen of Death, sometimes Windows will get a hard error that makes the screen turn blue and usally some error code and then it shutsdown.

Ive checked the task manager multiple times. And the %'s just do not add up. Scv will take sometimes from 4%-13% and 1 or 2 other programs have a little spike from time to time. But the %'s will never equal what the total cpu usage is giving me.

and just today I encountered my first BSOD. After reading various fixes for it I have learned it is a driver causing my BSOD. When i'm able to I will post a screenshot of the BSOD. For now the only info i van give is that is was
error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

I believe a friend told me sometimes it will tell you what driver went faulty.
athrx.sys - adress FFFFF880042B58C1

If anyone can help me fix this that would be peachy!

We need the .dmp file located in C:\Windows\Minidump

Yes I was just working on that part. Though i'm horrid at retrieving information about my system. Is there an easy to use step by step of retrieving this? I see a couple files in my minidmp file but am not sure if any are the appropiate one's needed.

We need all the .dmp files. Put them in a .zip file and upload them here

i've never zipped a thing in my life. This may take a while =/