Computer using ram and cpu but can't find what program is doing it

vnrock · 15 Apr 2012

Hi guys, I didn't know weather to put this under harddrive problems or here. Mod can move this if they think it's harddrive issue.

So for like one or two months now, I've been trying to google my problem but haven't gotten any luck.

The issue here is all my programs would freeze and I was like wth is going on? So after it happened a couple of times, I finally figured out what was going on.

The system was using cpu power ranging from 20 to 50 percent and my ram was using roughly 20 to 32 percent. The weird thing about this is my computer cpu usually is around 2-5 percent and ram is around 5-12 percent when doing normal day activities.

So I have no idea what is going on at all. I have a vortex 120 gb and I have it updated to the latest software.

My hypothesis is that there is a system defragging working in the background because I see my hard drive space going up and down. It'll go down 20gb and go back up. Sometimes goes down a lot sometimes not that much.

I have three programs and I've tried closing all three.

Bitdefender-no auto defrag
Iobit advance system care- I turned auto defrag off but even it the settings it's already checkmark not to defrag ssd
tuneuputilites- turned off auto defrag also and same thing as earlier, there's already a checkmark to not defrag ssd
edit(forgot to mention that I turned system auto defrag off also)
I ran antivirus scan and malware scan already with no luck.

So here's where the big mystery comes into play. Even though there is cpu usage and ram usage when I go to windows task manager, I can't find anything that shows it's using ram and cpu even though it is.

Very annoying with everything freezing. Even if I restart it still continues.

Sorry mods if I posted this in the wrong section, feel free to move it.

Any help would be great

Thanks

Computer specs
-nvidia special edition case
-i7 975 extreme edition
-16gb ram 1600mhz
-120 ssd
-1.5 tb harddrive and 1.0 tb harddrive
-sapphire 6990 graphics card
-5fans
-windows 7 64bit ultimate edition

marsmimar · 16 Apr 2012

Hello vnrock and welcome to Seven Fourms.

I'd recommend using a free utility called Process Explorer. As the name implies, you can see what process(es) are open or loaded as well as the names of their owning accounts. It's a much more powerful version of task manager. You don't even have to install this program. There's a link at the bottom of the article to run the program from your browser. Once you know what's running it can help you determine if it's something you need to get rid of (like malware) or something that can be disabled until you actually need it.

Some folks prefer another free product called Process Hacker. It has all the functionality offered by Process Explorer, plus more advanced features.

Process Explorer

Overview - Process Hacker

Influx · 16 Apr 2012

Please use Resource Monitor to identify faulty processes.

Wobblyo · 16 Apr 2012

Without wishing to teach anyone to 'suck eggs', I presume you have clicked the 'Show processes from all users' box in Windows task manager? I have a similar problem and when it happens it is either McAfee or my WD backup using a chunk of processor time.

Wobblyo · 16 Apr 2012

To add to my previous post, the fact that the processor and memory use is increased is not a problem for me and my PC carries on running fine.

vnrock · 16 Apr 2012

Wobblyo said:

To add to my previous post, the fact that the processor and memory use is increased is not a problem for me and my PC carries on running fine.

As you can see from my computer specs, basically I have a gaming pc which is very powerful. No matter what I do, play video games, edit videos etc.. My computer has never lagged so badly.

I'm pretty sure defragging is running in the background which causes programs to freeze one after another with the increase of ram and cpu power.

Yes, I have also checked show processes from all users and nothing shows the extra cpu and ram usage. I am sure something is happening with the harddisk.

vnrock · 16 Apr 2012

marsmimar said:

Hello vnrock and welcome to Seven Fourms.

I'd recommend using a free utility called Process Explorer. As the name implies, you can see what process(es) are open or loaded as well as the names of their owning accounts. It's a much more powerful version of task manager. You don't even have to install this program. There's a link at the bottom of the article to run the program from your browser. Once you know what's running it can help you determine if it's something you need to get rid of (like malware) or something that can be disabled until you actually need it.

Some folks prefer another free product called Process Hacker. It has all the functionality offered by Process Explorer, plus more advanced features.

Process Explorer

Overview - Process Hacker

I will def try this. Seems very cool the process hacker. Unfortunately this only happens like twice a week.

I will wait until it happens again and if I find a answer I will come back here to report what was happening.

Thank you for the info

marsmimar · 17 Apr 2012

vnrock said:

I will def try this. Seems very cool the process hacker. Unfortunately this only happens like twice a week.

I will wait until it happens again and if I find a answer I will come back here to report what was happening.

Thank you for the info

You're welcome. Please keep us informed if you find anything so others can benefit from your experiences. As far as defragging occuring in the background, I'd double check the defragging utility and make sure "scheduled defragmentation" is turned off (my personal preference.) Or have it scheduled to defrag when you know you won't be doing anything else. You could also open up services.msc to access the group policy editor and check the disk defragmenter service. Make sure it's not set to automatic. I leave mine on manual.

Local Group Policy Editor - Open