At startup, CPU is running at 100% for 5 min.

Recently when I start up my computer, I notice that the HDD LED is constantly in the ON state, as oppose to the usual blinking. When the HDD LED stays on constantly, it pretty much indicates, to me, that the CPU running at 100%. At this point, I am unable to open any programs like, Task Manager, Process Windows or Autoruns to find out what is hogging up all the CPU time. I can still move the mouse pointer around, but some programs take a long time to open. When the HDD LED starts blinking again, then my programs will open normally. I have no viruses or malware, the C drive is defragged, registry is clean & defragged, caches, History are clear. Disk Optimization is good and sfc/scannow is good. I only have 3 items in my Startup file, Anti-Virus program, Start Menu and CCleaner monitor. Running Windows 7 Home, 8 GB RAM, Intel Core 2 Duo CPU. So, what am I missing here?

How do I get the Resource Monitor started if the CPU won't allow me to select anything because it is busy with other issues or programs?

I would temporarily disable CCleaner from auto start monitoring to see if that is the program causing this.

I have Sysinternals Process Explorer in my startup folder so i can see what programs use a lot of CPU on startup.
It starts up for all users and displays all processes on startup without a UAC prompt.
Have it sorted so the processes using the most CPU are at the top of the list.

You could add Resource Monitor to the Startup Folder, but there might be some security issues getting it to run on startup.

Thanks all for your responses. I already disabled Ccleaner and it did not help. I also created a shortcut for Resources Monitor in the Startup folder and it never came up after Windows started. I'll try starting the Process Explorer in Startup and see what happens with that. I'll try Layback Bear's suggestion also. Tnx

gilloz said:

I also created a shortcut for Resources Monitor in the Startup folder and it never came up after Windows started.

I'm not surprised, that's why i said there might be some security issues...

For me,
When I login to Windows with my Standard account i get a UAC prompt, type in my Admin Password, and Resource Monitor runs.
When I login to Windows with my Admin account, i get no prompt, and RM does not run.

Anyway, try Process Explorer in startup and Layback Bear's suggestion for a clean startup.

Let us know how it goes.

OK, I'm back. Running Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup, seems to have indicated my Anti-Virus program as the culprit. After eliminating it(temporarily), my CPU came down to about 2% in under 2 minutes as oppose to staying at 100% for 5 minutes or more. I am going to play with this some more. I will uninstall it and install my former Avast program and see if that makes a difference. I will consider this Solved for now, rather than to leave it open. I will create a new Post if additional problems come up. Thanks again guys for your help.