Windows 7 CPU Usage

Anochi

New member
Hey there everyone. As the title suggests, the current problem I'm having with my version of Windows 7 Home 64-bit is that the CPU Usage frequently rockets up to 100% and proceeds to lag everything on my computer for several minutes.

I have already tried the following:

-Disabled my gadgets on the desktop
-Disabled the HD Audio Devices listed under Device Manager
-Disabled indexing for my drive
-Ran several antivirus software, coming up with nothing
-Reformatted my drive (though I'm pretty sure it just put another version of Windows on it instead as I have a folder named "Windows.old")

Now, my CPU usually tends to do this only when I'm running a program or game (WoW, etc.) and I have yet to find a solution for it.

I have ran Process Explorer while in the midst of my CPU Usage being 100% and the only irregularity I've seen is that the System Idle Process also skyrockets up to around 60-90+ CPUs, which I'm assuming it shouldn't be doing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am really clueless as how I should go about fixing it at this point.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell Studio 1745
OS
Windows 7 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80 GHz
Memory
3 GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series
System Idle Process using 90% of your CPU is a good thing. It means that that 90% of CPU resources is availble should there be any real work to do. The higher this figure the better.
What this means is that at peak usage, yout program or game is consuming 40% of cpu resources. That doesnt look like a problem. Many apps and games are resource intensive and 40% really isnt that high.
Check your figures. If your system idle resources are 60-90 while you use the apps/games, cpu usage cannot be 100%.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Too many to describe...
OS
Windows 7 x64 pro/ Windows 7 x86 Pro/ XP SP3 x86
I will keep Process Explorer up for whenever it decides to happen again, but I have yet to find out from that what exactly is causing the problem. I will take a screenshot next time and post it here and hopefully that will help figure out something.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell Studio 1745
OS
Windows 7 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80 GHz
Memory
3 GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series
process.png


This was the most recent Process Explorer of when it happens. Any ideas?
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell Studio 1745
OS
Windows 7 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80 GHz
Memory
3 GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series
That screenshot is self-explanatory. As you can see, your game is consuming 53% cpu resources. That is why your computer lags when playing.
Also, sysinternals process explorer is consuming 17%. Thats pretty high, were you running some task on it?
The other thing i noted was DWM is consuming around 2%. You may be able to cut that down by removing some visual effects. Audiodg.exe is consuming 6%, that can be cut down by disabling audio enhancements etc.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Too many to describe...
OS
Windows 7 x64 pro/ Windows 7 x86 Pro/ XP SP3 x86
No, no, no, no. My games/programs usually run at around 30-40ish CPU% and they only ever go up to around 50-60% when my CPU decides to randomly rocket up to 100%. It's not like I start them up and immediately my CPU Usage goes to 100%, in fact, I could be on them for hours before it actually happens...it is completely random.

The only constant is that once it does happen to where my CPU Usage goes up to 100%, it will continue doing it every 10 minutes regardless of what I'm doing until I reboot my computer, which seems to stop it for a while.

As for sysinternals process explorer running that high, that is usually what happens when my CPU goes to 100%. Almost every program will rocket up to levels they shouldn't even be near. For example, if I have task manager up while it's doing this, it will also go to around 17-20% when it has no business using that much.

I will try reducing some visual effects, but as I've already mentioned, I believe I already disabled the audio enhancements under Device Manager - System Devices - "High Definition Audio Controller". There were two of these, so I disabled both for good measure.

**One thing that should be mentioned about the above. When I disabled the HD Audio Controllers, the sound on my laptop stopped working entirely and the only way to hear any sound at all, besides enabling them again, is to hook in headphones.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell Studio 1745
OS
Windows 7 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80 GHz
Memory
3 GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series
Are you running any addons in WoW? Any outdated addons? Try disabling any firewalls you have just to test. DO you run any real time virus scanners? Or anti-spyware? I have had problems with both AVGfree and with AdAware real time protection when WoW is running.
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7
CPU
i5-750
Motherboard
Asus
Memory
4GB DDR3 1600
Graphics Card(s)
GT220
I currently run Kaspersky, but I don't believe that I have it set to run scans automatically. I have several addons, yes, but the point I'm trying to get across is that my CPU does this no matter which game I am playing. Hell, I was playing Half-Life 2 the other day and my CPU Usage spiked up to 100% right in the middle of that as well.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell Studio 1745
OS
Windows 7 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80 GHz
Memory
3 GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series
Uninstall, yes uninstall, Kaspersky for the moment and rerun your test. This will help rule it in or out.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Alienware Aurora ALX R4
OS
Windows 10 Pro (x64)
CPU
Intel Core i7-3930K (3.2GHz - 4.5GHz)
Motherboard
Alienware Aurora-R4 x79
Memory
4x Samsung 4GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (16GB 1600MHz)
Graphics Card(s)
Nvidia Geforce GTX 690
Sound Card
SteelSeries Siberia Elite
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell UltraSharp U3011
Screen Resolution
2560x1600
Hard Drives
Samsung 850 Pro 256 GB, Seagate 1TB Desktop Hybrid HDD, 2x Western Digital 4TB Green HDD
PSU
875W Some Dell PSU <.<
Case
Alienware Aurora ALX
Cooling
Custom Liquid Cooling (EK CPU & GPU blocks) dual EK 480RAD
Keyboard
Logitech G710+ Mechanical
Mouse
Logitech G700s
Internet Speed
Verizon Fios (50 mbps average)
Other Info
Server: Intel NUC D54250WYK: i5-4250U, 16GB, 256 GB mSATA, Windows Server 2012 R2
Well, the picture of PE you posted does not give any clues. This seems to be quite normal. You have to catch it when it is at 100% to id the culprit. And if PE says WoW uses 53%, then that's what it is.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
OS
Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
CPU
from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Monitor(s) Displays
2x HP w2207
Hard Drives
5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals
Keyboard
with trackball - no mices
Mouse
Trackball mice
Internet Speed
DSL 6000
Well, the picture of PE you posted does not give any clues. This seems to be quite normal. You have to catch it when it is at 100% to id the culprit. And if PE says WoW uses 53%, then that's what it is.

I'm not surprised. My Phenom 550 hit 95% in Mass Effect.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Sony Vaio Z46GDU
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x86-64
CPU
[email protected] 1066MHz FSB
Motherboard
Sony branded
Memory
6GB DDR3 1066MHz
Graphics Card(s)
9300M GS 256MB Dedicated (Speed) + Intel4500MHD (Stamina)
Sound Card
Realtek HD Audio
Monitor(s) Displays
13.1' WXGA
Screen Resolution
1600x900
Hard Drives
320GB 7200RPM w/ 16MB cache
Internet Speed
1MB/s
Well, the picture of PE you posted does not give any clues. This seems to be quite normal. You have to catch it when it is at 100% to id the culprit. And if PE says WoW uses 53%, then that's what it is.


That was a screenshot of when my CPU Usage shot up to 100%. Otherwise, WoW is usually using much lower resources than that. In fact, this is a screenshot of what my process explorer looks like when everything is okay.

process2.png
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Dell Studio 1745
OS
Windows 7 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80 GHz
Memory
3 GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series
Apparently WoW can be running at 18% as in this shot and at 53% as in the other shot. It probably depends of what it is doing. There is no fixed CPU usage for any program. I varies depending on what it is doing. Based on the data we see I do not think that there is anything wrong with your system. If there were other (strange) processes that ate the CPU, it would be worthwhile to explore. But I cannot see any of those.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
OS
Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
CPU
from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Monitor(s) Displays
2x HP w2207
Hard Drives
5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals
Keyboard
with trackball - no mices
Mouse
Trackball mice
Internet Speed
DSL 6000
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