Why is my CPU idle speed at 50%

[mustangman16]

I've noticed some slow performance from my computer lately and i restarded my computer and let it sit and idle for a few minutes and the CPU was hovering around 53% when it used to be 6-10%. task manager->processes shows dwm at 15k and explorer at 10k and everything else significantly lower. So why the high cpu at idle?

-stang

 

[Brink]

Hello Stang,

You might check in Resource Monitor under the CPU tab to see what is using up the CPU to hopefully help ID the culprit.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[mustangman16]

Thanks Shawn,
good idea i found the culprit: SearchFilterHost.exe
Any idea what hes doing?

-stang

edit: +1

 

[zone23]

I've noticed some slow performance from my computer lately and i restarded my computer and let it sit and idle for a few minutes and the CPU was hovering around 53% when it used to be 6-10%. task manager->processes shows dwm at 15k and explorer at 10k and everything else significantly lower. So why the high cpu at idle?

-stang

Guessing I'd say indexing, searching, defragging, or windows defending. I would give it about 10-15min see if its the same. I wouldn't reboot right away because if it is doing something you will have to start all over.

I use process explorer to find out whats going on.

 

[Brink]

Thanks Shawn,
good idea i found the culprit: SearchFilterHost.exe
Any idea what hes doing?

-stang

edit: +1

This is most likely the Index running in the background updating itself. However to be safe, I would recommend to run a thorough antivirus (ex: Avast Home Edition) and a malware (ex: Malwarebytes) scan to make sure it was not some form of virus or malware.

 

[mustangman16]

How long should i let it eat up my cpu performance? I wanna just end process on the damn thing.

-stang

 

[Brink]

As a test, you can disable the Index to see if that is it or not. It will not hurt anything to do so. You can also kill that process without problems, but it may just restart later if it is the Index and it is still enabled.

 

[Mooman]

Mooman

Yeah, I was having the same problem for a few days. CPU was running hours and hours at 56%. What it is doing is building an index so search runs faster. It is suppose to run in a low priory mode, but it doesn't. It will kick in at odd times like when your doing something CPU intensive, like encoding a DVD.. I'm coming from XP and skipped Vista all together, so this indexing thing was new to me. During my research I found that Vista had the same type of problem. Ending, or suspending the task in Task Manager will take care of it for a short while... BUT IT COMES BACK.

This what I did to take care of it.... Go to Control Panel, Indexing Options. Go to modify and you will see a list of items being indexed. Un- check all folders (I left the start menu checked). Tell it to delete and rebuild the data base. I will run for a short while and be done. Back down to low CPU usage.

I went to Google and downloaded their Desktop which will build a search index with little fuss. Seems to work like a champ, however I've only been using it for a short time. Time will tell Anyway hope this helps.... I was going nuts for some time trying to figure it out........

 

[darkassain]

you can also run from an elevated command prompt:

Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator

from there type this command:

sc stop wsearch

this stops the service...
if you want it to not ever start again then type in the same command prompt

sc config wsearch start= disabled

and that should take care of it...

 

[Mooman]

Mooman

Well, I didn't want to completely disable the search. That's why I tried to find another way. Seems that it did fix my problem.

I'm going to back pedal on advice of installing Google DeskTop. I was having a problem with Windows Update. Downloaded updates would not install. Got an unknown error code. Found some information at the following link that took care of the problem. Uninstalled the Google DeskTop and another problem bites the dust!!

WindowsUpdate_80070539 error

 

[fseal]

The bummer with the way the indexer works though is that it will need to do a lot of work up front for hours but then wouled eventually settle down (I would hope). But it's so obtrusive in those first few days of use that I admit that I've turned it off myself

 

[darkassain]

Well, I didn't want to completely disable the search. That's why I tried to find another way. Seems that it did fix my problem.

maybe the name is not really a good one...
technically all it does it completely disable the indexer (not search itself..)

The bummer with the way the indexer works though is that it will need to do a lot of work up front for hours but then wouled eventually settle down (I would hope). But it's so obtrusive in those first few days of use that I admit that I've turned it off myself

that is why i after every install id just let my laptop run for a day nonstop (where is its reinstalling everything automatically (through a batch file) ...
once that is done im pretty sure the indexer and everything has settled down...