CPU Usage Monitor needed

[dsscottage]

I'm running Win 7 Ultimate on a backup computer and it is running like it is stuck in molasses.

When I look at task manager, the running applications are taking a small percentage of CPU usage but the Performance tab indicates 100% CPU usage. Unlike Win 10, Win 7 doesn't show the CPU usage for each of the running processes. However, something that I can't see is taking up all the CPU capacity.

Is there any other CPU monitoring program that will show me what is causing all this usage?

 

[pbcopter]

What does it show under Processes in the Task Manager? It should show how much CPU is used by each process.
Don't forget to select show for all users.

 

[dsscottage]

What does it show under Processes in the Task Manager? It should show how much CPU is used by each process.
Don't forget to select show for all users.

There is only one user on the computer but I clicked "Show Processes from all Users" anyway and displayed more processes.

Here is what is happening immediately after booting:
-Total CPU usage bounces from 20%-100% ultimately stabilizing at 100% after 4 or 5 minutes
-Under the Applications tab, there is nothing running
-Under the Processes tab, Avast UI, Taskmgr and Explorer show usage from 1%-3%
-As the CPU usage increases, there is a lot of CPU usage from "TrustedInstaller" but it ultimately reduces to 0%. Then usage on one scvhost increases to almost 100%
-The percent of physical memory increases to almost 100%

I terminated this one scvhost process and both the CPU and memory usage dropped dramatically.

I then loaded one application (Chrome) and the process started all over again.



There is something hogging the CPU and I'm looking for a way to identify the culprit before I resort to a fresh Windows install.

 

[pbcopter]

See if this will help

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810

 

[dsscottage]

See if this will help

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810

Thank-you for the suggestion but it didn't work.

I've been working on this for over 2 weeks. These is so much wrong with my system and everything that I try fails so I have decided to reinstall Windows but I can't even do that.

Because, my problem reinstalling Windows is different from the subject of this thread, I'm going to start a new thread on that issue.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...do-fresh-install-windows-7-a.html#post3211313

...but thank you for trying to help.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Monitoring your temperatures will help to give you a heads up on cpu usuage
CPU-Z | Softwares | CPUID

 

[DavidE]

Have you looked at Task Manager / Performance / Resource Monitor ?

In Resource Monitor:
Click the check box for the svchost.exe process that is hogging CPU.
Sort the Services pane by CPU usage.
See if you can find what service(s) are hogging CPU.
If you can determine what services are hogging CPU, you can google for that and look for fixes.

My example has all 0's, but i highlighted the fields i'm trying to explain in words.

 

[dsscottage]

Have you looked at Task Manager / Performance / Resource Monitor ?

In Resource Monitor:
Click the check box for the svchost.exe process that is hogging CPU.
Sort the Services pane by CPU usage.
See if you can find what service(s) are hogging CPU.
If you can determine what services are hogging CPU, you can google for that and look for fixes.

My example has all 0's, but i highlighted the fields i'm trying to explain in words.

View attachment 381044

To answer your specific suggestion, given what I have done since I last posted, I can no longer get into the original version of Win 7 to check the resource monitor.

Actually I started to ask for help in another thread under a different subject. As the issue changed, I though it best to end that post and repost under a different title (this one). However, I'm still getting help under the original post:
http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...do-fresh-install-windows-7-a.html#post3211800

I don't want to waste forum resources on a double post so I'll thank those who have offered help here but ask that we put this thread on hold as I continue to deal with the original thread.

Sorry it this has been a waste of time.

 

[DavidE]

It's not a waste of time, most folks here are volunteers and try to help whenever they can

I just posted in your other thread.

 

[dsscottage]

See if this will help

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810

I've done more research and believe that I've found the answer. (not a solution - just an answer).

Because, I couldn't initially solve the 100% CPU occupancy issue, I did a fresh install of Windows 7 (an agonizing process but it was completed). Shortly afterward, the 100% CPU occupancy issue returned on the fresh install.

After a lot of searching, the suggestion provided by pbcopter is the answer. However, it only works on systems equipped with a multi core CPU. The Win 7 update process consumes a lot of CPU resources (100%) and the suggested fix seems to dedicate that process to one of the CPU cores, leaving the other to work on other tasks. However, in my case, my old computer has a single core CPU and apparently the only way to solve the issue is to turn off Windows Update. This is what I did and now Win 7 operates as it should.

To me it seems that Microsoft is being a little shady on this issue. If they can issue a fix to restrict Windows Update activity to one core, surely they could develop a fix to limit the activity to a proportion of the CPU in a single core system (50%?). If I'm cynical, it would seem that they were trying to force people with older systems to upgrade. If this is truly the case, they definitely won't dedicate resources to the problem now that they have moved on to Window 8 and Windows 10.

 

[Layback Bear]

You have a very old and slow system. You know that already.
Microsoft doesn't know and doesn't care. How your system is able to handle processes is not up to Microsoft. Your system is your system. Your system is only able to do so much in a given period of time. Nothing Microsoft can do anything about. Microsoft has no control of how your single core cpu handles any work load.

 

[dsscottage]

You have a very old and slow system. You know that already.
Microsoft doesn't know and doesn't care. How your system is able to handle processes is not up to Microsoft. Your system is your system. Your system is only able to do so much in a given period of time. Nothing Microsoft can do anything about. Microsoft has no control of how your single core cpu handles any work load.

You are correct. This computer is slow and outdated and is only used as a backup to test software so I don't screw up my production machine.

I can accept that my old machine will be much slower handling demanding software.

However, the MS Windows 7 Update process consumes way too much CPU power and even MS has issued a fix for multi core systems. Maybe I have a distorted view but I wouldn't expect an OS process to monopolize all the CPU capacity (particularly the update process). After all, how different could the Win 7 update process be from the Win XP process and it worked quite well on those old machines.

 

[dsscottage]

My Rant

OK. This post doesn't really contribute anything other than allowing me to rant and vent!

Even though I occasionally post here asking for assistance, I am seem by several of my friends and relatives as "the local geek". As such, they call me to fix their computer problems. A number of these people still have Windows 7 on a older computers with dual core CPUs.

As a result of the issues in this post, I checked every one of these computers and every one was running at 50% CPU occupancy (100% on one of the cores) while otherwise idle. It was always caused by the process svchost.exe which was used to load the Windows update process.

As recommended, I installed https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810 and it resolved the issue on the dual core systems.

Now my rant:
This update was made available by Microsoft but not classified as a critical, recommended or optional update. It was necessary to find it in a forum like this. (Kudos to the forum and it's participants!). Shame on Microsoft! The Windows update process should never have required such a high level of CPU activity. Once (for whatever reason) it to started to consume so much CPU power, it should have been immediately fixed by a "critical" windows update. The only reason that I can see that this didn't happen is that Microsoft is attempting to force everyone to update to Windows 10. I've updated my main computer to Windows 10 and am very happy with it. Therefore, I don't have a problem with a forced update particularly when it's free. However, all of the dual core CPU systems belonging to my friends and relatives don't pass the Window 8 compatibility test and can not be upgraded to Win 8 or 10. Maybe Microsoft wants these people to buy a new computer with Windows 10. If that's the case , that is an immoral strategy. If so, shame on you Microsoft. I've passed this feedback on to Microsoft but don't expect an answer or action.