CPU usage at 100%
My computer often slows right down or freezes with a cpu usage of 100%. Why?1 person needs an answerI do too
July 13th, 2010 7:31pm

THere are TOO many reasons for this.You are out of Hard Drive space.You have Norton, McAfee or Trend, installed as your Atnivirus.You have a virus.Your RAM is bad.You have low virtual memory.Or you could be runing too many tasks at once.To check the availible disk space: Start>My Computer> Right Click "Local (C:) drive"> Click properties> you will see a pie chart with the availible disk space.If you have Norton, Trend and McAfee, I suggest dumping them for the following set up:http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.phpThis will check for malware, AND registry key errors, or so most of the forums say. >.>http://superantispyware.com/You can download the free version and it will check for spyware as wellhttp://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.htmlThis is a GREAT AV it works EXTREMELY well in conjunction for the above.All the above are Free and work great.To see if you have a virus use the following tools to check: http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.phpThis will check for malware, AND registry key errors, or so most of the forums say. >.>http://superantispyware.com/You can download the free version and it will check for spyware as wellhttp://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.htmlThis is a GREAT AV it works EXTREMELY well in conjunction for the above.REMEMBER, NEVER install more than one Antivirus, as this will cause prolems.To check your RAM: Testing with Memtest86+ from www.memtest.org . Download the .iso to make a bootable cd. Burn the file with 3rd party burning software as an image, not as data. A good 3rd party software is www.imgburn.comTo increase your virtual memory: Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then clickProperties.In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.In the Performance pane, click Settings.In the Performance Options dialog box, click the Advanced tab.In the Virtual memory pane, click Change.Change the Initial size value and the Maximum size value to a higher value, clickSet, and then clickOK.Click OK to close the Performance Options dialog box, and then clickOK to close theSystem Properties dialog box.Keep in mind that 1024MB = 1 GB, and that if you have XP PRO. you can ONLY support 4GB's of RAM AND Virtual Memory COMBINED. As for too many processes at once, you can't really do anything to tell. You just should only be running one thing at once.Talking in Messenger and surfing the Web is fineBut don't, talk in the mmessenger, surf the web, download music, listen to music, and play a game all at once.Young and learning...Have mercy - ChaosIf this post resolves your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" buttons. This helps other users with similar problems find the answer faster.
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July 13th, 2010 8:53pm

Please stop giving people incorrect information such as "As for too many processes at once, you can't really do anything to tell". Depending on the OP's computer specs, s/he might be able to run multiple things at once. You simply can't say they can't, as you did. And you certainly shouldn't be telling anyone to change their virtual memory settings.To "shazbat69" - You need to provide a lot more information in order to get focused help. See the following links for what details to include in your next post. Also see the general information about troubleshooting a slow computer.Help us help you:http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Tech_Support - See "How to Write a Post" sectionhttp://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 - How to Ask a QuestionSome reasons for computer slowness:1. Computer hasn't been maintained - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Maintenance 2. Computer is infected with malware - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware 3. Hard drive is too full. Remove unnecessary stuff, uninstall unused programs. Don't forget to back up!http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Backing_Up4. Flaky third-party software. Toolbars and add-ons are particular culprits in this area. Uninstall toolbars (Google, Yahoo, ISP-branded, etc.) and look carefully at what add-ons are in use in your browser(s).5. Computer has too many unnecessary programs/processes running in the background. Manage your Startup:For XP - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560 The free Autoruns program is very useful for managing your Startup - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx For Vista/Windows7 - Start Orb>Search box>type: msconfig and when it appears in the Results box above, right-click and choose "Run as Administrator".Autoruns is also very useful.6. User is running a bloated/invasive antivirus program such as ones from Norton and McAfee. Replace with a better program. I recommend either NOD32 (commercial) or Avast (free). Avira is also good but the free version has an unpleasant nag screen (Google for instructions as to how to disable this). User may also be running more than one real-time antivirus/firewall/security program.7. User has installed new programs that are processor and/or memory-intensive (Photoshop, AutoCAD, Mathmatica or the like) and doesn't have the necessary hardware power.8. Hard drive is failing and is in PIO Mode (IDE drives only - not applicable to SATA drives). This is very dramatically slow (like being back in 1985). See Hans-Georg Michna's information here -http://winhlp.com/?q=node/10 If the PIO registry fix doesn't "stick" (or you have a SATA drive), the hard drive is probably failing and should be tested.http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_TshootIn addition to the above, also see http://miekiemoes.blogspot.com/2008/02/help-my-computer-is-slow.html MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
July 14th, 2010 4:28pm

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