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Thread ID: 79208 2007-05-12 02:31:00 CPU Usage Analysis Kumera (12258) Press F1
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549216 2007-05-12 02:31:00 My Windows Task Manager (WTM) is able to tell me that my CPU usage continually runs at 100%, even when I am not doing anything particular on the computer. It is also able to show me a long list of processes currently running, most of them with user-unfriendly names. It would take a long time to go through each of those processes one by one, doing a Google search to try and identify what it really is.

WTM can also tell me which processes are using how much memory, and when I arrange them in order of memory usage, Firefox and Thunderbird are always at the top of the list.

Is there any utility, or other way, that can identify which processes are making the majority of calls on CPU usage at any given moment?
Kumera (12258)
549217 2007-05-12 03:07:00 I use a free download utility called Process Explorer, try it it may help jinja_thom (4306)
549218 2007-05-12 03:07:00 Um... Yes... Windows Task Manager can...

On the Proccesses tab click View then select columns and tick CPU useage...
The_End_Of_Reality (334)
549219 2007-05-12 03:19:00 yep lol...........so what exactly is using all the cpu time ? and if you are running at 100% cpu most of the time then the system will be about as slow to respond to ANYTHING as a turtle after a large dose of valium.........it'll take minutes just to open a folder........ drcspy (146)
549220 2007-05-12 03:48:00 So what exactly is Firefox and Thunderbird doing then? decibel (11645)
549221 2007-05-12 05:09:00 I am having the same problem and my laptop crashes after a while if I dont shut down svchost.exe. Straight away it drops CPU usage down to about 5% for a while until it picks up again and I have to keep ending the process unless the system beats me and the whole laptop crashes and I have to reboot.. So very interested in what can be done to fix the problem. Gordon_P (12244)
549222 2007-05-12 06:11:00 Download and run Process Explorer which will show what svchost is running when it is using 100% cpu. If it is running winupdate or winupd read the KB from microsoft here support.microsoft.com
It fixed my problem.
HTH
jinja_thom (4306)
549223 2007-05-13 03:42:00 Thanks for the tip about "Process Explorer" - I have just downloaded it, and it does seem to give much more useful information than Windows Task Manager, and should enable me to identify the CPU-hungry culprits!

In response to the queries about Firefox and Thunderbird - they were ostensibly not doing anything, just sitting open, but using a lot of memory to do so.
Kumera (12258)
549224 2007-05-13 07:23:00 The lazy way out is to try re-installing Firefox and Thunderbird.

Doing this "should" keep your address book and favourites intact, but I would back them up regardless.
decibel (11645)
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