Done AdAware, AVG, CPU runs at 100%

[Cardinal]

I'm running Zone Alarm, I've run AVG virus scan with new update, Ad Aware with new update, I've quit everything marked "User Name" in the processes shown in Task Manager, and still the CPU runs at 100% from the start. I've rebooted, I've left it off for 15 minutes. I booted to Safe Mode, and it didn't happen.

That's all I've got. I've asked my geekier friends, and I'm left to come here. This other laptop is going burn out at this rate.

I would really appreciate a piece of brilliance on this subject. TIA.

[Cardinal]

Could choosing a big .bmp as the wallpaper have something to do with it? I have a LOT of RAM, but it was all I could think of, so I changed my wallpaper from a .bmp of about 1MB, deleted the picture, and everything seems fine. I really don't know why that should matter.

[Cardinal]

Or could it be that I pulled the battery before the last bootup? Could some wacky program be running even when the Windows is shut down but still has power? Could it boot itself up and not show as a user-task?

[Revtim]

Are you seeing 100 percent via task manager? If so, you should be able to tell which process is taking all that CPU.

CTRL-ALT-DELETE brings up taks manager (on Win XP, at least)

[GorillaMan]

What operating system are you on? If it's XP, the task manager will tell you what process is eating up the CPU.

[Cardinal]

Yes, XP. I've never seen which process is taking CPU time. It shows the RAM assigned.

Ah, yes, I see the CPU column. What do the numbers mean? System Idle Process is listed at numbers like 80 even though the CPU is at percentages like 20.

[GorillaMan]

The numbers are the percentage of total CPU cycles being used. Click the heading of the CPU column and it'll sort the list so the highest number is at the top.

[Cardinal]

So the CPU percentage is the real amount used / heat generated, and the CPU column is percentages of the other percentage?

[GorillaMan]

There's a set number of CPU cycles per second - that's the speed of the processor. The CPU graph shows (not very accurately) the percentage being used by useful functions. The column of numbers shows where all the cycles are going, including 'system idle'.

Are you having problems with the computer functioning sluggishly? If not, I suspect the problem is merely with task manager not giving very helpful readings.

[Cardinal]

Well, from IMing a geek-type, it may have been something invisible but remaining from a "K" program that had been properly quit, but may have had something running anyway.

I think it was pulling the battery with no power cord that did the trick. The problem didn't start when I made the new wallpaper earlier.

[FX45 4Ever]

You lost me at "K" program.

[Rex Fenestrarum]

There's no such thing as "something invisible" in Task Manager. Well, technically there are - for keyloggers and such, and sometimes viruses have legitimate sounding names in Task Manager - but I've never seen one in 7 years of desktop support. If something's using 100% of your cycles, it will be listed in Task Manager and killing said process will return your PC to "normal" behaviour.

[Hauky]

I'm guessing "K" program is a 5-letter word with more than its fair share of the letter "a" that we're not supposed to discuss here.

Anyway, no, your wallpaper won't have anything to do with CPU time except possibly in the nanoseconds it takes for Windows to redraw it when it becomes uncovered (like if you just closed a window). The CPU usage in the bottom status bar of Task Manager is the total usage, while the columns show how much each process is taking up. System Idle Process is just the cycles that aren't being used, like GorillaMan said, so it's not added to the total. The numbers really have nothing to do with the heat generated, except in a very indirect way (more usage results in more heat).

[FX45 4Ever]

I'm guessing "K" program is a 5-letter word with more than its fair share of the letter "a" that we're not supposed to discuss here.

Anyway, no, your wallpaper won't have anything to do with CPU time except possibly in the nanoseconds it takes for Windows to redraw it when it becomes uncovered (like if you just closed a window). The CPU usage in the bottom status bar of Task Manager is the total usage, while the columns show how much each process is taking up. System Idle Process is just the cycles that aren't being used, like GorillaMan said, so it's not added to the total. The numbers really have nothing to do with the heat generated, except in a very indirect way (more usage results in more heat).

/blink/ light came on.. I had no idea we wern't to discuss those things here. Guess I need to re-read the End User agreement again. :smack:

[Cardinal]

Yeah, well, "K" may not be the culprit. Out of nowhere, it's doing it again, and I SWEAR, I'm looking at it right now, the System process is 87-97% of the used cycles, which are at 100% total. The fan has been on for the past 20 minutes or so. Sometimes even the mouse stalls and won't move.

[GorillaMan]

'K' is a shit program. It eats up your CPU time, doesn't ever quit properly, and rapidly fragments your hard disk. The latter may well be part of the problem. But 'K' can also leave legitimate-sounding programs running. I realise on rereading the thread that you've not mentioned Spybot? This somtimes catches things that Adaware misses.

[GorillaMan]

Shut down the computer. Ground yourself (touch a cold water pipe, or something else which will remove all static electricity). Open up the computer. Find out if anything is running hot, by seeing if it feels hot. A very simple way to identify if it really is a CPU-overheat issue.

[Cardinal]

I'll try that. It was the "lite beer" version of "K", if you know what I mean, though, and I've not had that problem before.


BTW, just as a justification, I really DO just use it to try out bands and get Angel episodes that I missed (well, I used to miss new episodes. Now I just miss the show in general heartache way). I've had too many musician friends, and was raised too law-and-order to rip off the bands.

[Cardinal]

I already tried to open this laptop to try to find out the video card chip when I thought I couldn't find the driver, and it totally beat me. I pulled all the screws, the hard drive, the battery, and the CD drive, and found the screw hiding under the drive, but something was still hanging on with determination, and I didn't push it.

[GorillaMan]

"Lite" "K" still has the fragmentation problem.

(I always thought it was beautiful, that there was an illegal hack of a program used almost entirely for illegal purposes)

Anyway, disassebling laptops isn't something I've ever done (always been desktops), so I'll wait for further advice.

[Cardinal]

Spybot is the bomb. It found 40 things that Ad Aware missed. Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'm going to run it on everything.

[pulykamell]

Spybot is the bomb. It found 40 things that Ad Aware missed. Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'm going to run it on everything.

Just so you know, run both programs on whatever computer you're trying to fix, as each program will find stuff the other missed. It's not that one is necessarily better than the other.

[Rex Fenestrarum]

Yeah, well, "K" may not be the culprit. Out of nowhere, it's doing it again, and I SWEAR, I'm looking at it right now, the System process is 87-97% of the used cycles, which are at 100% total. The fan has been on for the past 20 minutes or so. Sometimes even the mouse stalls and won't move.

Huh? There isn't a "system" process... All processes are known by their executable names, like OUTLOOK.EXE, SPOOLSV.EXE, POINT32.EXE, etc. There is a column in Task Manager called "User Name" that will have "System" listed as the owner of the process. Try to see what the actual .EXE file is that's using 100% of the CPU (or thereabouts) and get back with us.

[MaceMan]

Are you running the latest version of zonealarm? If so, I'd recommend uninstalling it immediately and reinstalling an earlier version. Many people are having multiple issues with the new version--when I installed it on my computer, my download speeds cut in half, and I spent two days trying to figure out why. There are apparently incompatabilities with virus scanners and the new version. As soon as I re-installed the old version, my speed when right back to maximum! And I don't plan on any future updates of zonealarm!

[1010011010]

He's talking about the "System Idle Process" I think... which, if it's at 88-97 percent, means he's only using 3-12 percent of his CPU cycles, and he's chasing vapor.

[pulykamell]

He's talking about the "System Idle Process" I think... which, if it's at 88-97 percent, means he's only using 3-12 percent of his CPU cycles, and he's chasing vapor.

Not quite. On a healthy computer, it's not unusual to have System Idle Processes running at close to 100% when the computer has nothing else to do. Heck, as we speak my idle processes are fluctuating from 89-97% That's why they're called idle processes. It's what the computer does when it's idle. As soon as you give it something to do, say work on some graphics, CPU usuage for idle processes will drop accordingly.

[teleute12]

Sorry for the hijack, but MaceMan, thanks so much for posting that about ZoneAlarm. I've been having trouble with my downloads ever since I updated it (the program will freeze, and then take the computer down with it), and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who's had problems.

[Fudog1138]

Boot up in safe mode. You can rule out software that runs in the background as well as AV software and other graphics drivers. If your still having issues do a search on things like LSAS.exe and wintools.
It sounds like spyware.
Hope you don't have to hack your registry, but it may take that to remove the offending keys.
Good luck

[Cardinal]

Sorry, I don't understand about using Safe Mode and ruling out software that runs in the background. Do you mean that if it still starts up with the overuse, it's not something that doesn't run under Safe Mode?

What seems to cure it is not rebooting. It takes turning it off and pulling the power cord and the battery. It's the only thing that's ever worked, I think.

Where would I get an old version of Zone Alarm?

[Parallax]

I agree with 1010011010 - I think this is most likely normal. While you may think the system is normal (you aren't doing anything but watching it) it is probably doing other perfectly legit things to take some CPU time.

The important thing is to find out what other processes are using the CPU time- look at task manager and tell us what the names of the other processes are.

For example - I just watched task manager for a minute without using the computer. Whenever Outlook checked for mail it used 1 or 2 perfect of CPU time. Remote desktop would use a little when something happened on the remote desktop. If I waited long enough for an automatic defrag to kick in that would use a bunch of CPU time.

Another thing could be something like a virus scanner - they are often set to run when the system is idle and check portions of the disk. This could quite easily use up 10-20 percent of available CPU time. The Windows indexing service and Office's FindFast feature also doing maintenance work when the system is idle which would use some CPU time.

In summary - it is normal for the "System idle process" to show at 100% CPU usage - that is what it is supposed to do. As other processes need CPU time you'll see their usage go up and the idle process' usage go down. Until we know what other process is using the CPU time we can't say if this is a cause for alarm or not.

[Cardinal]

I think I'm being misunderstood. My problem with the situation is that the TOTAL cpu usage is 100%, and the fan goes on and stays on until I shutdown and pull ALL the power. My problem isn't that the System process is at high usage, but that the total usage is high.

However, when that situation happens, it is the System (not System Idle, at least not right now, when it started again) process that is listed at 80-95% of the total usage.

Once this situation starts, it has never stopped on its own yet.

[Cardinal]

For comparison purposes, I'm right now running SpyBot, the cpu is at 100% for a good reason, and the System process shows to be 0%.

[MaceMan]

First, check your current version. If it is 5.0 (previous versions should not be a problem), then you may download version 4.5 at these locations:
And make sure you uninstall 5.0 before reinstalling 4.5.

ZoneAlarm 4.5 (free version)
http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/1012_zl/zlsSetup_45_594_000.exe

ZoneAlarm Pro 4.5
http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/free/1043_zl/zapSetup_45_594_000.exe

[DrDeth]

I'm guessing "K" program is a 5-letter word with more than its fair share of the letter "a" that we're not supposed to discuss here.



Huh? :confused: I know what you're talking about, but there's a rule that we can't discuss that? :confused:

[Rex Fenestrarum]

Huh? :confused: I know what you're talking about, but there's a rule that we can't discuss that? :confused:

Well, I don't know if there's a hard and fast rule I could link you to, but any talk about copyright violations is not cool at SMDB. So this means that you can't ask questions about Kazaa, DVDXCopy, DVDDecrypter, etc.

I've even seen threads about making DVD-ROM drives region-free get locked by a mod, even though making a drive region-free is neither illegal nor a copyright violation nor is buying a region-free DVD player illegal in the United States.

[absoul]

What buttonjockey308 and easy e said…

My Flava:

You’re infected or you will be infected. You will be infected at some point.

The cool thing is that you can start again with a freaking fresh system. Fdisk. Reload.
Backup your files first though.

Burn the Service Packs to disks. Remap your saved emails. Keep the exe files of the programs you use and burn them to one disk. Backup your crap. Reload. .

Firewall, Antivirus, and Spyware removal programs are a must when you’re running, but you must reload once in a while.

I like to write zeroes to my C drive and reload once a month. I’m a freak though. I keep a copy of important pictures and files on hard disk and on cd.

I dare ya to reload. You’ll notice your system running sooooo much faster. Start installing your programs and then see which ones are the hogs.

[Jurph]

I think I'm being misunderstood. My problem with the situation is that the TOTAL cpu usage is 100%, and the fan goes on and stays on until I shutdown and pull ALL the power. My problem isn't that the System process is at high usage, but that the total usage is high.

However, when that situation happens, it is the System (not System Idle, at least not right now, when it started again) process that is listed at 80-95% of the total usage.

Once this situation starts, it has never stopped on its own yet.

Hang on a second.

1) Your total CPU usage will always be 100%.

2) (corollary) System Idle Process will always be using up the unused cycles - on European versions of WinXP, however, this process is called "SYSTEM". If it's always using a bunch of your CPU, then... everything is normal. :)

3) There's also a process owner called SYSTEM. SYSTEM owns processes like lsass.exe, spoolsv.exe, or svchost.exe; are any of these familiar?

4) What about a process called (IIRC) vsmon.exe? This is a ZoneAlarm process, and has caused me problems in the past.

[Cardinal]

1) Your total CPU usage will always be 100%. Not the way I mean it. I mean that at the bottom of the XP Task Manager window, it says, "CPU Usage: 100%" That is most definitely not always the case. It's rarely the case unless this problem hits me, at which point it never changes from that, and the laptop heats up and the fan never turns off.

As for re-installing, I admit that would clean up a lot of stuff, but I have a problem actually doing it, as detailed in this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4968643#post4968643