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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
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%.
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)
ZoneAlarm Pro 4.5
Huh? 
I know what you’re talking about, but there’s a rule that we can’t discuss that?
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.
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.
Hang on a second.
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Your total CPU usage will always be 100%.
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(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.
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There’s also a process owner called SYSTEM. SYSTEM owns processes like lsass.exe, spoolsv.exe, or svchost.exe; are any of these familiar?
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What about a process called (IIRC) vsmon.exe? This is a ZoneAlarm process, and has caused me problems in the past.
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