CPU Usage very high

[lil_girlie_23]

Ive noticed when my computer is running really slow, and go to the task manager, my CPU Usage is between 90%-100% making my computer almost impossible to run.
Does anyone know what would cause CPU Usage to be so high, and what I could do to fix it?

-Lil Girlie

[Statica]

What OS? What are your hardware specs.
The general rule of thumb is to monitor what processes and services are running in the background. Post back with the details of your system (when posting a question please take the time to furnish usable detail) and we can iron out the specifics on what you should check.

[XIII]

Close any programs that you aren't using. Especially if it looks fishy. Lol!

[lil_girlie_23]

I have Windows XP Home Edition
Dell Demension 2300
Uhm, im sorry to be so hard to work with, im just so slow with computers.
Im not sure what all you need to know.

[XIII]

What these guys mean is this...

What kind of processor are you running? What kind of motherboard? How much ram do you have? Size of your hard drive. Are you using a video card or are you running onboard? And any other attachments like sound cards. How big is your power supply...blah-blah-blah ...

Because there's too many variations with computers these days that the gurus need to know what you're running in order to help. God...that took a lot out of me ...

[DarkPacMan77]

She has a stock Dell Dimension. She had the problem before. She's had a critical hard drive failure in the past - causing it to be reformatted. I was thinking perhaps that is what is the problem now - that the hard drive is just going so slow that it isn't allowing cached items to show up etc. but she has confirmed that it is the processor being overworked.

I think she should be told what virus scans to use etc. - and what is the MINIMAL programs/ applications that should be running in the Task Manager (so she can close out of them). I'll let you guys suggest what items though.

Also, using Start/ Run/ you can type in "msconfig" and on the right-hand side there will be a "startup" tab - only select what you want to run from startup, that could help.

[glc]

XIII - we can work with "Dell Dimension 2300" - there's no need to grill the poor person. This is an entry level computer with onboard everything and probably no more than 512mb of ram.

You most likely have too many programs running at once - especially background processes that start with Windows. Next time you are in task manager and you see high usage, look down the process list and note which process is using the highest percentage and post back with it. Also let us know how many processes total are running.

You need to do a full set of antimalware scans (viruses, Trojans, spyware, etc.).

[XIII]

Errr...okay...by pressing simotaneously, CTRL+ALT+DEL buttons together, you bring up your "Windows Task Manager". Now, click on the tab that says "Processes" and it'll give you an entire list of what's running in the background. Under "User Name," you can see if you opened them(you being the Administrator) or if it's the system that's running that program. I mostly close things that are under the "Administrator's" name instead of the system, unless it looks really fishy. Hope this helps...

[lil_girlie_23]

It's running around 90%-100% now and almost always is.
There are 30 processes going.

usnsvc.exe
charmap.exe
ctfmon.exe
winamp.exe
aoltpspd.exe
shellmon.exe
waol.exe
taskmgr.exe
wscntfy.exe
explorer.exe
wanmpsvc.exe
svchost.exe
AOLacsd.exe
spoolsv.exe
svchost.exe
aim.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
AIMWDI~1.EXE
svchost.exe
hkcmd.exe
lsass.exe
jusched.exe
services.exe
winlogin.exe
csrss.exe
smss.exe
System
System Idle Process this one< has the highest 60-94

the aim and aol ones that are always running also jump around 10
Those are it. A lot of processes but almost all of them say 0 CPU
So I dont understand.

[Floppyman]

Go ahead and download the HijackThis tool and run a scan. Go ahead and post the results here, it will be easier to troubleshoot. HTH

P.S. If you click on the cpu usage tab you can sort the process by the amount of processing power they are currently taking up. When you do this, which are near the top?

[lil_girlie_23]

I have not yet been able to download the HijackThis tool, but I have continued to check the past couple of days which has the highest cpu usage. The ones at the top are the waol.exe and the System Idle Processes. waol is jumping between 2-8 and System Idle Processes, when everything gets slow, sits around 90-95.
I will try and get the HijackThis tool and post the results by tonight.
Thanks for the help so far.

[Panama Red]

Idle Process is showing the cpu Unloaded and that number being high is normal. The waol.exe is yer old friend AOL. Are you using them for internet connection?