100% cpu usage problem

Discussion in 'Windows OS's' started by Willz, Dec 5, 2005.

  1. Willz

    Willz MiCrO$oFt $uK$ :D

    Likes Received:
    36
    Trophy Points:
    48
    for the past few weeks, when i have been surfing the internet, everyhting seems to freeze for a while, then internet explorer stops responding, and then, i try to get speedfan and task manager up to find out my cpu usage, and it has jumped to, and got stuck at 100%, and i have to restart my computer, for the past few weeks, this has been happening once a day, or more depending on how much i use my computer, and today has been the day were it has happened 5 times, i have scanned for spyware and malware, and it finds some, but then i deleted that, so it cant be that problem, anyidea's what it would be thats causing this?

    i noticed that when 100% cpu usage is happening, and internet explorer stops responding, and when msn messenger does too, when i manage to exit internet explorer, and sometimes msn messenger, i look in process menu, and there still there, using up loads of cpu usage.
     
  2. pelvis_3

    pelvis_3 HWF Member For Life

    Likes Received:
    123
    Trophy Points:
    63
    What is the main process chewing up resources?
    Have you got a firewall?
     
  3. JimBowen

    JimBowen Guest

    if its only happening recently, could be a spyware problem or something liek that?
    tryupdating your antivirus, and if you dont alreadyhave them,download spybot-search and destroy, and also download ad-aware se personal edition, and also download hijackthis.
    update thenm and run them, that is of course of you do notalready have them, if you do hjave them and have checked, have a look in task manager,for what is actually using so much of the cpus power, and if you dont recoginse the process look it up on google as it may well be a virus
     
  4. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

    Likes Received:
    118
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Sounds rough, I'd say malware. Keep in mind that just because you removed it once doesn't mean it's gone. Windows has a lot of dark corners and blind alleys so to speak, and malware manufacturers seem to know them all by heart. My advice to you is to attack the problem from as many angles as possible, and do your best to identify the offending software. From there you have a chance of finding specific fixes for the especially aggressive varieties.
     
  5. Nic

    Nic Sleepy Head

    Likes Received:
    17
    Trophy Points:
    38
    Your not running F@H are you? That sounds like the problem I was having when I was running it.
     
  6. megamaced

    megamaced Geek Geek Geek!

    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    36
    Do you have any scheduled tasks that run automatically (like a virus scanner). Go to task manager (ctrl+alt+del) and select the processes tab. From there, click the CPU usage colomn to sort the order. The processes at the top are using the most amount of resources.

    Also try turning on the firewall (winXP SP2) or downloading a good firewall program such ZoneAlarm which is free

    Do you have antivirus? Is it up to date? If not, try these free applications
    Avast Antivirus www.avast.com
    AVG free www.grisoft.com
    AntiVir www.free-av.com

    After that, download and install Ad-aware SE personal. This is the best spyware and adware removal tool available.
     
  7. Willz

    Willz MiCrO$oFt $uK$ :D

    Likes Received:
    36
    Trophy Points:
    48
    i have mcafee firewall, in the past that was causing BSOD's so i am going to see if that stops it, i also have avg antivirus

    To add to the 100% cpu usage, i am now getting random resets aswell, also, computer is starting to randomly shut down more often now as if the power is been turned off instantly.

    got new computer parts now but cant use em to christmas, darn, this computer is turning into a nightmare.
     
  8. Impotence

    Impotence May the source be with u!

    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    38
    If you suspect that malware is the cause of this, then i would suggest you format your HHD as its the only way to be 100% sure, it might take 5 hours to do (format, and install all your programs again) but its definetly worth it; i reinstall windoze every 1 or 2 months :p

    Also, i would suggest you use firefox :ff: [firefox 1.5 is REALLY nice]

    you could try using firefox and using it instead of internet explorer :)ff:) to see if its ie causing the problems :p

    [If you love IE, check this out internet explorer Proof of concept attack... it only starts calculater, this time. [beware, closes IE browser windows :p]
     
  9. Willz

    Willz MiCrO$oFt $uK$ :D

    Likes Received:
    36
    Trophy Points:
    48
    hmm, when i do start internet explorer, i do get a pop up every time :\
    when i reformat my hdd, it takes about 30 mins, no point reformatting though, as when chritmas comes i would have to do it again, as when new motherboard and cpu goes in, this os wont work untill i restore it again.
     
  10. megamaced

    megamaced Geek Geek Geek!

    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    36
    If your computer is randomly restarting, that could mean a hardware conflict. Have you installed any new hardware recently?

    The best way to check is to restart in safe mode. If your computer stays on without restarting, you may have a driver error/conflict.

    I would also recommend you ditch Internet Explorer. Theres no pop up blocker, tabbed browsing or security.
    Firefox has some security flaws as well but is a safer bet. If you want ease of use and total security, go for opera.
     
  11. Addis

    Addis The King

    Likes Received:
    91
    Trophy Points:
    48
    [ot]
    I will have to disagree on your second claim there. No piece of software is perfect, as total security implies in that sense. There are vulnerabilities on Opera, and there are more that have not been discovered, just like other browsers.[/ot]
     
  12. Impotence

    Impotence May the source be with u!

    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    38
    [ot]
    I would say the number of vulnerabilitys discoverd is a program are related to the number of people using it the higher the number of users the more people that are looking for vulnerabilitys (the good and the bad people :p)
    [/ot]

    [ot]
    Reply to post below [trying to to fill this thread up with ot posts!]

    Yes your right, but what i said i meant in looses terms, in general more users = more crackers (so im only half wrong :p [but still wrong])

    *every program has a flaw*
    [/ot]

    i woud suggest we continue this via pm if you have anything else to add :p [and just leave the final words here if needed]
     
  13. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

    Likes Received:
    118
    Trophy Points:
    63
    [ot]
    Opera has one of the best security track records of any modern full-featured browser. Probably the only graphical browser with a better track record is Konqueror 3.x, which is only available on Linux/UNIX. Vulnerabilities being equivilent to the amount of publicity is more Microsoft FUD, not reality. Vulnerabilities are much more prevalent in poorly-written software. Look at IIS vs Apache... Apache has a larger market share than every other web server combined, yet it has many less vulnerabilities than IIS. Also, UNIX servers (Solaris, BSD, Linux, etc) are extremely prevalent and yet there are no virii for that entire family of operating systems.

    This isn't intended as a flame, but saying that the only metric that determines the amount of vulnerabilities in a piece of software is its popularity is just nonsense.[/ot]
     
  14. Willz

    Willz MiCrO$oFt $uK$ :D

    Likes Received:
    36
    Trophy Points:
    48
    ok, got new hardwre in, 3700+ san diego, and gigabyte k8nsc, and well, i got a 3d mark 05 score now :D, i no longer have shutting down problems, thats confirmed that the DFI 865PE INFINITY mobo was faulty, i dont understand what could of been wrong with it :\
     
  15. Impotence

    Impotence May the source be with u!

    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    38
    didnt you say you would format your hdd when you got your new mobo?

    if you did, the motherboard could still be ok, just the drivers/windoze where :swear: [windoze is just generally :swear:]
     
  16. Willz

    Willz MiCrO$oFt $uK$ :D

    Likes Received:
    36
    Trophy Points:
    48
    it defenitly was not windows, as i have had the problem for a year now, and everyhting exept the mobo was changed, so it was deffo a faulty motherboard.
     

Share This Page