CPU usage 100% should I worry?

Question

My CPU usage is continually between 60 - 100 with comodo firewall
and firefox and system idol process being the main users.
My firefox.exe uses 162,264k of the memory on the taskmanager window.
I lag when playing online games.

Should I be worried, or am I blowing High CPU usage way out of proportion?

I currently have 36 processes running (which i cut down from 47) I have cut back my startup processes to only the essentials by using sysinfo.org list of startup items, and removing any they said were not essential as startup.

I used to have Aol security center for all my security needs (mcafee) I removed the secruity suite and all apps related to it (I hope). I used a Mcafee removal tool to clean up missed files from Majorgeek.com.

I have installed the following for protection on my computer:
Avira Antivirus personal classic - resident antivirus
Comodo Firewall
AVG anti-spyware- on demand
SUPERantispyware - on demand
Ad-Aware SE - on demand

Dell Dimension 4500
pentium 4 processor 1.8ghz
768 mb of RAM (added 256 recently)
Windows xp service pack 2

I am not sure if I have given you all of the information that you need, but cant think of anything else right now. thanks

Message Edited by skogiefrodo on 08-29-2007 07:26 PM

Message Edited by skogiefrodo on 08-29-2007 07:36 PM

mombodog · Answer

Task manager will show which process is using the cpu cycles? which ones are they?   processes tab, cpu column. Message Edited by mombodog on 08-29-2007 02:28 PM

tomron · Answer

If you are referring to 'CPU usage' the processor may be over heating.   ====================   'firefox.exe uses 162,264k of the memory',don't confuse this with the cpu rating. The higher the CPU column,the lower the memory,and vice versa. CPU is a measure of how much the processor is not getting used.So the higher the number the less the load on the CPU.   My system idle process. CPU-98% Mem usage-28K Firefox.exe- CPU-00-02 mem usage-171,832K Of course there is fluctuation.   Point being,its normal.   But,it also can be pest related.   ====================   'lag when playing online games',this seems to be the common denominator.Do you have this issue when not playing games? I Know you added more ram. ====================     It can't to run some scans in safe mode. Tom   Message Edited by tomron on 08-29-2007 05:56 PM

skogiefrodo · Answer

Hi Tomron

When I have task manager opened, my CPU Usage and the bottom of the task manager screen fluctuates from 63-100

37; Processes: 33 \ CPU Usage: 98 \ Commit Charge 459/1109m

Firefox.exe has 59 - 70 listed under the heading CPU.

I am not sure I understand your message. It seemed like you were trying to tell me that that means that firefox is NOT using 59-70 percent of my total 63-100 cpu usage?

I am very confused by this. when I minimize task manager to my task bar, I get a little green icon by my clock that fluctuates in tune with the total cpu usage. This little icon is almost always completely green.

How would I know if my cpu is overheating, and how do I fix this? ?

Message Edited by skogiefrodo on 08-29-2007 07:30 PM

skogiefrodo · Answer

Hi mombodog,

The processes that are using the most cpu are firefox.exe and comodo firewall.
Since these are programs that I need, I do not see why just these to processes
can make my processor run at 73-100.

The other process are at 0 - 2, besides system idle process When i scroll over the task bar icon next to my clock in the task bar it says as of this post I am
using 92 of my Cpu usage.

I have firefox opened and task manager, that is it.

Message Edited by skogiefrodo on 08-29-2007 07:32 PM

mombodog · Answer

Remove Comodo, I had the same problem when the product first came out, and had to remove it to return the PC to normal operation.

tomron · Answer

'It seemed like you were trying to tell me that that means that firefox is NOT using 59-70 percent of my total 63-100 cpu usage? What I'm saying is that the higher the number in the cpu column,the lower the memory usage.I brought this to your attention cause of your statement 'My firefox.exe uses 162,264k of the memory'.   59-70 percent for fireox does seem excessive.Mine reads 87-99% for system idle process.My firefox cpu reads 00-02. Regarding cpu overheating could be something simple like cleaning computer of dust,make sure fan works,compressed air to throughly cleaning the boards.   Have a look in msconfig and check the start up tab to to see what is starting up. I find process of elimination helpful.Try disabling programs one at a time.I'm not saying to disable programs in msconfig cause this may cause a problem.Your ram is now 1 Gigabyte,if I did the math right :smileywink:  Since you added  more ram are you sure its compatible,but maybe if it wasn't you probably would get an error.   Tom

SugarD-x · Answer

You guys are getting way out-of-hand with this. 100% CPU usage is fine, especially when running Mozilla FireFox. Mozilla FireFox is known to have memory issues, which can lead to higher CPU usage. As for other reasons, it could be just that you have alot of programs running, your CPU is slow/not very powerful, and/or it's probably a background application that uses alot of memory and/or CPU processing time. All-in-all, don't worry about it. As long as the computer doesn't overheat due to EXTREME over-usage, you should be fine.

SugarD-x · Answer

Adding/upgrading a video card with a built-in Graphics Processing Unit, (GPU), would help it on the video processing part for the CPU, but it will not make things run much faster or take much of the load off the CPU itself.

skogiefrodo · Answer

Hi
Thanks for all your input. I finally figured out that firefox only uses high cpu when I am playing the online game Runescape. (or even just have the Runescape window opened and idle) I also found out on their website that JAVA is a cpu hog and that is what Runescape uses.

I am wondering if my cpu is being overworked and if upgrading my video card would help?

I currently have the nvidia gforce 4 mx 420 that came with my dell.
Location of this card is PCI bus 1.

I had read in other posts that an AGP card is better for my system than a PCI card, so I am wondering why DELL put it in there? and should I upgrade?

Message Edited by skogiefrodo on 08-30-2007 07:10 PM

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CPU usage 100% should I worry?

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