CPU usage

Question

Hello Forum People,

I'm very new to this, so please bear with me.

6 months ago I bought a Dell Inspiron 6400 with Vista Home Premium o/s. At first things were ok but lately the 'Activity doughnut' appears every 30/40 seconds or so and takes most of the processer power causing a slowing of the machine, stalling programmes and makes it impossible, for example, for a flight sim to operate smoothly. Something is running the background taking all the power. When this happens the cpu 'meter' shows 100% usage.

As I said before, at first everything worked well. I have only a total of 1012 of DDR RAM and of course double that would be better (the slots only allow for 2 memory modules) but would that cure the problem or could it be something else like the m/s daily downloads padding out Vista?

Any help would be appreciated.

Glider 1

mwfanelli2 · Answer

First, realize that Vista is a massive memory hog. I have yet to see a Vista machine run adequately in less than 2G of memory. Even then, its still slower than my XP Pro desktop with 512M of memory.

That being said, you should not be experiencing this type of problem. As a first guess, use the task manager to see what is eating up the cpu time. That goes a long way towards getting a grip on things.

Next, go in and stop the automatic startup of applications you don't really need all the time, e.g., iTunes, Real, Quicktime, etc. They will start up if you actually need them later on.

If you have Symantec or Norton software, get rid of it. That's just a personal opinion but I have found over the years that these products make a mess of my Windows boxes.

Glider 1 · Answer

Thanks MWF,   I don't know too much about the technical side of computers but I did look at task manager and couldn't see anything that showed excessive use of the cpu. Problem is that the effect only lasts for a few seconds, just enough time to mess things up and not long enough to search for the culprit....   I'm running Mcaffee A/V do you think that this could cause this type of problem?   G1

Hawkster66 · Answer

mwfanelli2 wrote:
First, realize that Vista is a massive memory hog. I have yet to see a Vista machine run adequately in less than 2G of memory. Even then, its still slower than my XP Pro desktop with 512M of memory.

I must be an exception to a lot of "rules". I've got just one GIG of RAM right now and even Photoshop CS runs acceptably under Vista Basic. It's no speed demon but then I didn't buy a really fast PC. I think you might find that a lot of the problems are the pre-installed garbage that's all configured to run at startup on top of the bells, whistles, gizmos and gewgaws that too many users are overly impressed with and cram their computers full of only to complain later about how horrible it's running. As an example, would you believe PowerDVD was running, by default, on my PC just sitting there, using memory waiting for that RARE occasion when I'd put a DVD movie into my drive. As much as I like my 19" monitor I've got a comfy couch and a big screen TV in the living room for watching movies on.

Hawk (actually happy with Vista)

Message Edited by Hawkster66 on 10-24-2007 09:41 AM

Glider 1 · Answer

Thanks for your comments Hawkster66   Yes, I agree that a lot of stuff is 'Gimmicky'.  I've downloaded very little and do not use things like the sidebar etc.  Automatic updates have been selected for Vista and of course the A/V.  This laptop should be able to handle all that I've got on it.   I must try and find out what is running in the background unnecessarily as mwfanelli2 suggested.  I'll need the help of someone who is more computer literate than I to help with this.   G1

Hawkster66 · Answer

You can do what I did....   Pull up the Task Manager and then Google out the details on the things that are running.

MoneyGuyBK · Answer

Glider1;   Click Start and Click 'Run' OR Hold Win_Flag key (Between Ctrl & Alt) and letter 'R' at the same time   Type ''msconfig'' and hit enter or click 'ok'   Say ok to 'UAC'   on MsConfig window Go To Startup TAB   You can either click 'Disable All' or manually disable all the programs that you do not want to start up at boot... Don't worry, no damage will be done. Your programs will still start when you want them to.   The thing is that every program you ever install will put itself in 'startup' in msconfig. You do not need this.  This is what slows you at boot and when multitasking.   So, every time you install something go to 'msconfig' again and do this.   Every time you do this procedure, and hit 'apply' and 'ok' you must click 'yes' when finished to question about restarting your PC. Once restarted, you will get a warning about 'selective startup' ... select 'never show me again' and ok, and you will be on your way to faster computing.   If you play games and you like the Vista 'eye candy' at least 1 Gig RAM is good enough, 2 is better.   Good Luck   Peace     PS  I forgot to add: Every once in a while, do some housecleaning.  get rid of files you don't need., clean up the desktop and put away the files on your desktop (that consumes memory too) and of course a defragmenting regiment is good too, to help speed up your PC.  you do need at least 15% empty space on your hard drive to do a defrag.   Message Edited by MoneyGuyBK on 10-24-2007 11:02 AM

kirkd · Answer

In Task Manager, you can select CPU Time as one of the displayed columns. This shows the total time any process has run since booting. This may show the problem program(s) which are hard to catch on the fly.

You should have no problems with 1 GB of RAM other than slower response in desktop perfromance and memory hog games. My E1705 has 2 GB, but worked fine with only 1 GB. Also, adding a USB or SD module for the ReadyBoost feature will speed up desktop performance. Get a fast one.

Getting rid of memory hog resident programs is worth the effort.

Dimension 9100, Dual-Boot Win XP / Vista Home Premium, 3.0 GHz P4, 2 GB DDR2 533 MHz RAM, 2 GB SanDisk USB ReadyBoost, 160 GB SATA II Samsung (XP), 300 GB SATA II Seagate (Vista), 250 GB SimpleTech USB (WD Drive), Nvidia Go 6800 (425/825 MHz - XP, 325/600 MHz - Vista), Dell 1901 UltraSharp FP

Inspiron E1705, Win Vista Premium, T7200 Core 2 Duo (4MB, 2.0 GHz 667MHz), 2 GB DDR2 677 MHz RAM, 2 GB Transcend 150X SD ReadyBoost, 120 GB Samsung HD, Nvidia Go 7900 GS - 101.19 Driver, 17” Sharp UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-Screen WUXGA

Glider 1 · Answer

Hello KirkD,   Thanks for advice.     I've brought up T/Manager - Processes  - CPU Time and svchost.exe shows 01:19:45 & counting and Sytem  Idle P.. shows 01:34:55 & counting.  These are the longest times shown.   I cannot see anything else showing much time except Audiodg.exe showing 00:21:39...............   Sorry to sound so dumb but as I mentioned before I am new to this.   Regards,   G1

Glider 1 · Answer

Hi MoneyGuyBK,   Thank you for your interest.  I'll have a go as per your suggestion.   Regards,   G1

Glider 1 · Answer

Hello again MoneyGuyBK,   I've done what you suggested and the cpu usage now ranges from 0% to, occasionally, 79%. Generally though the usage is now more around 0% to 2-3% when idling and it does seem better.  Thank you for that.  Memory usage shows around the 628/630mb mark.   Have you an idea as to why the cpu usage would show up to 79% whilst the machine is idling?   G1

Glider 1 · Answer

Thanks Hawkster66,   I've disabled all startup programmes and there is an improvement.   G1

Glider 1 · Answer

Good morning mwfanelli2,   I've disabled all start up programmes and have noticed an improvement.  I'll stick 2g of ram in as I want to run adobe photoshop cs2.   Thanks for the help.   Regards,   Glider1

MoneyGuyBK · Answer

Glider 1 wrote:

Hello again MoneyGuyBK,

I've done what you suggested and the cpu usage now ranges from 0% to, occasionally, 79%. Generally though the usage is now more around 0% to 2-3% when idling and it does seem better. Thank you for that. Memory usage shows around the 628/630mb mark.

Have you an idea as to why the cpu usage would show up to 79% whilst the machine is idling?

G1

First, I am glad my suggestion helped.

Second, in Task Manager, you can click on the columns to sort data ... if you sort by CPU usage, you will see your programs grouped by CPU usage.

This should give you an idea as to which programs are hogging CPU time

I run my Beast 24/7 with Folding@Home that is a process that uses all 4 Cores of my processor.

When I ran this process in Windows, nTune showed 100% CPU usage

Now, in Linux/Ubuntu (I use in a virtual machine) I see that dropped to 90-95%, and also the temps have dropped 8-10 C

The only time I see this much CPU usage is with junkware running on the PCs

For example, I helped a friend whose PC never showed less than 50% idle time. In his case the culprit was Google Desktop. So, we uninstalled that and all worked fine.

Here's what to do.... Google "Decrapifier" or click here:

http://pcdecrapifier.com/

Read the instructions first. Then click the "Download" at the top of that page.

This will identify known junkware on your PC and ask you if you want them removed.

You can decide if you want to keep anyone of them, just unclick the box next to them.

I am not sure how new or old your PC is. Most manufacturers get paid for installing third party software. So, every time I buy a new one, I use this site to identify and remove them.

Hopefully this helps. Let me know if you need anything else.

Peace

Glider 1 · Answer

Good afternoon MoneyGuyBK,   Thanks for all your help.  I've downloaded your suggested programme and followed your advice.  The machine now appears  more normal.  CPU usage on idle is 0 - 5%.  Great!   My  laptop is six months old.   Funnily enough the programme that was quite unusable when I had the problem was a really impressive radio control model aircraft trainer. I am teaching my neighbour the basics of r/c flying without breaking aircraft.  Now hear this.... last Saturday I was breaking his new engine in when I stuck my knuckle into the prop and ended up in hospital for the night with a badly damaged finger and 20 stiches. This after 45 years of model flying!!  As we say here in France  'c'est la vie'..   This is the first time I have used a Forum and I'm  very impressed with by all those people out there willing to help.  Brilliant.   Regards   G.1

MoneyGuyBK · Answer

Glider 1 wrote:

Good afternoon MoneyGuyBK,

Thanks for all your help. I've downloaded your suggested programme and followed your advice. The machine now appears more normal. CPU usage on idle is 0 - 5%. Great!

My laptop is six months old.

Funnily enough the programme that was quite unusable when I had the problem was a really impressive radio control model aircraft trainer. I am teaching my neighbour the basics of r/c flying without breaking aircraft. Now hear this.... last Saturday I was breaking his new engine in when I stuck my knuckle into the prop and ended up in hospital for the night with a badly damaged finger and 20 stiches. This after 45 years of model flying!! As we say here in France "c'est la vie"..

This is the first time I have used a Forum and I'm very impressed with by all those people out there willing to help. Brilliant.

Regards

G.1

Hi, I am so glad that worked for you.... France hA?.... well.....

you should have 2 glasses of wine then... :smileysurprised:

1st one for the problem reslove on your pc

2nd one for your health and sanity :smileytongue:

Sorry about the accident ... these things happen to the best of us....

That's why they are called: Accident in French as well. Vivez bien :smileyhappy: Paix

Peace

Message Edited by MoneyGuyBK on 10-27-2007 10:32 AM

Windows General

CPU usage

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