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butchiesmom
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November 22nd, 2004 20:00
System Idle Process at 100% freezes computer momentarily
I have a Dell Dimension 4500 with Windows XP. Now and then, more now lately, it freezes, meaning I can't enter anything but can move the mouse cursor. After about 30 seconds, whatever I was doing, resumes and I have no trouble, until the next time. I go into the Windows Task Manager and find the System Idle Process running at 98% or more. System Idle Process is almost always the process taking up the resources.
There's no warning, it just happens. It was running slower, but I redownloaded and installed AdAware and changed from Norton to McAfee Anti virus and it found trojans and a virus Norton didn't. That helped with the speed a little, but I'm still having trouble with the freeze.
Is this system supposed to run that way all the time?
Gail
Message Edited by butchiesmom on 11-22-2004 05:53 PM
butchiesmom
10 Posts
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Posted November 22nd, 2004 21:00
I usually run the disk clean up when I uninstall more than one program or have gotten rid of a lot of files. I have IE set up so it deletes the temp files when I leave it. I delete cookies and history less often, but I do it when I remember. I just did a defrag yesterday and it found a lot of unused space.I am still getting rid of some spyware, Fastclick being the latest one, so I will download Spybot and run it. I've been running Adaware every day, since I reinstalled it. I had not been scanning for spyware because of a corrupted reference file, but Norton wasn't finding anything. I turned on McAfee and it found a virus, can't remember which one, and several trojans. Adaware found over 100 items and it finds 20 to 30 each time I run it. I can live with it not as fast as it used to be, I'm not going anywhere, but freezing for a few seconds, is a real pain, especially during downloads and other goings on.I know enough about computers to fix easy to intermediate problems, but I know enough to know I don't know enough.butchiesmom
10 Posts
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Posted November 23rd, 2004 13:00
I uninstalled Norton before I installed McAfee. That's one of the first lessons I learned about anti-virus programs when I bought my first computer and needed to upgrade the anti-virus program.
Denny Denham
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18798 Posts
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Posted November 22nd, 2004 21:00
System idle should be running in the high 90% range under normal conditions. That is the "process" that accounts for everything not actually in use by an application or other process.
You are already using Ad-aware which is an excellent program. Just for completeness I'd recommend you download Spybot Search and Destroy from here. It can detect items that Ad-aware misses (and conversely).
Do you routinely run Disk Cleanup on the system?