GMG said:
My computer slowed to a crawl and the only thing I can find is that theCPU
is running at 100% ALL THE TIME!
What would cause this? The computer boots and then completely slows down.
What does Task Manager show ? Try right clicking on the blue bar at the
bottom of the screen and select Task Manager from the popup menu.
Alternately, you can use Process Explorer from Sysinternals.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
If neither of those will run, you may have a malware problem. Malware
doesn't particularly want to be discovered. And in any case, it may
be able to hide itself.
*******
Can you see a particular thing using the CPU ?
First, a word about Task Manager
System - threads assisting the OS, close to zero
System Idle Process - runs when nothing else is ready to run
Equals 100% when system is IDLE.
Equals 0% when some other process is hammering the system
(Any others) - the percentage indicates how much they're using
The total of all of them should be 100%. For example, Firefox
might be 50%, System might be 0%, System Idle Process might be
50%. That means Firefox is using half of the CPU resources and
that is what you'd mainly be interested in. The "System" usage
should be low most of the time. The System Idle Process is
there, just to make the total equal 100%. You can learn more
about the System Idle Process, here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Idle_Process
This page describes the "System" process a little bit. The
threads of execution there are helping the OS.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc768129.aspx
"The system process
This process contains system threads, which are kernel mode threads.
Windows and various device drivers create system process threads for
various reasons. For example, the memory manager creates system threads
for performing virtual memory tasks, the cache manager uses system threads
for managing cache memory, and the floppy disk driver uses a system thread
to monitor the floppy drives."
Paul
