CPU Usage and HD Activity

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 8:44 am

Why might there be 25% CPU usage and some indication of HD activity if there are NO PROCESSES running as indicated by Task Manager?

This condition does not change when I turn OFF the modem/router that connects me to the internet.

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 9:03 am

Mine goes up and down while idle, too. I suspect just being powered up causes some activity. Those squirrels in their cages are just preparing to meet your every need.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 9:06 am

Did ya click on the PROCESSES tab, then click the CPU column twice so that the SYSTEM IDLE PROCESS is first on the list?

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 9:29 am

beeg wrote:Did ya click on the PROCESSES tab, then click the CPU column twice so that the SYSTEM IDLE PROCESS is first on the list?

Yes, I have done that.

But, it is as though now that I am watching, it has quit.

CPU usage is now 2% and memory is only 816mb.

camerio · Post by **camerio** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 10:49 am

I would say that the operating system call Window #7 or whatever is still at work behind the "scene" to answer .... it is one activity maybe that we keep forgetting about ?

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 12:10 pm

camerio wrote:I would say that the operating system call Window #7 or whatever is still at work behind the "scene" to answer .... it is one activity maybe that we keep forgetting about ?

But to demand 25% CPU time it has to be doing something significant and yet there is no indication of what that might be in Task Manager.

There was a time when I thought I knew how my computer worked but that is no longer the case. I just cannot keep up with the technology changes.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 12:36 pm

The OS occasionally determines it can do some mundane background stuff when the puter is 'idle'. Yes it can become a resource hog(after all IT is in charge[betcha ya thought you were!]).

I would have traded for your 'situation' a short time ago.

As I was nearing the end of creating a post, Herr Gates & Co. seized my computer, prepared to reconfigure, shut it down, re-booted it(which required intervention on my part since windows is NOT the default OS), reconfigured my computer and 'welcomed' me 10 minutes later to a computer with NO knowledge of what it was doing(for me) prior to its being 'seized'.

It was so frustrating that I also fergit what I was doing.

Was not the first time either!!!!!:mad:

At least XP asked permission!

fixit · Post by **fixit** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 1:12 pm

I find my machine (with Windows 7) now regularly locks up for several seconds to do "something" before returning control to me. Nothing gets lost in the process but irritating anyway. Older OS never did this as I recall.

Anyone else have this situation? And better yet - a "fix"?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 1:34 pm

fixit wrote:I find my machine (with Windows 7) now regularly locks up for several seconds to do "something" before returning control to me. Nothing gets lost in the process but irritating anyway. Older OS never did this as I recall.

Anyone else have this situation? And better yet - a "fix"?

That Also!!!:mad:

benush26 · Post by **benush26** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 3:38 pm

Did some trace work and found that mine (i7, 12 GB, 1 TB primary, 1TB secondary using W7) was slowing other processes and a memory / processor hog when doing a couple things in the background, Defrag and Anti-virus auto update down loads.

If I am idle for more than a few minutes the primary HD schedules itself for some defrag work and takes most of the resources to accomplish that task quickly.

Also I have Kapersky for AntiVirus work and it will take all the download bandwidth and a big chunk of memory (and I presume CPU usage, too) to get as much as possible as quickly as possible.

Last and probably least since not verified by Task Manager, if I been using a large video file, I sometimes notice a long lag time before other processes are allowed to get up to speed. From my past experience, sometimes that amount of memory has to be purged and if your application tries to save / preserve it "before" it purges, then you can see other programs working at full tilt again. I see this more with programs that were created using JAVA on or before XP came out so I presume that W7 has a problem with that structure.

Just my 2 cents,

Ben