Why is my CPU usage red?

Can someone please tell me why my CPU Usage in Task Manager fluctuates between green, yellow and red? Just recently it has been showing up red much more often than it used to. Also it has been running considerably slower recently. I have attached a screen dump showing task manager as a program is loading.

Thanks in advance

When's the last time you did a scan for malware? Do you have anit-virus software ( like AVG), anti spyware like Spybot and ad-AwareSE?

I am currently using Avast! for anti-virus and ad-aware professional for the rest. Would either of these detect malware?

Ad-aware is mediocre product at best. I would use it in conjunction with SpyBot S&D and Windows Defender (beta) to be sure there is no malware on your machine. Be aware though, don't use Defender's quick scan - do a full scan the first time to make sure it catches everything in your Windows Restore directory. Hope this advice helps.

C0d3Warr10r

Cheers for the help.
I've tried all you suggested, but not windows defender as it won't let me validate my copy of windows! Both ad-aware and spybot removed a few problems but task manager still shows cpu usage coming up as red. Do you know what this corresponds to - does the colour indicate the strain on the CPU or is it temperature, etc?

What OS are you running?

Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2

That's really wierd. I've tried several methods to occupy my machine and the cpu usage is never red, even at 100%. You tried using Microsoft's Windows Defender? I've found it useful. After Spybot that is.

Its not just at 100% either it fluctuates between red and green at all usage percentages and sometimes shows red and green with red at the bottom and green at the top!! It only recently started doing it and like you say it is wierd. Can't download defender the microsoft website refuses to validate my copy of windows.

I really need to figure out what it is because i am worried it might be an indication of my CPU beginning to fail - worst case scenario!!

You could try turning off some of Windows's many unneeded services. That doesn't solve your problem though. If your computer a server for anything? Not anything big i mean like a mail server or anything. Or maybe the host of a LAN? It could just be traffic over one of those.

Have you added alot of programs or files to your computer lately? It could be the indexing service doing its...... indexing. You know because windows has to keep track of the files on your computer...

If you want to turn off some of those services heres a link. It lists best settings for a standard PC user, gamer settings, and the guy that made the list's settings. Just go with the "Mine". If your a hacker you might want to leave Telnet on....
http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm

The next time you see it go red, select the processes tab and look for the process that's using the most CPU. Google this by name to determine if it's spyware/malware or some Windows process.

Another solution (assuming malware infection) is to download HiJackThis:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic17297.html.
Follow the instructions carefully, (including the part of turning off system restore and booting in safemode, these are IMPORTANT points).

Let me know if you need help. Post your hijackthis log back here. (it must be in a txt only file).

Cheers.

While you're in safe mode does it still show as red at all? Theoretically any non-vital processes shouldn't be running, so if it is malware that's causing it, it shouldn't be working.
If it's not red at all, at least you can feel a bit better knowing that your hardware's not about to kick the bucket on you.

Good idea, cheers for that. I'll try safe mode and HiJackThis and post my findings.

Tried it in safemode like u suggested and guess what... no red shows up at all! Next stop HiJackThis!!

I've used HiJackThis and made sure i followed the instructions exactly. I didn't choose to fix anything as I wasn't sure what to fix. I have attached the log file, if you could have a quick look and let me know what I should be "fixing", it would be much appreciated?

Thanks in advance.

-hjt removed-

solution:

open task manager
click on view->uncheck show kernel times

im not familiar with tech details of windows, but i think the kernel is the core part of the os.

btw, i think your os is running slow 'cos youve got soo many things in auto startup.

Hi cookiedude. Your HJT log is pretty clean. I would recommend you uninstall greasy palm (dubious program at best) and all 016 entries. Other than that it's not bad.

You could certainly benefit from a cleanup though! and use atf-cleaner from www.atribune.org to clear all your temp files.

For anybody else... please don't post hjt logs in the windows forum.

Cheers everybody, the help is much appreciated.

altheman: thanks, can't believe it was something so simple and i missed it!! I've been trying to rmove things from auto startup but not sure how. Is it something obvious that i'm missing again??

Spike: Cheers for checking the log file - was kinda expecting something nasty to turn up, almost disappointed it didn't. Would've given me a good excuse to format and start again. I'll prob do that soon anyway!! And i promise not to post anymore HJT logs here again.

Cheers everyone.

to stop stuff from auto starting, start->run->msconfig->startup tab.
but be careful what you stop from running, some may be stuff like av and firewall software. maybe spike can tell you what to remove since hes checked your hjt log, im not too good at that stuff.

I tried this but it's not working! I've unselected the items i don't want to start, then restarted the PC. Once its booted up again i've checked the startup items again and windows has reselected them! Its actually duplicated them - the unselected items are at the bottom of the list with their selected dublicates above them - I don't get it!!!!