My PC has high CPU loads a few times every couple minutes

[jo233]

My pc seems to get very high CPU at times, which makes the computer very slow especially the internet which goes straight to 'not responding'.

Recently it has been doing it alot where the CPU and computer fluctuate between being normal and silent to then suddenly loud with CPU upto 50-70% and at some points much higher.
This fluctuates a lot e.g every minuite on average.

I put CPU processes tab in Windows Task Manager

-When silent and normal, 'System idle process' seems to be around 47, then 70 then 90.
'jqs.exe' popped up a few times as well.
A few 'iexplore.exe' names pop up especially, fuctuating under 'System idle process'(at the top).
The CPU can be low around 2%-4% with the odd high numbers fluctuating and appearing up to 60%.

-When loud and slow, the CPU can be up to 70%, fluctuating higher at times.
'System idle process' is up to 99%
avp.exe is up there aroudn 16% and more
Around 3-4 'iexplore.exe' around 34% and much higher names appear with some above 'system idle process'
'jqs.exe' popped up a few times again

The CPU seems to move about to high %s even when quiet and then it leads to being noisy within a minute since being silent.

 

[jo233]

my pc hit 100 in the CPU today, making the internet freeze, until I ended the internet programme in task manager. Why is the CPU getting this high?

 

[mailpup]

I don't know if I have all your answers but when the System Idle Process is 99% that means the CPU is only 1% active, meaning it's doing practically nothing.

 

[jo233]

when the pc is not noisy and CPU is low, System Idle Process seems to be in the high numbers 70-99 (but it does fluctuate alot)

when CPU is high and the fans are buzzing then System Idle Process seems to be around the 30-40's with other names going above it e.g explorer.exe (in the 60's). avp.exe and I.expore appear high aswellalong with svchost.exe appearing but not as high as explorer.exe

I wonder if going on sites like facebook and twitter seem to make the CPU much higher. It seems going on youtube, facebook and twitter at the same time is near impossible without freezing, and even goign on twitter on it's own can make the CPU get very high.

 

[Dawn1113]

I'm not sure, but maybe posting your specs would help others toward a diagnosis?

And it is as mailpup says, 99% system idle process means your CPU isn't doing anything at all. That your system is quiet during times when system idle process is high is quite normal, so you're fine in that respect, at least.

Have you tried monitoring your system temps? Try to track where they're at when your PC starts to slow down or freeze.

 

[jo233]

ah didn't know about the 99% thing. At least that's akay then. It does fluctuate though and doesnt stay on one number for longer than a second.

How do I monitor system temps?

I have 2gb ram, maybe more is needed and I'm on Pentium 4 540 . Maybe that's why.

 

[Dawn1113]

I use HWMonitor and a couple more utilities. It's free. Google it. Not bad, but then not the best , I've been told. Wait a bit for some of the more knowledgeable members to chime in.

I don't know what the temps are like on Pentium 4s. I'm guessing you should keep below the mid 60's (celsius). The lower the better. Take a look at the cooling guides on this site. Good stuff there.

I'm guessing, too, that 60% CPU usage (system idle 40%) would be normal if you bring up three sites at the same time with your CPU. But don't take my word for it. Like I said, wait around until some of the more knowledgeable members get to your thread.

As for the slowing down and freezing, I remember experiencing the very same problems on my old single core Pentium 4 when I had more than one site up, especially if the system had been running for a while. I'm curious, though, you've not experienced this problem before? It only started happening recently? The fans whirring like that may indicate a heat-related issue. When was the last time you cleaned your PC?

PS: Upgrade time, maybe?

 

[jo233]

Upgrade time possibly yes!

The computer had been slow and vunerable to freezing before. It just seemed to be more annoying recently, where I had to 'end task' alot to stop frozen sites.
I increased my ram to 2GB which seemed to make it much better and calmer. But recently it has become noisy again.
When you mean clean, do you mean give it a dust? I had someone give it a quick clean inside a few months ago. The person said it was very dirty then.

 

[Marnomancer]

[CENTER]Have no fear, Vlad is here! [/CENTER]
Firstly, if you use Firefox, it's not just you, even I had a similar issue until I switched to Chrome. Seems to be a bug.
As for the irregular fan speeds, it looks like fan control kicking in. That points to overheating. You may like to refer to this guide for help with them.
The process "jqs.exe" you mentioned looks suspicious to me. I initially though it to be a Java service, but a DB search turned up empty. But I'm not sure. The System Idle Process fluctuating per minute is acceptable, but fluctuating per second is not normal.
As Dawn said, track whether this happens all the time or just under certain circumstances. For that, start up your computer from a cold boot, open Task Manager, and check whether the symptoms show. If they don't show up within the first 4 minutes after start-up (remember, exactly 4 minutes), it's overheating to blame. To keep track of temperatures, you can use HWmonitor as Dawn mentioned, or Speedfan.

However, that hypothesis does not explain two symptoms: the unreasonable CPU usage, and the randomly spawning processes.
For that, we need some tests. Here we go:
First, you need a malware detection tool. No better tool than Avira when it comes to speed and accuracy. Some argue Microsoft Security Essentials is better (for the absence of ad nags screens, which I agree to), but since I personally haven't tried it, I can't recommend it to you yet. The option is yours. Here's a vast array to choose from.
Scan with Avira for malware (the Complete System Scan option), repair detection if any. There should be no problems. Uninstall if you want to.
Then, get Auslogics Disk Defrag. Select 'Defrag and Fully Optimize' from the drop down action menu.

Get CCleaner. In the 'Tools' section, got to the Startup tab and see if the startup list has any entry that shouldn't be there. Don't bother about nvmediacenter, nvcpldaemon, nvpanel, and other driver-related entries. You'll end up with unnecessary trouble. However, wierd entries like GAME.exe, EXPLORER.exe (notice the all-caps) or even porn.exe shouldn't be there, so disable them, and restart your system, and see if it helps.

You may also want to refer to this guide for further help with performance.

Kindly bear in mind that I have absolutely no system report of the current state of your PC, so I can't provide any specific help until I get it. Now, for that, here's what you do:
Download Speccy or Game Booster 3.5 (google "game booster iobit majorgeeks", I'm Feeling Lucky)
For Speccy:

-Search for the 'save report' option. Save it as .txt and paste it here or attach the file.​

For Game Booster 3.5

- Go to the "Diagnose" tab.​

- Click the "Analyze" button​

- Once the scan is complete, click the "Copy" button to copy it to the clipboard and paste is here as a post.​

- Alternatively "Export" it as a .txt file and attach it.​

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Marnomancer.

 

[Rabbit01]

"jqs.exe" is Java Quick Starter Service. It shows up in the Task Manager of my work laptop running XP Pro. A no show on my Win7 desktop. For the most part, it's not using any resources at all.

Did a search on "avp.exe", looks like it's part of Kaspersky Internet Security Suite. In one forum, the issue of CPU usage was resolved after Kaspersky program was updated to the latest version. In another, looks like the complete uninstall & reinstall of the program resolved it.

 

[Buckshot420]

when's the last time you did a fresh install of windows?

 

[jo233]

I have not done a fresh install of windows yet.

I use internet explorer version 8. Would firefox or chrome be better or update to IE9?

The System Idle Process does fluctuate per second eg, 92,then 74, the 86 per second changes.

is a cold boot just shutting PC down then switching on again?

Will my pc have a chip to monitor temps for speedfan and hwmonitor?

 

[Marnomancer]

I use internet explorer version 8. Would firefox or chrome be better or update to IE9?

Chrome. As of now.

The System Idle Process does fluctuate per second eg, 92,then 74, the 86 per second changes.

That's definitely not normal.

is a cold boot just shutting PC down then switching on again?

It means starting it from a total switch-off. No AC/hibernate/standby, no restart.

Will my pc have a chip to monitor temps for speedfan and hwmonitor?

All modern PCs have on-die temperature sensors, and I believe (because I used SpeedFan on my old P4) that it has them too, but it's better if you download and run the programs and verify.

 

[jo233]

whilst on facebook, youtube and this site just now, 'iexplore.exe' (524,860k mem usage) was ranging from 53-97
with 'System' ranging from 0-20 (180k mem usage)
They were the main two (along with system idle process) in the processes tab.

 

[jo233]

With fans whirring, I closed one by one, Facebook, this site then Youtube;still whirring I then clicked X on Internet explorer and then 2 seconds later..computer was much calmer and fans stopped whirring.
System Idle Process was much calmer ranging from 98-99 and staying there slightly longer with only a few processes popping up with 1 or 2 CPU including apdproxy.exe, KMProcess.exe, XBoxstat.exe, svchost.exe, System and jqs.exe (this ranged highest up to 13), taskmgr.exe, WindowsSearchIndexer.exe, services.exe lsass.exe (mostly on 2) explorer.exe, avp.exe (1-2) (I noticed there are three 'svchost.exe'; all under SYSTEM username though)
With no Internet Explorer on, System Idle Process was changing per second (although not as wide ranging) sometimes on 99 for longer then 98 but was much calmer. jqs.exe was the highest appearing every 5-10 seconds though ranging from 8-13 CPU.

 

[Marnomancer]

Odd. That isn't a CPU issue.
I recommend you post this thread in the Malware and Virus Removal sub-forum, because that's what it looks to me.

Regards,
Marnomancer

 

[mike1959]

Hi, jqs.exe is Java and is explained here; http://www.processlibrary.com/directory/files/jqs/411320/

 

[jo233]

I downloaded Google Chrome and it is much better than IE8 and certain things work better than IE8. There have been no freezing compared to IE8 and a lot less whirring fans with System Idle Process in the 90's, (although changing her second).
Although occasionally the fans do whir, with chrome.exe popping up along with avp.exe sometimes and the CPU does rise a bit.

The CPU seems to be more consistently lower, although moving per second.

When I might visit another website e.g Facebook in a new tab or open Microsoft word or paint the fans sometimes start whirring loud, then they will become quiet after a few seconds.

PF usage is 1.52gb. is that good?

 

[Marnomancer]

What PF are you referring to exactly?

 

[jo233]

What PF are you referring to exactly?

I meant the one that appears under CPU usage in Windows Task manager

 

[jo233]

These are a few add-ons that were apparently slowing down my IE. I wondered if you knew what were best to disable?

 

[Marnomancer]

If it's memory usage, no.
For the add-ons, disable the maximum possible toolbars, Windows Live ID plugins, Sidebar Autolaunch (not sure, experiment), the Skype and Groove plugin.
See which help and which don't.

Regards,
Marnomancer

 

[Buckshot420]

sounds like malware and/or a bunch of unwanted goodies were installed. You will save yourself a lot of headache if you do a fresh install of windows. Make a backup of your drivers if you don't have the Driver CD that came with your computer. You can also go to the manufacturers website of your motherboard and download all the newest drivers before you start the reinstall. You will notice a vast improvement after you do a fresh OS install.

 

[Razer]

maybe your pc is infected by malware, it's a good idea you post this thread in section of malware and virus removal forum.. my friend's laptop have similar symptoms with your problem (90% cpu, high temp, slow performance, no response, hang), then it happen to be infected by malware..

 

[DarKSeeD]

Well, what OS do you use? Use a malware scanner. The System Idle process normally goes to 90% without affecting the system performance. Let the OS manage the page file, don't disable it, if you don't want to use a fixed size.
To use a malware scanner start in Safe Mode and do a full system scan also you should disable the System Restore because any malicious software is backed-up as well.