Unknown app or process spiking CPU usage

**Cutter** · 03-05-2011, 06:44 PM

Hello

I am running Windows 7 SP1 and have Intel i3 processor on a 1 week old laptop. On 2 occasions in last 2 or 3 days I noticed CPU usage at 25-35% for no apparent reason. This was showing on a gadget that monitors the CPU usage and was confirmed by running Task manager. TM showed no applications were running and although 89 processes were running none of them were over 1% and only 2 or 3 of them showed that. The rest showed 0. I clicked on the Performance tab and then the Resource Monitor. Again, nothing showed to account for the 25-35% which was still showing in the gadget and the Task Manager.
Is there another way to track down what is running?
On both occasions a Restart brought the CPU usage back down to the usual 3-5%.

Thanks

**MarvinP** · 03-05-2011, 07:14 PM

Hi Cutter,
I too wonder what is going bump in the night when my CPU monitor spikes. I notice it most while running Slingbox on my laptop monitor while doing other stuff on the external monitor. It seems that somewhere around 5pm my Slingbox picture starts to break up and the CPU monitors peg at 100%. I have an i7 with solid state drive and max memory so nothing should peg this guy.

I'm starting to believe my cable connection to the net, starts filling up when people get home from work and all start using the pipe. I have no way of really checking without a hop or lag number.

Another story - while writing code (bad code) a few days ago I closed the file I had just spent a few hours cleaning up without saving it. I find that Office 2010 (for sure) makes a backup every 10 minutes for me and I was able to recover the entire 2 hrs worth of work. These type of processes are hidden to the user but still take CPU cycles.

I agree that we should be aware of what is happening in the brain of our computer but then we'd have to go back to Vista and accept every little thing that was about to happen. I believe Windows 7 has imporved on security and to do this takes CPU cycles.

My short answer is that the Task Manager is my tool to see what is happening.

**Cutter** · 03-05-2011, 07:52 PM

Hi back MarvinP

I've always been able to find the cause with Task Manager and its Resource Monitor in the past but on both of these two occasions it hasn't shown anything.

I agree with you when you say there has to be an awful lot going on to spike your i7 to the max.

When it happened earlier today it was when I simply lifted the lid. It came out of sleep (or hibernation) mode and immediately started spiking. I know for a fact that it was less than 5% when I closed the lid prior to that.

**MarvinP** · 03-05-2011, 09:31 PM

What else is running? See
http://www.techsupportforum.com/foru...ep-461383.html

**Cutter** · 03-06-2011, 04:36 PM

What else is running?

Nothing obvious. Nothing shows in Task Manager as an app or a process. I think I checked Services, too, and found nothing. That's the weird part. The graphs show the CPU usage but the lists don't indicate what's causing it. I'm wondering if some Processes or Services are hidden like system files are. I haven't found any option to unhide them if they are.

Thanks for the link. At least they were able to see what was running. I'll keep that Host file tip in mind if it happens again. So far it's been OK.

**shg** · 03-06-2011, 07:07 PM

Indexing service? Anti-virus?

**Cutter** · 03-07-2011, 08:55 AM

Hi Shg

I'm running AVG 2011. I saw its associated process(es) listed but the CPU numbers were 0. Unless there's such a thing as a hidden process? (ie - a process that is running but is not listed in the Process tab of the Task Manager). AVG scans have indicated no infections.

I'm waiting for next occurrence so I can make sure to check the Services list in the Resource Monitor. I'm pretty sure I did last time but not 100%. I've had a few days now without it repeating so maybe it was just breaking itself in. I hope.

Thanks for suggestions.

Bill

**Ballinger** · 03-18-2011, 01:53 PM

I had these issues with iphone app entwicklung myself. And the problem was Plugin Container for Firefox. I have no idea why tbh. Not sure if that's a Windows 7 specific problem.

**Cutter** · 03-18-2011, 04:40 PM

Unfortunately that isn't the problem with mine. I don't have Firefox installed.

I have had one further occurrence since I last posted and it was more serious. The same symptoms started happening but it was when I lifted the lid while the laptop was hardwired to network. I was unable to switch back to wireless because the "Fn" keys (unique to Toshiba?) were not responding. I ended up doing a reboot to resolve it again.

**Kousik Adhikary** · 05-14-2012, 02:26 AM

Cutter did you able to solve the problem? I am facing the same problem. Its a Windows 7 specific problem.

**arlu1201** · 05-14-2012, 02:34 AM

Kousik,

Welcome to the Forum, unfortunately:

Your post does not comply with Rule 2 of our Forum RULES. Don't post a question in the thread of another member -- start your own thread. If you feel it's particularly relevant, provide a link to the other thread. It makes sense to have a new thread for your question because a thread with numerous replies can be off putting & difficult to pick out relevant replies.