CPU usage goes to 100%

[Tbag]

My laptop has over heating issues a lot and shuts down. Sometimes the fan just goes crazy whilst im just sufing the net , once I pressed ctr+alt+del then went to Performance and the CPU Usage was at 100% even though I just had firefox opened.

One day I switched the laptop on and after 3 mins the fan was so load and the CPU usage was at 100% even thought I didnt do anything other than let it boot up.

Why is this?

[cd090580]

Check in the process tab to see which one take all your cpu power.

Maybe a virus, spyware or other crap like that.

[aedipuss]

check to see what program is using the cpu. go to processes and double click on cpu to bring the highest users to the top and let us know what's running.

[hech54]

My laptop has over heating issues a lot and shuts down. Sometimes the fan just goes crazy whilst im just sufing the net , once I pressed ctr+alt+del then went to Performance and the CPU Usage was at 100% even though I just had firefox opened.

One day I switched the laptop on and after 3 mins the fan was so load and the CPU usage was at 100% even thought I didnt do anything other than let it boot up.

Why is this?

As others have said....your computer has a trojan, virus, spyware, malware, etc etc etc.

[Tbag]

oh crap, I'll check the process tap next time it happens.

thanks

[Weapon]

It could be just a virus scanner set to scan your system when you power it on. As others have said, check the process that are running. My McAfee does this for about 8 minutes after I turn on the system.

[stars]

take a look here, this was what I had in my computer some while ago...

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic337669.html#1757287


stars...

[lordsmurf]

It's not smart to always assume something is a virus. Very often, it's just something obnoxious, like Windows or Adobe software trying to download and update software in the background. Or a "protection" program (anti-virus, etc) running scans because it was never set up.

Too many people just let software set itself up, and most software has lots of automatic processes enabled by default.

Virus is possible, sure, but I find other things are more likely.

[guns1inger]

6 months or so ago there was a windows update that caused svchost to go to 100% when windows update started running, and to stay there. It took M$ more than a month to release a patch to fix the problem, but they did.

There are still a lot of people who do not regularly update windows. If you are one of these people, now might be a good time.

[Tbag]

Sorry I forgot to mention that just recently I was having issues with AVG. The icon has been greyed out for a couple of days now and it doesnt let me update.

I just started the laptop and its strted happening again.
It looks like AVG has been hogging the CPU, AVG freezes when I try to find out what the errors are and just closes.
Im might try a online scan.

[lordsmurf]

You have tons of useless crap running. Get WinPatrol and then have it disable startup garbage that is not necessary.

[Tbag]

You have tons of useless crap running. Get WinPatrol and then have it disable startup garbage that is not necessary.

what is the useless stuff and how would it have got there

[aedipuss]

you just have a lot of "stuff" running. i don't see anything that jumps out as harmful. i would uninstall and re-install avg to see if that will clear up the problem. you may have to terminate the running avg processes to free up the cpu in order to get anything done.

[redwudz]

Running at 100% CPU and having your antivirus blocked are two suspicious signs of malware/trojans.

You can kill some processes and find which one may be causing the problem. Here's one list of processes. Don't kill any of the Windows ones or your system may crash, but start with the others until your CPU usage drops down to something normal. The changes are only temporary till a reboot. http://www.gla.ac.uk:443/cert/guides/processes_xp.shtml

You can also use ' msconfig '. Type that in a 'Run...' window. It is also temporary. Instructions here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310560

You can also try a online malware scan like Trend Micro: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

[aedipuss]

hey red - but it's the antivirus itself that's running 100% and nothing else. my guess is still that it's a problem with avg free.

[TBoneit]

Well you might as well uninstall it and reinstall it as it isn't protecting you anyway.... Note where it says "Resident Shield is not loaded"

And as redwudz says. AV crippled and a 100% CPU usage sure is doing a Malware type of thing. When I'm looking to see if a computer brought in for running slow has Malware. First thing I do is look to see if it has Antivirus that is working properly. You could also try running AVG Antispyware free.

Or temporarily replace AVG free with the Trial version of AVG Internet Security.

[redwudz]

hey red - but it's the antivirus itself that's running 100% and nothing else. my guess is still that it's a problem with avg free.

True, that may be all it is. I would agree removing it certainly won't hurt if it's not working. I would also unplug from the internet when you do all this because if it is malware related, it may 'phone home' and reinstall.

AVG may just be corrupted or it may be under attack. If you are using the freeware version, easy enough to download a fresh install.

[Tbag]

I re-installed avg and that seems to be fine now. I didnt know avg did antispyware so im gonna try that now

[Tbag]

A AVG Antispyware scan found a TROJAN in a folder thats been there since Feb, What damage could it have done? (other than the the things ive mentioned)

[stiltman]

You most likely have more that AVG can't find.
Nowadays, it takes more than one scanner to find and fix most of these trojans/spyware installs.

I recommend Dr. Web CureIt! as a good second scanner that's free to use.
http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit/ scroll to the bottom for the download

Here's that link if you just want to get it now
ftp://ftp.drweb.com/pub/drweb/cureit/cureit.exe

It's done REAL good for catching things and FIXING them that the others couldn't
It also runs just fine in safe mode

[Tbag]

thanks ^^^

[TBoneit]

What damage it depends on what type of trojan it was. The payload for a trojan can be anything since the term trojan means something that claims to be one thing but is something else. If you kept a note of teh trojans name then you find out what it does. I believe AVG A/S gives a brief description of what it does if you click on it.