BleepingComputer.com: peaking and falling CPU

Hi,

My XP sp3 keeps peaking CPU and Failing back to little. I know the HD is fine but this problem has been going on for months.



Any help would be good and well receieved.


thanks

If I am understanding you...what you describe is the routine manner that the system is supposed to work.

When the system is taxed...CPU usage should increase, as evidence of activity beyond that which is beyond the range of not being asked to do certain tasks. The more tasks asked of the system at the same time...the more usage.

Opening/using certain programs should increase CPU usage, with the time for such increase being dependent on what the program is and what it is doing.

Example: If I open and use any of my video-editing programs and proceed to render/edit video...the usage will increase dramatically and reduce only when I have completed the edits/rendering...because those tasks are very intense on the system.

If I am not understanding...please provide more details so that others may be able to contribute their comments/thoughts.

Louis

Open task manager to the processes tab. Double-click on the word "cpu" at the top of the cpu column to sort that column with highest usage at the top. Nest time the processor spikes, look to see which process is using the cycles.

ITs firefox. For some reason when i click off of firefox, cpu usage dropps to normal (around 15% ish) but the moment i click back on to firefox it goes upto 100% and goes slow (then falls a little then peaks).

sometimes its "firefox.exe" other times its "plugin-container.exe" both are firefox. how can i stop it for acting up??

thanks for the help.

It may be one of the add-ons. Try Firefox Safe Mode and see if that also causes spikes. If not, it's one of your add-ons. If it does, uninstall Firefox and then download and install the latest version of Firefox.

Runing it in safe mode reduces the problem(not fully but enough to work with). Should i re-install firefox?

I would if I were you. You should also check to make sure that you don't have the same problem with IE. If you do, it may be malware at work.

when you show the cpu usage to be firefox taking up a lot of percentage, is there another program that's also working hard, maybe underneath firefox? what is that program?

This post has been edited by cogs10: 03 February 2011 - 07:38 PM

@ allan - what kind of malware and how do i check ?

Well, if you want to do a quick check yourself you can run scans with both your installed anti virus utility along with MalwareBytes. If you want a more thorough check you can post in the Am I Infected forum on this site. If you do the latter, you should link back to this thread

But what happens with IE?