One of the most common and misunderstood problems is CPU usage. 100 percent of its work is taken up by obscure processes and services, which makes using the computer extremely difficult. Why it happens?
CPU utilization 100 percent. What to do?
Quite often, computer owners can experience deterioration in performance, delay in response to user actions and other problems after some time of continuous use. Some of the most common reasons that can lead to this include full CPU utilization by obscure running processes. The simplest advice is to restart your computer. In some cases, it can help. You can advise to reinstall the system, but this is the most extreme method, already included in the category of anecdotal recommendations in most technical forums.
The most common reasons for increased processor load
There are quite a few people who are concerned about this issue. And they are all looking for an effective solution to their problem without using cardinal methods. And for this it is necessary to deal with the reason that could lead to such a situation. If you turn to the forums where questions related to such behavior of a computer are encountered quite often, we can single out the most common situations:
- Launching a program or process that uses increased computer resources.
- System malfunctions.
- due to accumulated dust and insufficient cooling.
Identifying problems and solving them
In order to determine why the percentage is, you will need to carry out a number of diagnostic procedures. After the cause is established or there is reason to opt for one thing, it will be necessary to take the actions necessary to eliminate it. Details on what needs to be done in each case are discussed below.
Determining the program that loads the processor
The first thing to do when the computer starts to slow down and respond poorly to mouse commands and other actions is to open the Task Manager. To do this, you can simultaneously hold down the key combination Ctrl, Alt and Del or Ctrl, Shift and Esc, or call the context menu in the taskbar area and find the corresponding item in it.
In the window that opens, you need to select a detailed view so that the tabs appear, among which there will be the one we need - "Processes". In it you can see when the CPU load is 100 percent. What to do next in this case?
The tab will display a complete list of all processes currently running on the system. They are sorted alphabetically by default, but you can select the CPU usage column to identify the one that caused the problem.
Quite often it happens that a massive program that requires a lot of resources is not unloaded correctly after closing. As a result, processes remain in operation and the processor load continues. In this case, it is enough to click on the "End task" button to solve the problem. In this regard, it may be effective to reboot the system, which was recommended at the very beginning. Roughly speaking, during it, the same removal of tasks occurs. In addition, additional resources are freed that you might not notice on your own.
The list of processes may also contain unknowns that were not there before. Moreover, they can also take part in loading the system. This behavior is typical of viruses, so it would be good to know the names and characteristics of processes that are constantly running on a particular system, and periodically check the list of those running for suspicious activity.
System malfunctions
The first method does not always allow you to determine the reason why the CPU is loading 100 percent. What to do in this case? In practice, it may turn out that the entire load falls on the item "System inactivity". And in this situation, it will not be possible to remove the task.
The recommendation in this case is to run a utility that is distributed by Microsoft for free. presents an expanded picture of what Task Manager is showing. In this situation, the processor load can be 100 percent due to system interrupts, which are referred to as Interrupts in this program. It is difficult to say what exactly is the reason for this behavior, unless additional action is taken.
What can load the processor in the system
Incorrectly written drivers often lead to this problem. Booting the system using Safe Mode will help identify this. If the CPU is not experiencing the same load, then with a high degree of probability the reason is precisely in the drivers. You need to look for new versions of them, provided directly by the manufacturer of your computer or laptop.
Also, various viruses that have settled in it can lead to this behavior of the system. In this case, you need to run a scan of the system with antivirus software.
Problems with connected devices can also result in 100 percent CPU utilization. What to do with this? The advice is pretty simple. It is enough to disconnect everything from the computer, leaving only the most necessary minimum set of a mouse, keyboard and monitor. You should also look in to check for possible problems there.
If these tips do not help solve the problem, then you will have to reinstall the system. It's good if rollback points are created in the process of work, to which you can recover if the system was working properly at that time.
Dust accumulation and overheating
It is not uncommon to determine why the CPU utilization reaches 100 percent due to the loud operation of the cooler and the increase in the processor temperature. As a rule, this means that it is high time to clean the computer or laptop from the accumulated dust and dirt, and replace the thermal paste. This also leads to braking and system failures. We recommend cleaning at least once a year.
After long-term use of the system, it starts to slow down, all sorts of problems arise that users are not always able to solve. One of the main reasons for slow PC performance is 100 percent CPU usage. And here it is not always clear why this problem occurs.
There are two reasons - hardware and programmatic... The second, of course, appears much more often, so let's start with it. There can be viruses, unknown processes, whatever. In this article I will try to help you understand the CPU load by 100%.
If there is a suspicion that the processor is loaded at 100 percent
Go to device manager (keyboard shortcut Esc + Shift + Ctrl) and go to the tab "Performance"... In the CPU section there is, as a graph, which will make it clear how much the processor is loaded, as well as a line "Using"... If the load is still 100 percent, then it is worth taking action.
Program type problem
When you open the task manager, you need to find the process that is loading the processor. It can be any program installed on the PC, or a virus. Perhaps you did not find anything worthwhile in the "Processes" tab, then go to the tab "Details", all running processes are shown there, and try to find the one that is using the most CPU. If you are unsure of what to complete, I recommend contacting an experienced professional.
Of course, using the task manager is not always possible to find the desired process, then a third-party utility comes to the rescue Process Explorer... Run it and sort the processor by load (CPU) and see what it gives us.
Download Process Explorer: https://technet.microsoft.com/ru-ru/bb896653.aspx
Sometimes, the real culprit of the load may appear, and then you can close it without any problems, but there is another situation when it is the system process that loads the CPU. This can often be a system interrupt process and getting rid of this is not always easy. Of course, a simple reboot sometimes helps.
System interrupts can occur for several reasons: viruses, a problem with the hard disk and drivers, problems with printers, scanners and any other devices connected to the computer.
Drivers
You can check if the reason is really in the drivers as follows: boot into safe mode and check the CPU load, if not 100%, then the drivers are definitely playing pranks. You can try to remove the video card driver and check the load, if it fails, you will have to delete everything at all. Although this is a rather risky process, in the end it still involves reinstalling the system.
Problem due to viruses
Viruses can do a lot, and CPU utilization is no exception. They can even hide under the guise of a system processor, so the average user won't even understand. Try using several utilities to check your PC for viruses, I will give a few links to such programs and how to use them.
Hard drive problem
In general, this does not happen often, but I will also describe this point for safety reasons. There are two modes of operation in hard drives - DMA and PIO... The first involves working directly with RAM, and the second is outdated and uses the processor. Naturally, if your hard drive works in PIO mode, then you need to switch. This article describes how to do this.
Peripheral problem
The easiest way to check if peripherals are the culprit for CPU usage is to turn off everything in order. And also go to the device manager and check if the drivers are installed on all devices. If a yellow triangle or a red icon is lit there, then due to the lack of drivers, such a problem may have occurred.
You can get into the device manager like this: press the keys Win + R and enter the command there devmgmt.msc .
If you see the absence of drivers on some devices, update them directly from the device manager, or use third-party utilities.
Hardware problems CPU usage is 100%
Dealing with hardware problems is a little more difficult than dealing with software problems, especially for an inexperienced user. But we will try.
Frequent stress is caused by overheat... What do you think, because of what it occurs? Most likely due to a poor cooling system or dust.
First, let's check with AIDA64 or any other similar processor utility. In AIDA64 open the tab "Computer" and go to section "Sensors".
In this case, it would be wise to first check the processor cooling system. Open your computer or laptop case and preferably clean all components. Use a brush and vacuum cleaner for cleaning. Cleaning is often unnecessary, but at least 2 times a year is necessary. On the processor, be sure to change the thermal paste, about once every 3 years.
Of course, the described methods do not completely solve the problem with the processor. Hardware problems can even include damage to the processor, which is rare, but the only recommendation in this case is to replace it. On a laptop, this can be problematic, since they often cannot be replaced. In general, research and if you have any questions, ask them in the comments.
Good day!
I think almost every user, at least with a little experience, faced a similar problem: you work and work at a computer, and then you start to notice that it somehow slowly reacts to pressing the buttons of the mouse, keyboard, slows down ...
Very often the reason for slow work and lags is the CPU load, sometimes it reaches 100%!
Solving this problem is not always easy, especially since the CPU can be loaded for no apparent reason (i.e., you may not have launched any resource-intensive programs: games, video editors, etc.).
In this article, I'll walk you through a sequence of steps you can take to remove CPU utilization and return your computer to normal performance.
The first thing to try is to identify the process or program that is using up the CPU. As happens in most cases: some program (or game) was launched, then the user exited it, and the process with the game remained, which loads the processor ...
What process, the program is loaded with the processor
The fastest way to determine which program is using the CPU is to call task Manager (buttons: Ctrl + Shift + Esc ).
In the task manager, open the tab "Processes" and sort applications by CPU load. In the screenshot below, you can see that the lion's share of the CPU (~ 84%) is consumed by the Firefox browser (although I have not even started it ...).
If you have a similar "hidden" program, then you can close it from the task manager (just right-click on it ...).
Note
Windows has its own resource monitoring, which can also be used to view the load on the processor, memory, disk and network. To call it, press the buttons Win + R, then type in the line "Open" command resmon and press Enter .
Important!
In some cases, the task manager does not allow you to calculate the reason for the processor load. By the way, the processor may be loaded not by 100%, but, say, by 20-50% ...
If the task manager did not give information for thought, I recommend using one utility - Process Explorer (by the way, located on the Microsoft website ...).
Process Explorer (search for the "invisible" cause of the brakes)
An excellent program that has helped me out more than once! Its main area of \u200b\u200bwork is to show you ALL the processes and programs running on the computer (probably no one will leave it ...). This way, you can determine for sure which process is using the CPU.
The screenshot below is very revealing:
- System idle process is an indicator in% of system inactivity. Those. in the first half of the screen below - the processor is almost 95% idle (this is how it should be if a couple of programs are open on it: a browser, a player);
- and on the second part of the screen System idle process is 65%, but hardware interrupts and DPCs as much as 20% (and sometimes even up to 70-80%! It shouldn't be like that. In general, interrupts (these are system interrupts) during normal operation rarely go beyond a few percent! Here is the reason for the brakes and computer boot!
- by the way, very often the system is loaded by the svchosts.exe process... In general, this is a systemic process, but there are a number of viruses that disguise themselves as it and impersonate it. Below we will consider the question of how to catch them ...
Process Explorer: in the first part of the screenshot - everything is fine, in the second - the processor is loaded by ~ 20% with hardware interrupts and DPCs.
If the CPU loads interrupts
If the problem is related hardware interrupts and DPCs - then most likely the problems are related to the drivers. More precisely, with their conflict between themselves, and even more likely, incompatibility with your Windows OS. Moreover, even if your version of Windows appears in the driver description, this is not a 100% guarantee of compatibility.
Pay special attention to drivers: video cards, chipset mat. boards, network card, Wi-Fi, sound card. I recommend downloading several versions of them at once and trying them one by one.
Less commonly, the problem is associated with viruses, even less often with peripheral equipment: a printer, scanner, network cards, etc.
Checking and updating drivers
Sometimes it is not as easy to find suitable drivers for a computer / laptop as it seems at first glance ... In general, usually, the new version of the driver works better than the old one (but sometimes it's exactly the opposite). If your CPU load is related to hardware interrupts and DPCs - recommend:
- try to install drivers from the official website of your hardware manufacturer. Usually, this requires determining the manufacturer - for this you can use a special. utilities for determining the characteristics of the PC -;
- if you did not find the site or could not identify the manufacturer, you can try using some special. utility for updating drivers:
- if during installation there were problems with removing the old driver from the system, I recommend this instruction:
To find out if you have devices in your system for which there are no drivers - open device Manager ... To do this, call the menu "Run" - buttons Win + R, enter devmgmt.msc (example on the screenshot below).
Virus scan
Viruses - can be the cause of anything ... Usually, when the processor is loaded due to viruses, you can find some process that loads the system. Most often, this process is systemic: for example, viruses are disguised as a process svchost.exe - even a user with experience cannot immediately find and identify among real processes, viral (but this file will be discussed below) ...
- In Windows XP, 7: you can press the key several times when the OS boots (immediately after turning on the PC) F8 - a "black" window with a choice of boot options should appear;
- in Windows 8, 10: press Win + R, enter the command msconfig... Further in the section select Windows OS and check the box next to "Safe mode" ... Save settings and restart your PC (screenshot below).
And already from safe mode, it is advisable to run a virus scan. To do this, you do not need to have an antivirus installed on your computer - there are special utilities that you do not need to install.
Periphery equipment
If the problem has not yet been found, I recommend trying to disconnect from the laptop (computer), all unnecessary: \u200b\u200bprinter, scanner, mouse, etc.
I will also focus on device manager (more precisely on the drivers). Perhaps for some peripheral equipment drivers are not installed in the system and an exclamation mark is on ...
Pay special attention to old devices that may work in the new Windows OS, but you installed the drivers for them "forcibly" (for example, Windows could warn that there was no signature, and you continued the installation) ...
In general, it is quite difficult to find the true culprit in this case. If the processor does not load in safe mode, I recommend trying to remove the drivers on the peripheral equipment one by one and watch how the load behaves.
To help! How to remove old or unnecessary "firewood" -
Svchost.exe loads the processor - what is it?
Very often the processor loads the file svchost.exe - at least he says so task Manager... The fact is that this is the main process for loading services - that is, roughly speaking, the necessary system process, which you cannot do without ...
There are two case options here:
- viruses are often disguised under this process, and to distinguish real svchost from disguise - even experienced users are not always able to do it;
- real svchost can load the system (in certain situations).
How to determine: which svchost.exe file is the system file and which is not?
When you start it, you need to go to the menu Service / Process Manager (see screenshot below). Then you will see ALL processes in the system - they need to be sorted by name (this is more convenient, I think ...).
The bottom line is: all system processes that AVZ knows about are marked green color. Those. if you have on the list svchost black colors - look at them very closely, they are most likely viral.
By the way, all other suspicious processes can be analyzed using this AVZ.
Disable automatic Windows updates
Often svchost overloads the processor due to automatic Windows updates enabled. I propose to disable it (there is nothing wrong with that - just a couple of times a month you will manually check for updates - click 1-2 times with the mouse ...).
First you need to open the tab service ... The fastest way to do this is to click a button WIN + R, enter services.msc and press Enter (as in the screenshot below).
- launch type put "Disabled";
- and click the Stop button.
Save your settings and restart your computer.
Is there overheating? Checking the CPU temperature
A possible reason for the processor load may lie in overheating. Moreover, if everything was normal with you before, this does not mean at all that now it cannot start to overheat.
The most common cause of overheating is:
- dust (especially if the system unit has not been cleaned from it for a long time). The dust forgets the ventilation holes, the air starts to circulate badly in the device case - and the hot air from the processor remains in place, and the temperature starts to rise.
- The easiest way get rid of dust - open the lid of the system unit and blow out the dust with a vacuum cleaner (turning on the reverse mode). everything is more complicated - if you have never disassembled it before, I recommend giving it to specialists ...
- high room temperature ... This usually happens during hot summer weather when the temperature outside the window can rise significantly. In this case, you can open the side cover of the system unit and direct a regular fan towards it. There are special cooling pads for the laptop on sale.
- broken cooler (or it could also get clogged with dust). Here the advice is simple: replace or clean.
To help!
Signs by which overheating can be suspected:
- the computer (laptop) begins to freeze, a blue screen may appear, an abrupt restart or shutdown;
- strong hum of the cooler - this is especially noticeable in laptops. Your hand, if you get closer to the left side (where, usually, laptops have ventilation holes), you can also feel the hot air coming out, sometimes it does not even tolerate it его.
- crash of various applications with errors.
To check the CPU temperature - I recommend using some utility to determine the characteristics of your PC. For example, I like Speccy and Aida 64. You can see a screenshot of the processor temperature from Speccy below (t \u003d 49 ° C, degrees Celsius).
What should be the temperature of the processor?
A very popular question that cannot be answered unequivocally. The fact is that different manufacturers have different critical temperatures.
Supplement from 1.10.19.
Intel processor temperature: how to find it; which is considered normal and which is overheating -
For personal computer
In general, the ideal option is to look at the model of your processor and open the manufacturer's website: it always lists the critical temperatures.
Generally speaking, if the temperature of your processor is up to 40 ° C (degrees Celsius), then everything is in order with it, the cooling system is coping. Temperatures above 50 ° C - May indicate problems with the cooling system (or a lot of dust). Anything above 60 degrees should be carefully examined and measures should be taken: clean it from dust, install additional coolers (or replace old ones).
For laptop
As for laptops, the bar is somewhat different here. Since the space in the laptop is limited, the processors here heat up higher. For example, it is not uncommon for many processors to operate at a load temperature of about 70-80 ° C (especially for gaming models).
When idle, usually, this level is about 40-50 ° C. In general, you should start to worry (for most modern laptops) if the CPU temperature rises above 75-80 ° C (at least to clarify if this is normal for your device).
Most often, such high temperatures are reached when running games, editors, and other heavy applications.
By the way, many experienced users (and some experts) echo the critical 105 ° C for modern laptops. I will say this, a laptop can and will work at 90-95 ° C, and even, perhaps, at 100 ° C - but the main question is: how much? In general, this topic is debatable for many ...
PS
One last tip. Sometimes finding and eliminating the reasons for the high load on the processor and computer brakes is quite a tedious and difficult task.
Google Chrome, however, like any other browser, should not actively consume processor resources. An exception may be cases when the flash player works on very weak or old computers. On modern PCs and laptops with at least average performance, a processor load of over 90% can take place, but for this, resource-intensive tasks such as video playback in 8K / 4K must be launched in Chrome. If an 8K / 4K video is not played in Chrome, some powerful browser toy is not running, other operations that are comparable in power consumption of resources are not processed, but the Windows task manager shows that the processor is loaded by the browser almost to the limit, probably someone and is enriched at your expense. How to get rid of miner in Chrome?
Google Chrome loads the processor heavily: getting rid of the miner
So, in the Windows Task Manager, we see how the browser loads the processor almost to capacity.
The Chrome support site itself recommends in such cases:
Clear the history;
Upgrade to the latest browser version;
Scan your browser with the built-in malware search engine.
The first two options will help, well, in very rare cases. Searching for malware will probably resolve the issue.
But only if it can find malicious codes. Chrome's built-in malware search tool itself periodically scans the browser in the background, and if it found something, it would already notify us about it. It is not a fact that hidden miners in extensions or on sites open in the browser will be detected as malware. You can run a scan with an antivirus installed in the Windows environment or special utilities to search for potentially dangerous software such as AdwCleaner. But here, too, success will not be guaranteed in every case. The miner hidden in the browser can be calculated as follows.
How to find a hidden miner in Chrome
Launch the Chrome Task Manager with the Shift + Esc keys. We click on the "CPU" column to build a list of processes in descending order. In our case, the first, most actively using the processor resource, we see a certain process "Subframe: https://staticset.com/". We make a double click on it.
So, we found the culprit of the active absorption of the processor resource. If this is a tab of a site, close it. If this is an extension, first disable it.
Now we are testing Chrome under different loads - we just open websites, launch videos and flash games. And we monitor the load on the processor in the Windows task manager. In our case, disabling the extension solved the problem. With the same active tabs, the processor is loaded by 5-10%.
Now all that remains is to go to the extensions section and remove Stop Ads.
Well, we just forget about a site that dishonestly extracts cryptocurrency.
How to protect yourself from hidden mining in Chrome
How to prevent hidden miners from appearing in Chrome for the future? For these purposes, the browser store has special extensions such as MineBlock, No Coin and their analogues. You can resort to at the Windows level, such as entering a list of domains of known sites caught in mining in the hosts file. The disadvantage of any kind of methods to combat illegal mining of cryptocurrency is that software for hidden mining and sites that make money in this way from their visitors appear every day. Where is the guarantee that the creator of some harmless extension, say, for implementing the reading mode or customizing the start page tomorrow will not sell his soul to the devil and will not start making money on you? So, not a single browser extension such as "Antiminer", not even a single antivirus with regularly updated databases will provide complete, 100% protection against this evil.
Do you have a constantly loaded processor and slow down your computer or laptop? And at the same time - in idle mode? High CPU (central processing unit) load is one of the most common problems today. And it is constantly faced by PC and laptop users.
These tips are universal, so you can apply them on Windows 7, 8, 10 and XP. The processor model on a laptop or computer also doesn't really matter.
Which program is loading the processor
First you need to launch the dispatcher and see how many percent the processor is loaded on your PC. To do this, press Ctrl + Shift + Del and pay attention to the item "CPU load" (it is at the bottom).
Basically, this value can jump. But not much. For example, the Core i5 in idle mode (or with the browser turned on) is loaded by 2-8%. And this is the norm. Although on weak processors (for example, 2-core Core 2 Duo), the load can already be 10-20%. It all depends on the specific CPU model installed on the computer or laptop.
If the processor is loaded by 50 or 100 percent, then this is clearly overkill. To see why the processor is so heavily loaded on Windows 7, go to the Processes tab, and then click on the CPU field. This will sort the list in descending order.
In the screenshot below, you can see that the CPU only loads the Flash Player plugin (due to the enabled browser). But not much, so in this case it is not critical.
By the way, quite often the following situation arises: you played a game or worked in a program, and after a while you closed it. But the process itself may still be active. It turns out that you are no longer playing and not working, but the program still loads your processor. In this case, you need to go to the dispatcher and manually end the process. Or just restart your computer.
Also, be sure to pay attention to unknown processes due to which the processor is loaded by 50 percent (or higher). Especially if you see them for the first time, and they load the CPU by at least 20%. It is possible that these are viruses.
What to do if the processor is loaded for no reason
Didn't find any processes in the manager, and the CPU is still heavily loaded in idle time? To get started, you can click the "Show processes of all users" button. This usually does not help, but perhaps new items will appear on the list.
And to display all the processes that constantly load the CPU, it is recommended to use a free program. It's very easy to use:
- Run the utility.
- Click on the "CPU" column to sort the processes in descending order of load.
- See why the processor is heavily loaded.
The screenshot above shows that the Interrupts process (system interrupts) is to blame. It is he who loads the processor by 18% in idle mode. Although it can load 50 or even 100 percent!
It is extremely difficult to fix this problem. This is because such a large CPU load can occur due to:
- drivers on a computer or laptop;
- viruses;
- incorrect operation of the hard disk;
- problems with peripheral equipment (printers, scanners, HDD-drives, etc.).
Most often, a heavy load on the CPU occurs due to drivers. To test this and see if there is a CPU load. If not, then most likely the problem lies in the drivers.
The easiest way to fix it is. And then one by one install drivers on a computer or laptop and check the CPU load after each of them. So you can quickly find the culprit.
Typically, this problem appears due to the generic Microsoft drivers that are installed immediately after installing a new Windows. In this case, it is better to find the necessary drivers yourself at the office. manufacturer's website and install them. Read more on how to do this here:
And it will not be at all superfluous to use special utilities to search for malicious programs and ad viruses (adware, malware).
Incorrect operation of the hard disk can also affect the fact that the process will be heavily loaded. Especially if it works in PIO mode (DMA mode must be set). This must be checked and corrected if necessary.
And the last reason due to which system interrupts and high processor load occur is problems with printers, scanners and other peripheral equipment. To test this, turn off all devices and leave only the mouse and keyboard.
Also go to Start - Control Panel - Device Manager and see if there are any devices with a yellow exclamation mark next to them. Its presence indicates that the equipment is not working correctly and you need to update the driver (which you need to do).
CPU is always 100 percent loaded in Windows 7
There is another fairly common problem that often occurs on Windows 7. It lies in the fact that on many PCs and laptops the processor is constantly loaded at 100 percent in idle mode (ie even on the desktop). And if you open the task manager, then there you can see the svchost.exe process, which is duplicated several times.
The reason here lies in the automatic update of Windows 7. The fact is that updates are now being released only for Windows 8 and 10. For Windows 7, of course, they are not suitable, and therefore do not work correctly. It is for this reason that the processor is loaded by 100 percent on Windows 7.
To fix this, you just need to turn off automatic updates. For this:
After that, the svchost.exe process should disappear, and with it the CPU load will decrease.
