- Jun 18, 2005
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Whenever, I stop using my laptop and leave it idle, the processor becomes really hot and the fan starts. As soon as I start the Windows Task Manager by pressing ctrl+alt+del the CPU usage drops from high 80-100% to 1-5% and functions normally.
To see if my computer was being used as a dummy to relay over the internet by some spyware, I disabled my internet connection but the problem persisted. I do have Limewire (disabled on startup), but the problem persists even when I am not connected to the internet. So, I would rule out some malacious program accessing the internet.
I am using XP Home, with Athlon XP-M 2200+ processor with 512 MB memory. I use McAfee AV, E-Z Armor Firewall and loads of anti-spywares regularly ( Spybot, Ad-Aware, Spyware Doctor, MS-antispyware and Ewido Security suite).
MS Anti-spyware, McAfee AV, E-Z Armor Firewall and Google Desktop are allowed to "always run" in the background. Other anti-spywares and windows firewall are disabled unless used manually
I defragment all my partitioned drives regularly.
I know wireless cards may use a lot of memory trying to find available wireless networks, but disconnecting it too does not make a difference.
I do not have SETI style programs on my laptop.
I cannot find the processes causing 100% usage because as soon as I start the Windows task manager I can see the usage drop from 100% to 1%. I can see the spike in the graph but am not able to capture the processes on the spike. However, sometimes I do see large number of svchost.exe files when the usage jumps to 100%(even when I am not using memory intensive programs). But the maximum usage is either by firefox or explorer.exe (not IE).
Can someone tell me why the CPU usage shoots up to 100% when my laptop is idle?
Thanks in advance.
To see if my computer was being used as a dummy to relay over the internet by some spyware, I disabled my internet connection but the problem persisted. I do have Limewire (disabled on startup), but the problem persists even when I am not connected to the internet. So, I would rule out some malacious program accessing the internet.
I am using XP Home, with Athlon XP-M 2200+ processor with 512 MB memory. I use McAfee AV, E-Z Armor Firewall and loads of anti-spywares regularly ( Spybot, Ad-Aware, Spyware Doctor, MS-antispyware and Ewido Security suite).
MS Anti-spyware, McAfee AV, E-Z Armor Firewall and Google Desktop are allowed to "always run" in the background. Other anti-spywares and windows firewall are disabled unless used manually
I defragment all my partitioned drives regularly.
I know wireless cards may use a lot of memory trying to find available wireless networks, but disconnecting it too does not make a difference.
I do not have SETI style programs on my laptop.
I cannot find the processes causing 100% usage because as soon as I start the Windows task manager I can see the usage drop from 100% to 1%. I can see the spike in the graph but am not able to capture the processes on the spike. However, sometimes I do see large number of svchost.exe files when the usage jumps to 100%(even when I am not using memory intensive programs). But the maximum usage is either by firefox or explorer.exe (not IE).
Can someone tell me why the CPU usage shoots up to 100% when my laptop is idle?
Thanks in advance.