Need help, Cpu at Idle

[JordanL]

well i am using a dual core, and i check it at idle many times.
for the past day and a half its been idling at 30%-38%,
it always idles at 0%-10%

what could be the cause of this? its very frustrating.
thanks for any help in advance.

[Guest]

the actual idle as of now is 20-34%
i keep track of all the processes as well.

[Cpuswe]

If you go under the "Processes" tab in the task manager, klick on the "CPU" column. That will sort the processes on cpu usage.

[Guest]

So the processes are the top are obviously the ones taking the most cpu memory.
But what i dont get is why its idling so high now compared to what it was a day and a half ago. The processes i have running shouldn't be causing this cpu to be idling at 20-34%.\

[Guest]

So the processes at the top are obviously the ones taking the most cpu memory. But what i dont get is why its idling so high now compared to what it was a day and a half ago. The processes i have running shouldn't be causing this cpu to be idling at 20-34%.\

[Guest]

sorry about the double post, wheres the Edit.

[Cpuswe]

What processes is it that is using the cpu? (I assume that you have rebooted the PC without starting any programs)

[Cpuswe]

[Guest]

most of it is kernal memory, because the whole bar is pretty much red maybe except for 1 line on top of it which is green when i check show kernal times.
what would cause the operating system to spike up so high in such a short amount of time?

should i reinstall windows xp? and if i do, will i lose data?
most of the processes listed are SYSTEM, all the others are minor processes most under 6,000kb.
33 processes

20 of them are SYSTEM processes, the rest are owner, and network. which are minor for the most part.

[Guest]

here is the list of the processes

Taskmgr.exe 5172k
ctfmon.exe 5,220k
rundll32.exe 5,384k
smax4.exe 3,416k
smax4pnp.exe 5,432k
explorer.exe 23,432k
PnkbstrA.exe 3, 928k
Nvsvc32.exe 3,840k
NsvcLog.exe 4,300k
Apache.exe 6,412k
Spoolsv.exe 4,828k
Svchost.exe 4,772k
svchost.exe 3,648k
svcshot.exe 20,576k
svchost.exe 4,644k
svchost.exe 5,036k
lsass.exe 1,236k
services.exe 3,396k
winlogon.exe 1,276k
csrss.exe 3,696k
smss.exe 400k
alg.exe 3868k
apache.exe 6188k
nsvcip.exe 6016k
nsvcappflt.exe 5364k
system 240k
system idle process 28k

heres a list, seems like more stuff got added in two weeks, is there a way i can get notified if the operating system expands? and my main question is, would you happen to know which processes of these i can terminate pernamently without causing damage?

[Wizzard1]

Why do yo uhave apache running? Is this a server? What is pnkbstrA? If its a server, you can kill off all audio (smax*.exe).

[jrmunro]

[Cpuswe]

[Guest]

PnkbstrA is actually Punk Buster, its some files used for online games, if you dont have it, you get kicked from servers, its basically used to find hackers in online games. keep the servers clean.

now the apache, i dont do any hosting at all, how do i terminate this process pernamently? just do a search apache.exe and delete it when it comes up?

when i click the performance tab of my cpu, sorry i didnt clarify i was talking about cpu usage, every once in a while, its random, but [b]with no programs running, no windows open, the cpu usage is at 20-34% just for SYSTEM, and NETWORK processes, it does this for a few hours, then it goes back to 0-4% cpu usage for a few days. why it jumps to 20-34% i dont know why which lasts for a few hours.[/b]

any info on what would cause the rise in cpu usage temporarily?

[Cpuswe]

Got it!

Did some googling... This might show what is using up the cpu... http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/SystemInformation/ProcessExplorer.mspx