what is the system idle process?

Question

why is it always running and using such a high amount of the cpu, i have tried ending the process but without any joy, is there any way of calming it down a touch?

Answer 1

It works like this.
In the old days of 286, 386 and 486 computers, the processor ran full speed whether it was doing anything or not.
As processors got faster and faster, they are now much much hotter than ever before, so slowing them down when they arn't busy saves power, and cools down the processor.
The System idle process is what does that slowing down and power saving. You can't and should not stop the process.
As an example my p4 runs at 37 degrees C when the screen saver has been running all night, and when I start to process video and max out the cpu to 100% the temperature climbes to 45 degrees C. Big difference, and it's all the system idle process making the change.

Answer 2

The system idle process is the amount of CPU power NOT being used. Hopefully it will always be high.
As an example, if Micro$oft Word is the only process running and it is using 20% of the CPU's time and power then the System Idle will show 80% since that is the amount not being used by Word.
Hope this helps.

Answer 3

The idle process runs when your Multitasking Operating System is not servicing other processes.
You cannot end this process - A high Idle means the computer is just ticking away waiting to do something.

Hope that helps.

:)

Answer 4

System Idle indicates resources that aren't active. Basically, the memory that isn't being used and the percentage of cpu power that isn't being used.

Answer 5

the built in Windows process to keep the flow of data through your CPU ticking over, improiving performance