My dad's computer runs SOOOO high, Help!?

Question

The CPU usage is always jumping around 100% and his computer is horribly slow.
PF Usage is normal
I checked the names of ALL names under "Processes" and there is nothing that shouldn't be running.

What else can I do to help speed it up?!?! It's waaaaay too slow!

Answer 1

could be a virus, or it could just be that he's running to many things & his pc can't handle it, try ending some programs, or stop them from starting up in msconfig, type it in the run in the start menu & select the start up tab & remove the stuff you dont need starting up with the machine...

hope that helps

Answer 2

1. What version of Windows are you running? 2. How fast if the processor in your computer? 3. How much memory does it have? 4. Are you running virus protection? All of these things can be factors. Certain versions of Windows freeze up more often than others. If your processor is too slow, when you try to do something that takes 100% of the processor, every thing stops until your computer can process what you are trying to run. If you don't have enough RAM (memory), then the computer has to write every instruction to the hard drive (page file) before it can perform the next so it makes your computer so slow it appears to freeze. If you aren't running virus protection, this hard drive probably has viruses on it too.

Answer 3

There are a couple of things I see which slow down computers. One is spyware or viruses. The other is by installing tons of programs which load into system memory and run in the background (usually evident by a BUNCH of icons in the lower right corner).

Your first step should be to run scans for viruses and spy/mal/adware. This can be done with the various programs people are recommending here.

Then go into the control panel, add and remove programs and un-install unused programs. Then, run disk cleanup to remove temp files, setup files and empty the recycle bin. Once that is done, run the defrag.

Accomplishing these things will take some time, but will result in better performance.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Reaction 1: You need to delete unused files and defragment your hard drive. (See the link below.) Or...

Reaction 2: Either your dad has some spyware issues or some program or other is corrupted after a PC update. Trust me, the less frustrating way to fix this particular problem is to do a reformat of the hard drive and reinstall your programs. (See the link below.) But before you do that be sure that all essential files are backed up. Pictures, school work, and the like. Put these items on CD-ROM, and mark them archive.

Once things are formatted and Windows is reinstalled be sure that your firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are running before you go online to do any updates.

Or...

Reaction 3: You're running Windows XP on a PC that was configured for the bare minimum memory and processor speed necessary to run the program back in 2002. With all of the Microsoft updates recently, I've noticed that my older machine is operating slower than it used to be.

To solve this problem hardware updates are required.

Or you could switch over to Ubuntu or get a new computer.

Answer 5

If the CPU usage is jumping to and staying up near 100%, you're at risk of frying components (mainly the CPU). What this means, is you have some programs running in the background that may or may not be malicious.

Answer 6

Are you talking about "System Idle Process"? Its supposed to jump around 100. Mine is at 99 right now.

My neighbor had the same problem as you. I think. It was way slow. At that time I didn't think of looking at the running processes. I suspected a virus. But. Guess what. She had no floppy drive! I had no way to perform a safe boot!

Somebody else eventually took over and formated her hard drive and reinstalled her software.

I think back and realize I could have used a bootable CD. But. She didn't have the original CD. And. I didn't have a bootable CD either.

I wish IOMEGA would reduce the price of zip diskettes and have them become the NEW floppy drive.

Better yet would be those memory cards or USB memory keys if they could be used as if they were floppies. If I could boot from them, that would be Great!

Answer 7

If you're running WinXP on that system....

There are a lot of unnecessary Microsoft Services programs running in the background that you might not need....(like as in if you're not on a network, etc.).

First off you need to run a registry cleaner program and empty out some crap that always builds up in the cache files.

Then go to this site and read what I mean about background programs you may not need to use....(got this from typing in slow computer at google and seen questions same as yours before here...).

http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/04/12/slow_computer_speed_up_your.htm

do understand though that in the list of programs that is suggested at this site to set to manual or even disable...I strongly DO NOT recommend shutting down "DNS Client" program for then the cache there would never clear itself out and you'll get error messages...But only when you have to reset your internet connection for some oddball reason.

Good Luck and be sure to read all the page before attempting to do any of this....so you know what you're doing...

Answer 8

When you check Processes you should also check Applications. Then you need to download some adware and spyware removal software and run it. Try Adaware and Spybot (both free, but watch out for phony Adaware when you search for it). This is the real thing: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware

Answer 9

He probably has programs running in the background, such as Anti Virus software, etc.

Viruses and spyware slow down your computer, too.

Answer 10

i would suggest getting more RAM for the computer. he may be running on a computer with so little RAM that the normal processes that he is running are enough to fill up the RAM. i would suggest upgrading to a 1 GB stick of ram, which you can get at most computer stores.