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Subject Author Date
What's using my CPU? Mikek 04-01-2008
Posted by Mikek on April 3, 2008, 8:57 am
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 Previous post may be a little misleading.

The broadband connection is normally constant but I have just noticed that
if I disconnect then the CPU usage peaks drop to less than 5%.

Have I been worrying over nothing, or do you think that there still may be
cause for concern.

Mike

"Mikek" wrote:

> Interesting.
>
> Firstly, thanks for this help.
> Wasn't paying too much attention earlier but the usage today has been
> peaking at 20% rather than the 30% that it was doing on Tuesday.
>
> Anyway, when I disabled the add-ons the usage dropped to about 10% which is
> the same as I see if nothing other than the Task Manager is running. When I
> reopen IE as normal it goes back to 20%.
>
> How would I know if any of the add-ons were malware?
>
> Should I be right to worry about that 10% usage when IE is not running as I
> don't see similar on any other machines. Having said that this machine has a
> broadband connection to the internet and the other machines connect to the
> net through this one.
>
> Mike
>
>
> "Volodymyr M. Shcherbyna" wrote:
>
> > IE might have addons which actually can be malware. Try to launch IE without
> > add-ons and observ the CPU usage. To launch IE withoiut addons, type in cmd:
> >
> > iexplore.exe -extoff
> >
> > --
> > V.
> > This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> > rights.
> > > Yes I think I follow that.
> > > However, when I look on other machines I have here, the CPU usage is
> > > negligible if there are a couple of IE pages open but no other work being
> > > done yet on this machine CPU usage is peaking at 30% every 5 seconds.
> > >
> > > Or am I missing a point here?
> > >
> > > Mike
> > >
> > > "Volodymyr M. Shcherbyna" wrote:
> > >
> > >> You have some approximation already.
> > >>
> > >> iexplorer takes the most CPU time. System is actually not a process. This
> > >> is
> > >> a collection of system threads which are running in kernel mode. Any
> > >> arbitrary thread which is spawned using PsCreateSystemThread takes some
> > >> CPU
> > >> time, and this time has to be summed somehow, that's why the 'System'
> > >> fake
> > >> process entity was invented.
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> V.
> > >> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> > >> rights.
> > >> > When I open the Task Manager and look at the Performance tab I can see
> > >> > that
> > >> > my CPU usage fluctuates between 0 and 30% every 5 seconds so that the
> > >> > history
> > >> > shows a graph line similar to a mountain range with mountains of equal
> > >> > height.
> > >> >
> > >> > If I disconnect from the internet there is CPU usage at the same time
> > >> > intervals but no more than 5%.
> > >> >
> > >> > I have looked at the Processes tab (sorted by CPU) to try and see what
> > >> > is
> > >> > using the processor and the order of usage is changing every 1 second
> > >> > but
> > >> > the
> > >> > processes at the top apart from System Idle Process and taskmge.exe
> > >> > generally seems to be:
> > >> >
> > >> > iexplore.exe
> > >> > System
> > >> > Helphost.exe
> > >> > helpsvc.exe
> > >> >
> > >> > I am using XP and IE7
> > >> > I run McAfee Security centre.
> > >> > I have run scans with both SpyBot and AdAware.
> > >> >
> > >> > How can I find out what it is that is running on my machine without my
> > >> > knowledge?
> > >> >
> > >> > If you are able to give any clues or information, please assume you are
> > >> > talking to an idiot when you reply.
> > >> >
> > >> > Thanks
> > >> > Mike
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> >
> >
> >

Posted by Delta on April 4, 2008, 4:58 am
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 A good idea would be using "hijackthis" (a program) and post the log here.
We can find out the problem better.
maybe its a malware disguising as windows system file, but it has to be
loaded somehow.
And thats why you should use "hijackthis".


Posted by David H. Lipman on April 4, 2008, 6:30 am
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| A good idea would be using "hijackthis" (a program) and post the log here.
| We can find out the problem better.
| maybe its a malware disguising as windows system file, but it has to be
| loaded somehow.
| And thats why you should use "hijackthis".

No HJT logs posted in any Microsoft news group or posted to Usenet at large.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp



Posted by Volodymyr M. Shcherbyna on April 4, 2008, 9:01 am
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Sounds strange. So, you want to say, that if you have network connection,
your CPU usage is usually approximatly 20 %, and when you disconnect the
cable, it is below 5 %?

Do you have any network services installed? CPU load can be caused by
applications which are sending / or recieving the packets aggresivly, so
that the network stack get's busy. High CPU usage can also be explained by
incoming SMB packets - they are handled in kernel mode, in the 'System'
context.

--
V.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
> Previous post may be a little misleading.
>
> The broadband connection is normally constant but I have just noticed that
> if I disconnect then the CPU usage peaks drop to less than 5%.
>
> Have I been worrying over nothing, or do you think that there still may be
> cause for concern.
>
> Mike
>
> "Mikek" wrote:
>
>> Interesting.
>>
>> Firstly, thanks for this help.
>> Wasn't paying too much attention earlier but the usage today has been
>> peaking at 20% rather than the 30% that it was doing on Tuesday.
>>
>> Anyway, when I disabled the add-ons the usage dropped to about 10% which
>> is
>> the same as I see if nothing other than the Task Manager is running. When
>> I
>> reopen IE as normal it goes back to 20%.
>>
>> How would I know if any of the add-ons were malware?
>>
>> Should I be right to worry about that 10% usage when IE is not running as
>> I
>> don't see similar on any other machines. Having said that this machine
>> has a
>> broadband connection to the internet and the other machines connect to
>> the
>> net through this one.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>> "Volodymyr M. Shcherbyna" wrote:
>>
>> > IE might have addons which actually can be malware. Try to launch IE
>> > without
>> > add-ons and observ the CPU usage. To launch IE withoiut addons, type in
>> > cmd:
>> >
>> > iexplore.exe -extoff
>> >
>> > --
>> > V.
>> > This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
>> > rights.
>> > > Yes I think I follow that.
>> > > However, when I look on other machines I have here, the CPU usage is
>> > > negligible if there are a couple of IE pages open but no other work
>> > > being
>> > > done yet on this machine CPU usage is peaking at 30% every 5 seconds.
>> > >
>> > > Or am I missing a point here?
>> > >
>> > > Mike
>> > >
>> > > "Volodymyr M. Shcherbyna" wrote:
>> > >
>> > >> You have some approximation already.
>> > >>
>> > >> iexplorer takes the most CPU time. System is actually not a process.
>> > >> This
>> > >> is
>> > >> a collection of system threads which are running in kernel mode. Any
>> > >> arbitrary thread which is spawned using PsCreateSystemThread takes
>> > >> some
>> > >> CPU
>> > >> time, and this time has to be summed somehow, that's why the
>> > >> 'System'
>> > >> fake
>> > >> process entity was invented.
>> > >>
>> > >> --
>> > >> V.
>> > >> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
>> > >> rights.
>> > >> > When I open the Task Manager and look at the Performance tab I can
>> > >> > see
>> > >> > that
>> > >> > my CPU usage fluctuates between 0 and 30% every 5 seconds so that
>> > >> > the
>> > >> > history
>> > >> > shows a graph line similar to a mountain range with mountains of
>> > >> > equal
>> > >> > height.
>> > >> >
>> > >> > If I disconnect from the internet there is CPU usage at the same
>> > >> > time
>> > >> > intervals but no more than 5%.
>> > >> >
>> > >> > I have looked at the Processes tab (sorted by CPU) to try and see
>> > >> > what
>> > >> > is
>> > >> > using the processor and the order of usage is changing every 1
>> > >> > second
>> > >> > but
>> > >> > the
>> > >> > processes at the top apart from System Idle Process and
>> > >> > taskmge.exe
>> > >> > generally seems to be:
>> > >> >
>> > >> > iexplore.exe
>> > >> > System
>> > >> > Helphost.exe
>> > >> > helpsvc.exe
>> > >> >
>> > >> > I am using XP and IE7
>> > >> > I run McAfee Security centre.
>> > >> > I have run scans with both SpyBot and AdAware.
>> > >> >
>> > >> > How can I find out what it is that is running on my machine
>> > >> > without my
>> > >> > knowledge?
>> > >> >
>> > >> > If you are able to give any clues or information, please assume
>> > >> > you are
>> > >> > talking to an idiot when you reply.
>> > >> >
>> > >> > Thanks
>> > >> > Mike
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> >
>> >
>> >




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