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Author Topic: Really high CPU usage?  (Read 2835 times)

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Offline Pretendo

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  • Posts: 154
Really high CPU usage?
« on: Sat, 12 November 2011, 20:41:16 »
Recently my computer has been very erratic with CPU usage, showing usage amounts jumping from low to high very quickly.  This persists even when I close all windows, and nothing appears to be significantly using the CPU from the task manager.

Is this a virus?  CA Antivirus and Malwarebytes are finding nothing.  Does windows just normally use a high amount of CPU cycles for some invisible background tasks not listed in the task manager?  It's baffling.

EDIT: Also just noticed that the first CPU seems to be hitting a floor at about 20 percent usage.

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Offline Dox

  • Posts: 312
Really high CPU usage?
« Reply #1 on: Sat, 12 November 2011, 20:52:59 »
Do you have a iexplorer.exe process running in the background? I have to cure a computer with similar problems and I found that it is infected by a variant of boo/tdss.d and only 1 out of 5 antivirus/anti-malware software found it but it was not able to delete it.
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Offline Pretendo

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 154
Really high CPU usage?
« Reply #2 on: Sat, 12 November 2011, 21:01:07 »
I did have a windows 7 repair virus quite some time ago, but I was pretty sure that it got deleted.  That particular virus did infect my antivirus software at the time though, so some permutation of it may have slipped through the cracks and layed dormant for a little while.  Talk about sophisticated crapware, man!

If it keeps up I may just have to wipe the system and start clean.
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IBM Model F-122 6110347 -- September 13th, 1984
IBM Model M 1391404 -- April 14th, 1988
Rosewill RK-9000

Offline Clickey

  • Posts: 337
Really high CPU usage?
« Reply #3 on: Sat, 12 November 2011, 21:45:45 »
Try AVG anti virus, its free and has only ever failed me once.
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Offline Dox

  • Posts: 312
Really high CPU usage?
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 12 November 2011, 21:53:03 »
For me, AVG didn't find anything. The only one that find it is Ariva but it's unable to remove it.
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Offline IvanIvanovich

  • Mr. Silk Underwear
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Really high CPU usage?
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 13 November 2011, 10:48:36 »
Get the avira rescue boot disk and do a scan with that. It's one of the best ways to make sure since it's a read only linux based av it is much more unlikely for a virus to block it / hide from it somehow.
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Offline Pretendo

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 154
Really high CPU usage?
« Reply #6 on: Mon, 14 November 2011, 00:32:08 »
So I tried AVG, and it did clear some stuff up.  CPU usage still seems a little high, but much better than before.  Might push off any HD wipes until the holidays, when I don't have to worry about class projects.
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IBM Model F-122 6110347 -- September 13th, 1984
IBM Model M 1391404 -- April 14th, 1988
Rosewill RK-9000

Offline Zahmer

  • Posts: 3
Really high CPU usage?
« Reply #7 on: Mon, 14 November 2011, 06:09:31 »
If you have any reason to believe you have a tdss variant on your computer run tdsskiller from Kaspersky labs.

Also, never, ever use AVG. I am a computer janitor and I absolutely hate them. Please uninstall it and install either Microsoft Security Essentials (which is completely free) or install the free version of Avast! (which may or may not bug you to buy the full version.) If you run these scans and still have trouble, download/install/update/run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

Good Luck.
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Offline Lanx

  • Posts: 1915
Really high CPU usage?
« Reply #8 on: Tue, 15 November 2011, 17:41:35 »
i vote avast, there are 4 good free ones:
avira/avast/avg and microsoft security

I think ppl honestly get confused between all the "A" free ones and can't tell the difference but like Zahmer said other than Avast! bugging you to buy the full or register for free, it's great (it's only one time after 30days anyway)
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Offline Internetlad

  • Posts: 710
Really high CPU usage?
« Reply #9 on: Tue, 15 November 2011, 17:47:19 »
I use Vipre at home, but it's largely irrelevant.

If you think you're infected, first hit up the startup (msconfig in the run box) then grab yourself HiJackTHIS off the (net http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/)

Scour it yourself for anything that looks odd or out of place (you can google anything that looks off, most telling sign is if it's a garble of upper and lowercase letters AemfIdn.exe or such) You can also post it on thier site for analysis.

Erratic CPU usage is certainly a telltale sign of something fishy. Been getting any popups or redirects, other garbage?
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Offline Zahmer

  • Posts: 3
Really high CPU usage?
« Reply #10 on: Wed, 16 November 2011, 07:06:41 »
Quote from: Lanx;452907
i vote avast, there are 4 good free ones:
avira/avast/avg and microsoft security



I don't want to sound like a horrible person, but AVG is simply horrible at real-time protection, and it is an incredible resource hog.
Avira used to be amazing, but they started running ads to support their free version. The most common ad I get to see at my repair shop is for 'uniblue registry booster' it is simple scamware and will bog down your PC like no tomorrow.

When you are using msconfig to disable startup items, make sure you don't uncheck your antivirus.
Running hijackthis is a great idea if you are getting redirects or tool-bars that show up uninvited. I have had good luck checking my logs with, ah I am too noobish to post urls... Google Hijackthis Logfileauswertung and don't worry the webpage is in English.
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