The processor is loaded for 100 reasons. Running background system processes

Quite often situations occur when users, noticing that their computers are slowing down, to put it mildly, open the task manager and see an interesting picture there. The processor is 100% loaded, although no “heavy” applications are running. It is not known why the processor is fully loaded and causes the PC to slow down and freeze.

In this article we will give several practical advice regarding the solution to this problem.

Reasons why the processor may be 100% loaded

Now we will list the most probable reasons The processor is almost completely loaded with no running programs or games at first glance.

1. Background work system processes installation and downloading of operating system updates, as well as its maintenance;
2. Viral activity;
3. Physical obsolescence of the processor.

Now about each in more detail.

Running background system processes

operating room Windows system 7, like any other, is updated periodically. This process in most cases, it happens hidden from the user and the service is responsible for it.

svchost loads the processor

It is also possible that the OS will be periodically checked for threats using built-in security tools.

It doesn't really matter which one system service loads the processor. Something else is important. That it usually lasts no more than a couple of hours. Therefore, the first thing when detecting increased activity and loading the processor, the first thing you should do is just leave the computer for a few hours to give it the opportunity to do all its “maintenance business”.

Viral activity and viruses - miners

The second very common reason why a computer without visible programs loads its processor 100%, it is not clear what malware it is. For example, the so-called virus miner is now very popular. It gets onto your computer most often when downloading and installing something from the Internet. And the essence of its work is simple - when it hits your computer, special algorithms are launched to mine bitcoins on your computer and send the results via the Internet to a specific address. In this way, attackers make money on your computer, thereby leaving you with a slow computer, since its processor is 100% loaded. At the same time, they are disguised as the names of system processes!

Therefore, if, after several hours of inactivity, your computer still has not reduced the processor load, we advise you, and it is better to use several different updated antiviruses.

Obsolescence of the computer and processor in particular

There is also a situation in which the computer is simply outdated and its processor simply cannot cope with the background system tasks of maintaining and protecting the operating system. But this is only possible on really old processors 10 or more years old with 1 core.

Conclusion

As you can see possible options not much. And the method to fix the problem with CPU usage at 100 percent is as follows:

1. We check the processor to make sure it is not too old;
2. We leave the computer turned on and connected to the Internet for several hours;
3. We check it for viruses;
4. You can also open the task manager, sort processes by CPU load and read about the process that uses the most CPU on the Internet;
5. As a last resort, if all else fails, reinstall Windows and immediately .

Often the computer starts to slow down due to processor load. If it so happens that his load reaches 100% for no apparent reason, then there is reason to worry and an urgent need to decide this problem. There are several simple ways, which will help not only identify the problem, but also solve it. We will look at them in detail in this article.

The CPU load sometimes reaches 100% even when you are not using complex programs or you don't launch games. In this case, this is a problem that needs to be detected and solved, because the CPU does not simply overload for no reason. You can do this in several simple ways.

Method 1: Find and eliminate the process

There are times when users do not encounter a problem, but simply forgot to disable a resource-intensive program or at the moment some task is being performed. The load becomes especially noticeable on older processors. In addition, they are now gaining popularity hidden programs miners that are not detected by antiviruses. The way they work is that they will simply spend system resources your computer, hence the load on the CPU. Such a program is defined in several ways:

If you couldn’t find anything suspicious, but the load still doesn’t drop, then you need to check your computer for a hidden miner program. The fact is that most of them either stop working when you launch the task manager, or the process itself does not appear there. Therefore, you will have to resort to installing additional software to bypass this trick.

Please note what to use this method recommended only if not system files, otherwise, by deleting system folder or file, you will cause system problems. If you find an incomprehensible application that uses all the power of your processor, then in most cases it is a hidden miner program; it is better to completely remove it from the computer.

Method 2: Virus cleaning

If some system process is using 100% CPU, your computer is most likely infected with a virus. Sometimes the load is not displayed in the Task Manager, so it is better to scan and clean for malware in any case, it certainly won’t make things worse.

You can use any in an accessible way cleaning your PC from viruses: with an online service, an antivirus program or special utilities. More details about each method are written in our article.

Method 3: Update Drivers

Before you start updating or reinstalling drivers, it is better to make sure that this is the problem. Switching to safe mode will help with this. Restart your computer and switch to this mode. If the CPU load has disappeared, then the problem is definitely in the drivers and you need to update or reinstall them.

Reinstallation may only be required if you have recently installed a new one operating system and, accordingly, installed new drivers. Perhaps some problems arose or something was not installed and/or the action was performed incorrectly. Verification is carried out quite simply, using one of several methods.

Outdated drivers can cause conflicts with the system, which will require a simple update. Help find required device will help for updating special program or it is also done manually.

Method 4: Cleaning your computer from dust

If you begin to observe increased noise from the cooler or involuntary shutdown/reboot of the system, braking during operation, then in this case the problem lies precisely in the heating of the processor. Thermal paste could dry out on it if it was not changed for a long time, or the insides of the case became clogged with dust. First, it’s better to clean the body of debris.

When the procedure does not help, the processor still makes noise, heats up, and the system turns off, then there is only one way out - replacing the thermal paste. This process is not complicated, but it requires care and caution.

In this article, we have selected for you four methods that will help solve the problem of constant 100% CPU load. If one method does not bring any results, move on to the next, the problem definitely lies in one of these common reasons.

Most often in our practice, the main reason for CPU load reaching 100% is overheating. Many users do not know that dust getting into the radiators of cooling systems can significantly reduce the performance of devices. When a processor overheats, it goes into throttling mode, starts skipping clock cycles, and performance decreases.

To check the processor for overheating, look at the temperature of the processor without load and under load. We compare these temperatures with the maximum permissible declared by the processor manufacturer. Maximum permissible temperature You can find out on the processor manufacturer's website in the specifications.

Viral activity

When there are a lot of viruses on a computer, this also reduces system performance. Viruses like regular programs consume processor resources, this can lead to 100% load on the percentage. I talk a lot about virus removal in my YouTube channel, and be sure to read and follow. After complete cleaning computer from viruses there will be no problem with CPU load!

Driver problems

Another reason for CPU usage is system interrupts, in other words, a problem with the drivers. I recommend doing the following: boot your computer into safe mode and see if there is an increased load on the processor. If there is no load, there is a very high probability that the reason is in the drivers, because the drivers do not load in safe mode! The simplest solution to this problem is to remove all the drivers and then install one driver at a time and see if the CPU load appears, as soon as the download starts - you have found the culprit.

Most often the fault here network cards+ universal drivers from Microsoft, which are installed immediately when Windows installation. I recommend downloading and updating all drivers from the official website of your equipment manufacturer. I showed how to do this.

Elementarily weak percentage that doesn’t work ツ

For some reason, many people think that their ancient processor should still run fine and without any brakes. But that's not the case now digital technologies develop very quickly and sometimes budget processors just two or three years ago don’t hold up today. Even if you have top processor 10 years ago doesn't mean he can cope with modern challenges. Perhaps this is where the heavy load on your processor lies, think about it. If you are not sure, ask other owners of the same processor how it works for them in the same tasks. Often they bring computers to us and say: my video on the Internet has started to slow down. We look at why this happens and find out that new codec video old processor doesn't pull. We explain this to the client, but he doesn’t believe it and motivates it by the fact that 2 weeks ago everything was working for him, but now it’s slowing down. The problem was that the site on which he watched the video moved but new method video encoding, which puts a lot of stress on older processors, but produces higher-quality video images.

Autoload full of junk

Another problem that arises experienced users, heavily clogged unnecessary applications startup. After all these applications are loaded (the computer will take a very long time to load), they load the processor with their activity. Startup needs to be cleaned, you can even remove everything from there except the antivirus and programs that you actually use. You can do this through the program in the startup section or write MSCONFIG in the search and go to the startup section and disable what is unnecessary.

Antivirus activity

The hard drive is loading the processor

The hard drive can load the processor up to 100% under some conditions. Most often this is due to the fact that the disk begins to fail. I wrote about this in detail in the article -. Follow all the recommendations and your disk and processor will probably stop loading up to 100%.

Problems with peripheral equipment

Disconnect everything from your laptop or PC, leave the bare minimum (mouse, keyboard, monitor). Then connect everything necessary devices take turns and check the reaction of the processor. Perhaps this way you will find the culprit of this problem. I also recommend paying attention to the device manager to see if there is any installed devices with yellow or red icons it means either there are no drivers or they are not working properly. As I wrote above, this can create a load on the processor.

A huge number of running processes

Everything can be simple and trivial, perhaps you just run too many applications at the same time and the processor simply can’t handle it all. The processor may be powerful, but everything has a limit. Open the task manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL) sort processes by load per percent and stop/disable the heaviest processes. If you don’t know which process is responsible for what, you can look up information on the Internet. I will show you more in the video on this page.

Some processes cannot be tracked through a regular task manager (these may be virus processes), then download and check all processes with it, you can also check the process there for digital signature, as well as viral activity!

Svchost.exe is loading the processor!

With the svchost.exe process, not everything is so simple, there are 2 options, either this viral activity or the system process is actually loading the processor. If the load is created viral process, then most often it can be seen through Process Explorer, it will be launched from the administrator or from your account. It is enough to simply stop the process and clean it from viruses. If svchost.exe is really a system process, then try disabling automatic update Windows in services and also try turning off the antivirus, it may conflict with other software.

In the vastness of RuNet I found another one interesting way, but you can use it only at your own peril and risk! Find Prefetch folder, located in the C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch section and delete it. Then find the Tasks folder (C:\WINDOWS\system32\Tasks), open it and delete all files from it. Now launch the task manager, delete the entire svchost.exe task tree, and then restart the computer. I talked about this folder in the article about the load on the screw.

Lack of power supply

Well, the last thing that can cause an unnatural load on the processor is the power supply. If the power supply supplies insufficient quantity power supply to the computer, the processor can be loaded up to 100% from simple tasks. I recommend checking the power supply and all computer hardware using .

Is your processor constantly loaded and your computer or laptop slowing down a lot? And at the same time - in idle mode? Large load CPU ( central processor) is one of the most common problems today. And PC and laptop users constantly encounter it.

Luckily, she has a solution. And not even one. Therefore, below will be given the most effective recommendations, which will help you understand why the CPU is being loaded and how to reduce CPU usage.

These tips are universal, so you can apply them on Windows 7, 8, 10 and XP. The processor model on a laptop or computer doesn’t really matter either.

First you need to launch the manager and see what percentage of the processor is loaded on your PC. To do this, press Ctrl+Shift+Del and pay attention to the item “CPU Load” (it is located at the bottom).

In principle, this value can jump. But not much. For example, the Core i5 loads 2-8% in idle mode (or with the browser turned on). And this is the norm. Although on weak processors(for example, 2-core Core 2 Duo) the load may already be 10-20%. It all depends on specific model CPU installed on a computer or laptop.

If the processor is loaded at 50 or 100 percent, then this is clearly overkill. To see why Windows 7 is using so much CPU, go to the Processes tab and then click on the CPU field. This will sort the list in descending order.

The screenshot below shows that the CPU only loads Flash plugin Player (due to enabled browser). But not much, so in this case it's not critical.

By the way, quite often the following situation arises: you were playing a game or working in a program, and after a while you closed it. But the process itself may still be active. It turns out that you no longer play or work, but the program still loads the processor. In this case, you need to go to the manager and manually end the process. Or just restart your computer.

Also, be sure to pay attention to unknown processes due to which the processor is loaded at 50 percent (or higher). Especially if you see them for the first time, and they load the CPU by at least 20%. It is quite possible that these are viruses.

What to do if the processor is loaded for no reason

Didn't find any processes in the manager, but the CPU is still heavily loaded when idle? To get started, you can click the “Display processes of all users” button. This usually doesn't help, but it may add new items to the list.

And to display all the processes due to which the CPU is constantly loaded, it is recommended to use free program Process Explorer. It's very easy to use:

1. Launch the utility.
2. Click on the "CPU" column to sort processes in descending order of load.
3. See why the processor is heavily loaded.

The screenshot above shows that the Interrupts process is to blame. It is this that loads the processor by 18% when idle. Although it can load 50 and even 100 percent!

To correct similar problem extremely difficult. And all because such heavy load CPU may occur due to:

• drivers on a computer or laptop;
• viruses;
• incorrect operating mode hard drive;
• problems with peripheral equipment (printers, scanners, HDD drives, etc.).

More often heavy load CPU problem occurs due to drivers. To test this and see if there is any CPU load. If not, then most likely the problem lies in the drivers.

The easiest way to fix it is. And then install the drivers on your computer or laptop one by one and check the CPU load after each of them. This way you can quickly find the culprit.

Usually this problem occurs due to universal drivers Microsoft, which are installed immediately after installation new Windows. In this case, it is better to find it yourself necessary drivers at the office manufacturer's website and install them. Read more about how to do this here:

And it wouldn’t hurt to use special utilities to search malware And ad viruses(adware, malware).

Incorrect work hard disk may also cause the process to be heavily loaded. Especially if it works in PIO mode (DMA mode must be set). This must be checked and corrected if necessary.

AND last reason, due to which system interrupts and high processor load occur - problems with printers, scanners and others peripheral equipment. To check this, disconnect all devices and leave only the mouse and keyboard.

Also go to Start - Control Panel - Device Manager and see if there are devices here that have a yellow icon next to them exclamation mark. Its presence indicates that the equipment is not working correctly and the driver needs to be updated (which is what needs to be done).

CPU is always 100 percent loaded in Windows 7

There is another fairly common problem that often occurs on Windows 7. It is that on many PCs and laptops the processor is constantly loaded at 100 percent when idle (that is, even on the desktop). And if you open the task manager, you can see the svchost.exe process there, which is duplicated several times.

The reason here lies in the automatic Windows update 7. The fact is that updates are now released only for Windows 8 and 10. For Windows 7, of course, they are not suitable, and therefore do not work correctly. It is for this reason that on Windows 7 the processor is loaded at 100 percent.

To fix this, you just need to turn off automatic updates. To do this:

After this, the svchost.exe process should disappear, and with it the CPU load should decrease.

Instead of a conclusion

That's all. Now you know how to determine why the processor is constantly loaded even when idle, and how to reduce the load.

By the way, don't forget that the reason high load The CPU may be dusty or overheated (too high temperature). Trite, but worth checking out. This may also help reduce CPU usage.