CPU temp spikes w/MS Word

[dannyaa]

So I have motherboard monitor in my tray to measure my CPU temp. See system specs in sig.

I idle around 40 celsius, and when running standard apps as well, such as IE which I am in right now, AIM, and standard windows explorer, windows media player, yeah.

However, when I open up word - especially having more than one document open - my temp spikes, like way up. I don't even have to be doing anything, if I just open a couple documents, leave and come back in a minute my temp will be idling at 56 celsius. Now, its ok if I have the documents open and minimized, then my temp goes back down... but maximized the temp just skyrockets.

Now I've never though of word as being that demanding on the CPU, and I don't see why the temp should go so high even when its not in use, just maximized... especially when I can have all those others apps maximized and in use and low temps, and in fact edit video at temps that aren't that high. The only thing that gets the temp that high is intensive rendering or game playing.

Any ideas why this is with Word? Any one else have a similar experience? Is there something wrong with my system?

Thanks,

Dan


P4c 3.2Ghz @ 800MHz Northwood / ABIT AI7 / 1GB Corsair XMS-Pro CL2 Pc3200 / 160GB Seagate SATA 7200rpm 8mb cache / BFG-Tech Nvidia GeForce 6800GT 256mb / Antec Sonata case w/Antec TruePower 380W PSU

 

[fishmahn]

I don't know for sure, as I've never logged CPU Usage while in word, but it could be word's 'automatic functions' like its constant spell-checking, grammar checking, and similar things that cause extra CPU usage, hence higher temps.

Try checking the task manager or performance monitor to see if CPU usage is high while word is just idling. That may be your answer.

I suppose it's possible there's a virus or something in word (it somehow got into your normal.dot) that could be causing excess cpu usage, so maybe a scan is in order, though if you have decent AV and its definitions are up to date, it's not very likely.

Mike.

 

[dannyaa]

Well I think you nailed it with Word's auto functions. When minimized, it's CPU usage is at 0%; when maximized it is at 50% and temps shoot up. Thanks for the info.

I started to search through the help-file to look at how to turn off automatic functions, I didn't see anything right off hand. Before I dig deeper, do you know off the top of your heard how to turn of all that constant checking?

Thanks Mike, I appreciate it.

Dan



P4c 3.2Ghz @ 800MHz Northwood / ABIT AI7 / 1GB Corsair XMS-Pro CL2 Pc3200 / 160GB Seagate SATA 7200rpm 8mb cache / BFG-Tech Nvidia GeForce 6800GT 256mb / Antec Sonata case w/Antec TruePower 380W PSU

 

[jihiggs]

on my pos compaq at work word being open only makes the cpu bounce around 1# to 3%. i dont know what kind of stuff you have running with word but 50% is really high.

this is my boomstick!

 

[P4Man]

Check your system for worms/virus.. Word, doing nothing, shouldn't use anywhere near 50% cpu cycles. 5% would be a lot.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[fishmahn]

Would definitely be in the Tools->Options menu. Probably under a tab named Spelling, grammar or something like that.

If that doesn't do it (and I kindof doubt it will, but who knows...), reboot, rename normal.dot from c:\program files\microsoft office\templates or (depending on your OS) c:\documents and settings\<username>\application data\microsoft\templates to something else (not a .dot extension) and load word. If CPU doesn't go up, then normal.dot is infected with something.

You can just delete it if you use the pure defaults from word - it'll recreate itself next time you run word. But if you have any macros or changes they will be lost if you just delete it.

Mike.

 

[dannyaa]

hmm, interesting. Thanks guys.

I renamed normal.dot, rebooted, started up Word again. Opened a whole bunch of docs, have them maximized, and the CPU is idling back down at 40, no spikes; CPU usage normal. Looks like normal.dot was infected somehow.

This is strange because I have the latest, up-to-date Norton AntiVirus and it scans and shows nothing. I also scanned normal.dot before renaming it, as well as my documents, and they all showed up clean. Yet obviously something wasn't right. In any case, things are back to normal.

Thanks for the tips,

Dan


P4c 3.2Ghz @ 800MHz Northwood / ABIT AI7 / 1GB Corsair XMS-Pro CL2 Pc3200 / 160GB Seagate SATA 7200rpm 8mb cache / BFG-Tech Nvidia GeForce 6800GT 256mb / Antec Sonata case w/Antec TruePower 380W PSU

 

[fishmahn]

Glad that fixed it.

It's possible it wasn't a virus - just corrupted so it tried to start a macro or something that got stuck in a loop.

Mike.