CPU usage peaks

[danbr]

A few days ago a sand clock appeared near my mouse curser when my comp was in idle. I checked the performance in the task manager and I saw that the CPU usage jumps from 7% to 100% every 6 seconds. Strangly enough, when I connect to the internet, the situation returns to normal and the CPU usage is around 6%. When I disconnect, the CPU usage continues its jumping around. No viruses were found with my fully up-to-date Norton Anti-Virus. Any ideas?
OS XP Pro, 1.7 Ghz, 512 MB Ram.

 

[ChipDeath]

Could be some Spyware/adware. Try downloading Ad-aware and Spybot and run those. They're not technically Viruses so wouldn't get picked up by Norton.

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Epox 8RDA+ rev1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @205x11 (~2.26Ghz), 1.575Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 420/744

 

[mrmonsoon]

You might also try spy sweeper from web root. I had a similar problem and norton, adaware and spybot could not find it. I downloaded a trial of Spy Sweeper and it did the trick. Here is a link for a free trial.

<A HREF="http://www.webattack.com/authorinfo/apps-7113187.html" target="_new">http://www.webattack.com/authorinfo/apps-7113187.html</A>

hope this helps.

 

[danbr]

Thx guys.
I tried all the 3 programs but they didn't help. Then I noticed a WTOOLSA.EXE process that runs in the backround. I uninstalled the wintools and that fixed the problem. Thx for your support