Rundll32.exe taking up 50% of CPU?

[Justinsanity]

Greetings.

I'd like to start by saying I am well aware of how behind I am in the hardware/OS sense.

I recently "upgraded" from Windows XP to Windows Vista. On XP, games like Modern Warfare 2, Crysis 2, and Mirrors Edge ran at least at 40 FPS, usually 55. When I switched to Vista, they all ran significantly slower. Mirrors Edge is unplayable now at 20 FPS. I did a heck of a lot of research on Vista optimization, and none of it helped. When I look in resource monitor, I see rundll32.exe is taking up an average of 50% of my CPU when not running anything. I have scanned my computer for viruses and spyware, and it comes up clean. What could possibly be causing this and how do I fix it?

My computer:
OS: Windows Vista Home Basic 32bit
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Dual Core AMD Athlon X2 4400+
GPU: NVidia GeForce GTX 260

 

[drtweak]

if you right click on rundll32.exe and click on "go to services" does it show a service?

 

[Justinsanity]

if you right click on rundll32.exe and click on "go to services" does it show a service?

Whoops I accidentally clicked best answer. Anyways, no it does not. It will go to the services tab, but nothing will be highlighted.

 

[drtweak]

Ok try this. Click on start and then type in MSCONFIG in the search (Vista, W7, W10) or Start and then Search Icon in upper right (W 8.1) and hit enter.

Go to startup and then move over the right bar for the Command section so you can see the full path. See if any have Rundll32.exe in them.

Rundll32.exe is a program that is used to run program that are DLL's and not normal EXE's. So we got to find out what is going on.

if there is nothing in there then do this.

Download CCleaner if you don't have it already. Once installed click on Tools on the left. Then click on the submenu Startup. Then click on the Scheduled Task tab. See if any have Rundll32.exe in it.

Find them and disable them (Uncheck the box if in MSCONFIG and click on it so highlighed and click disabled) and then restart and see if it goes away.

You can always try killing it as well.

 

[Justinsanity]

Ok try this. Click on start and then type in MSCONFIG in the search (Vista, W7, W10) or Start and then Search Icon in upper right (W 8.1) and hit enter.

Go to startup and then move over the right bar for the Command section so you can see the full path. See if any have Rundll32.exe in them.

Rundll32.exe is a program that is used to run program that are DLL's and not normal EXE's. So we got to find out what is going on.

if there is nothing in there then do this.

Download CCleaner if you don't have it already. Once installed click on Tools on the left. Then click on the submenu Startup. Then click on the Scheduled Task tab. See if any have Rundll32.exe in it.

Find them and disable them (Uncheck the box if in MSCONFIG and click on it so highlighed and click disabled) and then restart and see if it goes away.

You can always try killing it as well.

I did what you said (in CCleaner) and rebooted. I started playing games for about 20 minutes. I got a little lag (way less than usual), and when I checked, rundll32.exe wasn't running. No more CPU for you! Thanks!

 

[drtweak]

Welcome. Was there anything in there that you disabled?

 

[Justinsanity]

Welcome. Was there anything in there that you disabled?

Sorry for a late reply. I saw a program that opened rundll32.exe. I haven't had any problems since 😀