Question Why is CPU maxing out at 100% temporarily every time something is opened?

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Zarvienne

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Sep 4, 2016
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Hi guys, I've been trying to help my friend fix her computer for the past week or so without any luck. For the past maybe 1.5 weeks or so, every time she opens something like chrome tabs, files, games anything really, her CPU spikes up to 100%. She can't run two things at once (listen to music and game for example) because one will start to lag. This is a new issue which she didn't have before. I don't see anything specifically in her task manager that should be causing an issue?
Thanks for any help in advance! (and sorry if this is in the wrong place, been a while since I posted)
Holly
 
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Z

Zarvienne

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winks42 said:
What are the specs of her PC? It could be a heat issue and that the cooler is full of dust or not working and then causing thermal throttling on simple tasks, but it would help with specs of her build ;)
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Hi, don't think it's a heating issue because I made her install HWMonitor and her temps look fine, mid 20s to 30 degrees celcius at normal as far as I can remember. However, as soon as she opens something, immediately 100% cpu usage, followed by an increase in temperature to about 50 degrees celcius (which for 100% CPU load isn't that bad really in a general sense) Thermal throttling only occurs only at those higher temps like 80s-90s-100s as far as I know, am I wrong?
Specs are as followed: Intel Pentium cpu G4560 @ 3.50 GHz (2 CPUs), 8 gbs RAM, Radeon RX 570 series. unknown PSU, unknown CPU fan
 
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Z

Zarvienne

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At a second glance though, her computer right now is idle'ing at about 40-50 degrees celcius, but I think that's because of the 70%+ cpu usage she has going on permanently now...
 
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Z

Zarvienne

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Hi, no viruses on her computer now (made her download malwarebytes, we found a few viruses which were taken care of, but it didn't make a difference to her problem though) On task manager I cannot see any consistent programmes / applications running that I can close to minimise cpu usage, if you get what I mean? Can't see anything that is running that shouldn't, and the CPU usage varies spikes regardless of what is opened. Opened chrome? Chromes using 40% more. Open a file? That prompts a increase too. But not in any specific process or application. Hopefully this makes sense? I haven't got remote access for her PC right now so I can't take a screen shot of her task manager either

She lives in a different country to me and she bought this pc from a vendor, I don't think she'll know how to open her case and clean it up although I will ask her..
 
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mdd1963

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If one wants a dual core to be at least 'semi-responsive/snappy' , I'd make sure it has an SSD of some type... (perhaps it's seeming super-slow waiting on a 5400 rpm storage drive?)

A fresh reinstall (backup data first!) will take care of any potential hidden malware that might have been slowly mining away. (some malware will 'hide itself' when task manager is launched, but, a quick run of Malwarebytes Antimalware and HItman Pro never hurt anyone)

I'd also confirm or even reinstall assorted chipset drivers, perhaps an OS update or earlier reinstall left default MS drivers being utilized instead of correct drivers for CPU or chipset....

There is certainly no reason a modern Pentium with 8 GB of RAM should have issues launching Chrome...
 
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Zarvienne

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mdd1963 said:
If one wants a dual core to be at least 'semi-responsive/snappy' , I'd make sure it has an SSD of some type... (perhaps it's seeming super-slow waiting on a 5400 rpm storage drive?)

A fresh reinstall (backup data first!) will take care of any potential hidden malware that might have been slowly mining away. (some malware will 'hide itself' when task manager is launched, but, a quick run of Malwarebytes Antimalware and HItman Pro never hurt anyone)

I'd also confirm or even reinstall assorted chipset drivers, perhaps an OS update or earlier reinstall left default MS drivers being utilized instead of correct drivers for CPU or chipset....

There is certainly no reason a modern Pentium with 8 GB of RAM should have issues launching Chrome...
Click to expand...

I'm always an advocate for an SSD as well! :) Probably not in her budget for a while at least though unfortunately... I have considered rolling back her Windows updates as well, wasn't sure that would break anything else so I haven't done it yet.. Might ask her to give it a shot.

And yes agreed, this is a very new problem she's experiencing, she's normally able to play Overwatch, Apex Legends, Tabletop etc etc with no problem so I doubt it's a hardware issue persay... Will ask her what she thinks about a windows update rollback and at worst a windows reinstall, thanks for your advice
 
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Z

Zarvienne

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Sep 4, 2016
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Murissokah said:
I would check resource monitor for activity in disk and memory too. It could be that the CPU spike is actually caused by a hang waiting for some other resource. Disk queue length would be a good place to look.
Click to expand...

Okay will try this as well next time I'm remoted in, thanks for your advice! Will update if we find / don't find anything :)
 
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