My CPU usage is constantly at a minimum of 50% Originally my computer would idle at about at around 3% then one day it jumped to 50% with a bout 31 processes with only system idle processes eating the CPU (which shouldn't be the problem) I didn't really care why the usage was high so I just backed up what I needed, formatted and installed windows I check the CPU usage and its still at 50% with only 18 processes running and only system idle processes being high anyone have any idea why I CPU usage is so high and what I can do about it?
moved to correct forum as not a pc hardware issue. might still have to be moved to spyware virus forum.
Once when I had a similar problem with my xp computer using 100 percent cpu at idle, I was able to traced the problem to the motherboard onboard sound. After installing a pci soundcard my cpu went back to less than 5 percent at idle. You might have a similar problem. In my case it was the audio card (I had symptoms where sometimes when the computer booted up the audio wasn't working). But it could also be some other hardware component.
I installed another copy of windows and my CPU usage went back down. I then installed my other copy of windows again and the CPU usage remained low. So I don't know what the problem was but for now it seems to be solved. I appreciate the help and I look into what you said if it happens again *knocks on wood*
