System Monitor showing 50% or more cpu usage at idle

[Cybermage]

Hi i'm using Windows 98SE. I just looked at my system monitor and its showing 50% or more cpu usage while idle. Only systray and explorer are running. Nothing but systray is in my msconfig startup list. I just reformatted so I can't have a virus. When I move my mouse around the cpu usage goes down to 0%, but goes back to 50% or more when I stop moving it. I've looked around and some people say that it is a bug in windows. If you know how to fix it or have any more info on it I would appreciate it.

My system:

PIII 1.26ghz
640mb ram
Via 694T Pro motherboard

 

[drcard]

Not everything that is running is listed in msconfig. The free utility at the following link is Process Viewer. This utility will detect all things running (including DLLs) as well as how much memory it is using. This should help you determine where the loads at. There are some apps that use a lot of resources that run silently. Please note that there are different downloads for different versions of Windows.

http://www.teamcti.com/pview/prcview.htm

Since your memory usage jumps so much, I wonder if you have a bad module in your memory. There are programs that will test it for you. If your problems head this way then let me know and I'll give you sites for some of them.

HTH, Dana)

 

[Cybermage]

Hey thanks for the process viewer link, it could come in handy down the road. As far as my processes go though, only the bare windows components are running. It's not my memory usage that was jumping, its my processor usage. I've looked into it more now and I think its a bug in Win98SE (could be in 98 and ME too) that displays cpu usage way too high. I tried a different cpu usage program and it showed my CPU 99.5% free so i'm not worried. Thanks for the advice you gave though.