Windows 7 has High CPU Usage and slow performance

Anonymous
2009-11-18T04:59:29+00:00

Hello all,

I've searched the forums, but was unable to find anything relevant.  I recently upgraded to Windows 7 from Vista.  It was running fine for about a week then all of a sudden everything started running very slow.  I checked the the processes tab in task manager and I am constantly running at 70-80% CPU usage.  I think this is very high considering the computer is only a few months old.  It seems like others are having this problem as well, but no real solutions.

I have turned off file indexing as well as disabled the HD audio device. 

Please help!

Here are my hardware specs:

AMD 9550 Quad-Core

64-bit

6GB Ram

Thank you in advance for your help.  I am ready to toss this thing from my second story window.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2010-01-02T19:29:42+00:00

I think the answer might be the Windows Media Player and Windows Media Network Sharing Services as zxypher suggested.  The fix for that is to adjust were the Windows Media Player services search for media files. 

It seems to be a bad problem for me as well upgrading from Vista to Windows 7.  The default search location for media is set to C:\Users\ instead of down in the My Music folders.

Go into Media Player.  From the menu -> File -> Manage libraries -> select each library (music, video, pictures, recorded tv [if you have]) and check the paths that it is managing and make sure it is not too close to the root of the C: drive.  For example, it should be something like c:\users\Jim\Music and c:\users\Public\Music BUT NOT **** c:\users as they will cause the whole directory tree to be re-indexed over and over (when you surf the web or change any files in your profile).

If you have multiple users who login to the computer, you may need to repeat the process for each user if all users have added managed folders which are actively changing on a regular basis.

If this is your issue and you do it correctly, then the high CPU should drop in minutes (or seconds down to nothing).

This is the CORRECT way to adjust the WMNSS/WMPNetwk.exe process issues.

A little more information can be found here:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7performance/thread/2fe4901b-2eaf-4a99-b487-e6a6213b10b3/

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-08-28T03:17:37+00:00

    dbcii,

     do you know what update this came down in? got a KB number??

     

      Pisces

    The problem started when halmacpi.dll was updated by Microsoft on May 17, 2011. I did not change any hardware or software at that time.

    I got the date from the date the file was installed on my pc. I had many updates installed on that date; most were application updates. I expect this probably came in with Win7 Service Pack 1. KB976932

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-08-28T00:33:38+00:00

    dbcii,

     do you know what update this came down in? got a KB number??

      Pisces

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-08-28T00:30:44+00:00

    Jack,

    In my situation it started around the 13 of last month when I replaced a hard drive, so prior to that I was using Yahoo messenger and YTunnelPro and Norton's Internet Security 2011, quite normally, albeit earler versions. Last night I was in my chat room, with Messenger and Ytunnel Pro running but this time I had Task Manager open. Everytime my CPU stated to increase, I ended "audiodg.exe" process, and all came back to normal. A crude fix but it worked instead of hanging and rebooting, with very little loss of sound. That is why I dismissed Norton's in the descussion with Gerry as I had been using Norton for 11 years,  prior to this happening. I have also been through all the KB updates,done a quick read on what they do and have ?'d 1 out of 13 that could be an issue. As it started "audiodg.exe", then "Yahoo Messanger.exe" and also once "System Mechanics.exe", all of these programs I have been using for a fair while. SM10 this only happens when it is optimising the hard drive.

    I am running my PC on a selective startup so I do have Adobe Reader unchecked, back in the string I read "brccmetl.exe" could be a suspect which is a Conrtol Centre for Brother Printers. I also us a Nvidia graphics card, with no problems.

    My Desktop I built Myself a 32 bit system, but it also happens on my Acer Aspire 5742 with an i5 processor and a 64 bit system both Windows 7 Home Premium, and both running the same software as in Norton's Internet Security 2011, Malware Bytes in protection mode and System Mechanics 10.5, and same versions on Mesenger and YtunnelPro.

    As far as I am aware people still running XP don't experience this issue, as audiodg.exe wasn't in that OS.

      Pisces

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-08-27T18:11:11+00:00

    I had the same problem. I used the Resource Monitor (accessible from the Performance tab of Task Manager) to identify the culprit. In my case, it was Adobe Acrobat. I quick Internet search revealed others with the same problem that was resolved by deleting the files in an Acrobat temporary file.

    Yesterday, an associate was having the same problem. His dual core was pegged frequently at 100%.Rebooting brought is back to normal performance. Still, he found himself rebooting 3-4 times per day.  Again using Resource Monitor, we found the problem in his case was Kapersky antivirus. Uninstalling Kapersky resolved his performance problem. He's trying a different AV solution now.

    FWIW, I'm running NVIDIA display adapter and software on two systems, both Dell notebooks, and I have not experienced any peformance issues related to NVIDIA.

    I guess the take away from this is that there can be several culprits causing hig CPU usage. Perhaps Resource Monitor can help identify the problem.

    Jack

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