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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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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
    2010-09-28T02:09:12+00:00

    Strange.When I startup my windows 7 laptop,the CPU usage reaches even sometimes abt 50-70%.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-09-28T02:12:09+00:00

    And,it rarely reaches 20%/lower when I'm not running any memory-intensive programs (e.g Antivirus software)or at idle.What should i do?

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-09-30T10:35:53+00:00

    Thank You

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-09-30T10:51:16+00:00

    What Milan-1 suggested worked for me  my high cpu usage went down immediately and has stayed down...

    I run an HP Desktop with Windows 7

    I am self taught on computers..I know nothing about programming..but my problem with high cpu usage started when I was tryng to add video files from my hd to windows media center I must have opened up some stuff that cause the system to uselessly grind on some level repeatedly...

    I kind of thnk there is a better way to fix this problem but it probably involves a deeper understanding of files and folders and such which is still a mystery to me...I know I opened up something on my Media Center which causes my machine to grind away uselessly.

    From what I have learned from reading the questions and responses on this issue..it must be something like that...

    NOW....I don't know, if by doing what MILAN-1 has suggested, I will encounter problems down the line..if anybody out there knows would you be so kind as to share the Knowledge..

    Does shutting off the ability to share media with networks affect other stuff?

    Thanks ahead of time for any and all information anyone can share

    Stu


    Flase positive for my genuine office 2003 software

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