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
    2009-11-25T04:42:31+00:00

    I've been scouring the web for an answer and still nothing.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-02-24T16:21:27+00:00

    Memory/Disk hogging problems? This really works. If you don't care about sharing your media with networks, then this is a simple and effective fix before Microsoft figures it out. It disables the culprit WMPNETWK.EXE file that runs the Windows MediaPlayer Network Sharing Service (WMNSS) routine. Simply do this:

    1. Select START (bottom left)
    2. Type RUN > enter
    3. Type services.msc > OK
    4. Expand the NAME column, then scroll down to : Windows MediaPlayer Network Sharing Service5. Right click on that line, select STOP and wait for progress bar to end
    5. Right click again on same line, select PROPERTIES
    6. Change Startup Type from AUTOMATIC, to DISABLED
    7. Hit APPLY then OK

    This works--no more high system usage from this needless routine unless reactivated by reverting back to AUTOMATIC, then selecting START on previous screen.  A happy ending to the most frustrating WIN7 problem I've had.

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  3. Anonymous
    2009-11-25T22:21:39+00:00

    While this is not a great answer here's somethign I discovered on my own ... I opened up the Device Manager and set the VIEW to "Resources by Type" and basically started going through there disabling things until I saw a change. I found an entry under MEMORY cald something like "HD Audio" (I can't see it anymore since I disabled it ... I don't know where it went to.)  As soon as I disabled it my CPU Utilization dropped to 8%. I don't have ANY idead where that Audio device came from. I installed an XFX Radeon HD 4350 Graphics card but I didn't see any audio i/o so I don't know if that is the culprit or if it's something onboard.

    Of course this was a tedious and slow process as the CPU was pegged .. but once done, my machine seems to have it's old "ZEST"back.

    I'll post if I gain anymore insight into what exactly happened but thought that maybe this might help some of you having this similar problem.

    Gary

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  4. Anonymous
    2009-11-22T23:49:22+00:00

    Running into the similar issues as everyone else.

    Computer starts fine, runs well for a short period of time (between 10 minutes to one hour) then the computer spike up to between 75% and 100% usage and will stay in that range until I restart the computer.

    This problem originally surfaced after I had done an upgrade from Vista (64 bit) to Windows 7 (64 bit), but I've now done two custom reinstalls and on the second one I was still having the problems even though I hadn't touched my backed up files or installed any programs.

    I'm using an HP system with an AMD Phenom Quad Core processor, 6 GB of RAM, an nVidia GeFored 9100 video card, and a dual monitor setup (*one DVI, one VGA).

    Solutions I've attempted: UniBlue Registry Booster & DriverScanner, Shutting off all startup programs, Using Microsoft Security Essentials to scan for viruses.

    No permanent fix.

    I'm really close to just reinstalling Vista and demanding a refund from Microsoft that's how frustrating this is.

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