NT Kernel & System using 100% of CPU

Anonymous

Hi,

I just bought a new laptop with Window Vista Basic. The laptop has 3 Gb ram. I was just reading an article on line and then I start to hear the laptop fan running like crazy. then I went to the Resource Monitor and there was an image/program that was using 95% of my cpu and it was my system with description of "NT Kernel & System". It has been going on for over 30mins. Other than restarting the computer, what can I do about this "NT Kernel & System" eating up 95% of my CPU?

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Anonymous

I've been having the same problem on my HP desktop running Vista home for a couple weeks. I read that someone fixed the same problem by updating some hardware firmware, so I opened Resource Monitor and started unplugging all my hardware one at a time. The instant I unplugged my Belkin USB network adapter, NT Kernel & System dropped down to 0% and my computer unfroze entirely. The same adapter has been causing me a lot of grief for months- it wouldn't respond every time my computer came out of standby. I'll be updating the driver and firmware to see if that helps - otherwise that garbage is going in the trash. I recommend disabling/unplugging hardware (especially if you have any with odd behavior) until the problem stops, then replacing or updating that hardware.

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Anonymous

Hello Dtsai,

Thank you for posting. What you just described seems to be some form of mal-ware trying to mascuerade as a legitimate windows service. Windows does have NT Kernel and also System, but they never show up together as one service, program, or file.

I highly recommend that you use your favorite anti-virus and anti-spyware program and do a full scan of your PC.

Please try the scan and let me know if this helps you

Zack

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

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59 additional answers

Anonymous

2009-09-02T21:36:38+00:00

Hello onlysublime;

The source site calling it a "root kit" was http://answers.yahoo.com

The other ones were, Vista64.com, techspot.com, and symantic.com

You can access them by typing "nt kernel & system" in your search engine.

Best Regards

spacejunkie1
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Anonymous

2009-09-01T05:04:36+00:00

I read a blog on another forum describing this as a "root kit" rather than a virus or spyware. Some forums refer to ntoskl.exe in reference to it. I can't find anything in the processes library at PC pitstop or anywhere else. The only one that I know of that has anti-root kit software is Sophos. If it is a root kit it may not be detectable as a virus or spyware.

It is an interesting problem that may not be so easy to solve without knowing what it is

Spacejunkie1

Hi, can you provide a link to that other forum? I'm curious if anyone has found anything.
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Anonymous

2009-08-29T08:15:17+00:00

I read a blog on another forum describing this as a "root kit" rather than a virus or spyware. Some forums refer to ntoskl.exe in reference to it. I can't find anything in the processes library at PC pitstop or anywhere else. The only one that I know of that has anti-root kit software is Sophos. If it is a root kit it may not be detectable as a virus or spyware.

It is an interesting problem that may not be so easy to solve without knowing what it is

Spacejunkie1
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