Random CPU Peaks causing lag

[sayaprayer]

My system is having random laggings. There isn't any heavy programs even running but all of a sudden everything will slow down and lag for a few seconds. The CPU usage goes from 13% to 50+% in an instant. Any idea what may be causing this?

 

[b_young86]

could be a number of things. What program is causing the spikes? how many processes do you have running?

 

[sayaprayer]

I don't know specifically which program it is. In my processes my System Idle Process is using the most CPU. It jumps around from low to high.

Edit: There are about 37 processes running. Mostly system stuff. Only programs I got going are trillian, bit comet, and firefox.

 

[b_young86]

wat u do is click on the top where it says CPU twice, so the process using the most percentage will always be on top, and see what you see popping in and out. Also, how many processes are running?

 

[sayaprayer]

System Idle Process is using anywhere from 50-98. 36 processes running total.

 

[b_young86]

system idle process is just what ur processor isn't doing. let's say you have a program such as explorer.exe using 20%, then ur system idle would be the remainder. System idle isn't really a program. What else is showing up?

 

[sayaprayer]

bit comet using 02-20 but it only jumps to 20 every once and a while. other then that everything is 00-04

 

[b_young86]

Well the only thing i can think of that would be causing LAG would be hardware, or some virus scanning program. Especially if you're using BitComet, it will try to scan every bit of data writen and read on your hard drive. My advise is to disable any virus scanners you have while using bitcomet. Other than that, i'm not sure what to tell you other than to defragment your drive.

 

[umybiatch2k6]

The CPU usage goes from 13% to 50+% in an instant.

The system lags due to CPU only when it reaces 100%. i think in this case, it's about something being read off the harddrive that is synchronised with that small spike in cpu usage.

are tehre specific programs you have open when this happens? or it happens in general?

 

[FlashDude]

Scan with antivirus/and spyware software If the system idle process is going to 50 and there isn't another process showing that is taking that 50% then there may be something hidden that is running. a Format and fresh install should fix that.