CPU use at 66% intermittently

[WartHog]

Have a 5-6 year old Dell laptop running Windows 10 that's intermittently becoming slow/unresponsive - extreme Browser lag regardless of browser being used, slow application loading, erratic mouse cursor movement, etc. Looking at Performance in Task Manager during these episodes, the CPU use is at 66% with spikes to near 100%. Have tried downloading Malwarebytes and running scans which show no issues. Have run Disc Cleanup, cleared Browser caches, etc. and made sure Windows and Driver updates are current.

Anyone had similar issues with a Win 10 machine or have any ideas as to what might be causing this issue?

[xfer42]

Check event log for thermal throttling. If a laptop doesnt get good ventilation, or is put under heavy load, or just bad case design, it can over heat when under load. This causes thermal throttling and things seem to grind to a halt.

I had an IBM that would do this after lunch at work, so i would put it in the fridge. When I would keep Pandora open, it would tax the CPU, then cause it to throttle down exacerbating the problem to the point the mouse would only move every few seconds. It was later found to be a common problem with that model.

[ibanezfoo]

Need more info from the task manager details. See what process is chewing up the CPU. Could also be something like a VSS firing off at that time

[C.G.]

Need more info from the task manager details. See what process is chewing up the CPU. Could also be something like a VSS firing off at that time

Exactly. You should be able to see in Task Manager which program(s) are spiking the CPU, stop them, and see if there is any improvement.

[arrix]

Probably Windows Defender virus scanner is running.

[Preston-CLB]

In Task Manager, click on "Start Up". These apps run at start up and stay resident (running). Many of these can be disabled and can be run manually if needed. Disabling some of these will also speed up start up.

Be sure you don't disable your antivirus or anti-malware apps.

ETA: If you suspect your CPU is throttling due to heat there is a cool little app called Speccy from Piriform software. There is a free version. The app shows temperatures of CPU, graphics card, hard drive(s) among other useful info about your system.
-P

[Citadelgrad87]

Similar issue, 3-4 year old Dell, 8 gb ram, which was the max for this new but old model year laptop.

Ran my law office needs, 2 monitors, zoom on one, whatever I want on the other, no issues ever until i installed Nord, at which point my email, microsoft outlook, slowed to a crawl. Like 2 minutes to open an attachment. Never ever crashed, but super slow.

My BIL teamviewered in and determined that, 1, the 8 mb of ram that he told me to get four years ago is maxed out, I need at least double the ram, but, 2, of course, this laptop cant take any more ram.

Yay! I get to upgrade.

Edit, as a band aid, I do what Preston told you to do: after startup, I run task manager and shut Nord down.

[SactoDoug]

Use Task Manager to figure out what is using up all of that CPU time. Go to the details tab and click on the CPU column header to sort by CPU usage. Then do a web search on whatever is using 66% of your CPU.

That might not show some services. You can also use Resource Monitor. At the bottom of the Performance tab is a button that will open Resource Monitor. Just go to the CPU tab, sort it by average CPU usage to figure out what is using your resources.

Once you figure out what is the culprit, do a web search on it and you will likely see other people had the same problem. Look for someone that found a solution. It could be as simple as something needs updating.

[hitdank]

Similar issue, 3-4 year old Dell, 8 gb ram, which was the max for this new but old model year laptop.

Ran my law office needs, 2 monitors, zoom on one, whatever I want on the other, no issues ever until i installed Nord, at which point my email, microsoft outlook, slowed to a crawl. Like 2 minutes to open an attachment. Never ever crashed, but super slow.

My BIL teamviewered in and determined that, 1, the 8 mb of ram that he told me to get four years ago is maxed out, I need at least double the ram, but, 2, of course, this laptop cant take any more ram.

Yay! I get to upgrade.

Edit, as a band aid, I do what Preston told you to do: after startup, I run task manager and shut Nord down.

If you have an m2 or ssd drive just set a high gigabyte page file and it should run like you got 20 gigs. I still play modern games with 8 gig and 4 gig video card in 1080p.

[WartHog]

Use Task Manager to figure out what is using up all of that CPU time. Go to the details tab and click on the CPU column header to sort by CPU usage. Then do a web search on whatever is using 66% of your CPU.

That might not show some services. You can also use Resource Monitor. At the bottom of the Performance tab is a button that will open Resource Monitor. Just go to the CPU tab, sort it by average CPU usage to figure out what is using your resources.

Once you figure out what is the culprit, do a web search on it and you will likely see other people had the same problem. Look for someone that found a solution. It could be as simple as something needs updating.

WMI Provider Host and Services and Controller app show up the most. Searching "Services and Controller app", I found this info - https://appuals.com/services-and-con...0the%20problem.

Following the steps in Solution #1, I went into Task Manager and stopped Diagnostic Policy Service. Both WMI Provider Host and Services and Controller app are no longer running and using 20-25% each of CPU usage and total CPU usage has dropped drastically. Running 5-10% now with occasional spikes to 30+ %. Don't really understand what was happening but this appears to have greatly improved things for now!

[WartHog]

Question about Processes in Task Manager. Brave Browser is showing with (11) after it - what does the 11 mean? I don't have 11 tabs/windows open.

[OlderThanDirt]

Question about Processes in Task Manager. Brave Browser is showing with (11) after it - what does the 11 mean? I don't have 11 tabs/windows open.

Those extra tasks are the links to the NSA, CIA and FBI servers. Nothing to worry about.

[BillSmith]

CPU use at 66% intermittently

THEY are watching you.

[WartHog]

Didn't help after all - back to the same crap...

[SactoDoug]

WMI Provider Host and Services and Controller app show up the most. Searching "Services and Controller app", I found this info - https://appuals.com/services-and-con...0the%20problem.

Following the steps in Solution #1, I went into Task Manager and stopped Diagnostic Policy Service. Both WMI Provider Host and Services and Controller app are no longer running and using 20-25% each of CPU usage and total CPU usage has dropped drastically. Running 5-10% now with occasional spikes to 30+ %. Don't really understand what was happening but this appears to have greatly improved things for now!

Those are both containers for other apps. Unfortunately that does not tell you much.

In Task Manager, go to the startup tab and look at the list of things being loaded when you start up your PC. If there is anything in the list that you don't use anymore then I would uninstall it. Disable things that you use seldomly.

Then I would go to the list of installed apps on your machine. Look down the list and uninstall anything you don't use anymore. If there is something you are not sure about, do a web search to figure out what it is. Many "free" apps install extra things. You can also sort the list by its install date. That can be helpful if you know about when this problem started.

If you are still having this issue after uninstalling apps, disabling seldom used startup apps and a reboot, then do a system file scan and a full update. I give instructions how in the post linked below. It is two simple command line commands.

https://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showpost.php?p=27765464&postcount=3