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System Idle Process

James240
James240 Posts: 16,399
Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
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hi guys :hello:


Is there any reason as to why when i look in the task manager to find out why the harddrive is taking a long time to do anything that the system idle process is always hogging CPU usage?

Its not allt he time just off and on, it goes on for a bit and then settles :confused:


Any ideas anyone?

Any help would be most appreciated :)


James
Savings Total so far for 2026: £9490.38/£10,000

Comments

  • Little_John
    Little_John Posts: 4,033 Forumite
    how about this

    There is a huge clue in the name

    system idle, the system is idle ie doing nothing if it is 99% of the cpu then only 1% is being used.
  • Chippy_Minton
    Chippy_Minton Posts: 3,339 Forumite
    System idle process using high CPU % means the computer is idle and not running the other processes, so it wouldn't account for the slow hard drive access. Try running https://www.ccleaner.com and then defragging the drive.

    Also run PageDefrag to defrag system files.

    And Start - Run - type chkdsk c: /r - OK. Type Y to the Y/N prompt and reboot.
  • James240
    James240 Posts: 16,399
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Forumite
    how about this

    There is a huge clue in the name

    system idle, the system is idle ie doing nothing if it is 99% of the cpu then only 1% is being used.



    How about this, im trying to do stuff so therefore it isnt idle :rolleyes:
    Savings Total so far for 2026: £9490.38/£10,000
  • James240
    James240 Posts: 16,399
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Forumite
    System idle process using high CPU % means the computer is idle and not running the other processes, so it wouldn't account for the slow hard drive access. Try running www.ccleaner.com and then defragging the drive.

    Also run PageDefrag to defrag system files.

    And Start - Run - type chkdsk c: /r - OK. Type Y to the Y/N prompt and reboot.



    Will give that a go :beer:
    Savings Total so far for 2026: £9490.38/£10,000
  • Woby_Tide
    Woby_Tide Posts: 5,346
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
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    James240 wrote: »
    How about this, im trying to do stuff so therefore it isnt idle :rolleyes:


    What you try to do, and what the PC does are completely seperate, the task manager is correct, the system is doing close to nothing, most probably whilst it waits for info from elsewhere. If it's impacting this badly then defragging as above or even reinstalling your OS may be the best bets once you have taken your data onto a backup
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