Why Is The System Idle Process Hogging All The Resources?

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The real bottom line here is this: When I run a program, such as Zero Assumption Recovery (ZAR), and I have nothing else running except my browser (Firefox), I want it to run as quickly as possible. I was ctryingto recover deleted files on a 1 mb card in my daughter’s camera.

It took 16 minutes to complete. All the while, I checked Windows Task Manager. “System Idle Process” used 90-98 percent of resources throughout. That, to me, is unacceptable. I want ZAR to use the maximum resources possible. Such a scan could have been completed in 2-3 minutes, easily.

So, what’s the deal? How do I change this deplorable situation?

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Windows Vista - IBM Thinkpad - Same issue

  • System Idle Process peaking
  • Causing momentary pauses
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RogerK, jbpnet:

You have other issues on your machines, it has nothing to do with the idle process. Try and understand that the idle process does not hog any cpu, consider it the cpu power that is free.

Now, as previously mentioned, there are situations when a faulty hardware or driver could hog the cpu without it showing up as cpu usage, so the tip is to make sure you have all the correct and updated drivers for your computers.

Also, to say that you think program “X” should use more cpu to finish more quickly is simply not how it works, it will use what is necessary, it’s not like “throwing more cpu on any process makes it faster”, we are not talking about gasoline here, it just doesn’t work like that.

In conclusion: computers can be slow for a number of reasons but it has nothing to do with the idle process.

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Then why does it show the following in Task Manager?

Image Name CPU Memory
Systems Idle Process 92 28k

This CPU number keeps moving up and down at a constant pace

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because the amount that is free is changing.

it is not being used, for the most part.

it is like looking at your gas gauge, seeing how much gas you dont have, hearing a noise, and saying “there! i am sure there is something wrong with the fuel indicated ABOVE the red line!”

that would be silly, right? because above the red line indicates how much you DONT have.

same thing.

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and that analogy kind of ends there, FYI. a gas gauge, as was hinted at by a previous comment, is not a good overall analogy because your system idle process has nothing to do with your computer’s “fuel”.

but with the my last comment you should be equipped to grasp the concept that system idle process is not actually doing anything (for the most part).

if you reread this entire page you will see that everyone is basically trying to state that your computer reserves very low priority items to occur when it isn’t doing anything else.

sometimes, it does these things to conserve energy, sometimes it does these things that other programs ask it to do.

these things are associated with system idle process, but the percentile number that varies when you look at it is not an indicator of how much of which resources it is using to do those things.

if you have reason to believe that something is eating up your resources (not system idle process) with a higher priority than you desire, you may want to run adaware, spybot search and destroy (both of which you can get at download.com) and your antivirus software.

but i assure you that system idle process is not the culprit.

think of it as your computer telling you how much CPU it is NOT using.

notice how the number changes beside system idle process if the numbers beside your other processes (such as tskmgr.exe, which is the task manager…the thing you are looking at in order to see system idle process…) change as well?

it always adds up to 100…

system idle process should be what is left over after your other processes.

subtract system idle process from 100 and that is how much CPU your computer is using.

system idle process, for all intents and purposes here, uses zero.

there are things associated with it, but the number next to it does not have a direct relation to how much CPU it is using.

in other words, the number next to it is not the CPU it is using.

No.

it just isn’t.

i know what it looks like.

just stop.

you are wrong.

you will have to abandon your previous thought process.

in order to learn this concept, this requires you to embrace the fact that you were thinking about it incorrectly previously.

it will be ok.

your stove will not explode because of it.

i swear to you.

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i have a problem…you say that its just chewing up a lot of room because it has nothing else to do…but when i try to play music or do anything, my computer becomes very laggy…why is this?

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Yes, i would like to know too - because I am having exactly the same issues. And when my system idle process is in a high percent and i flick over to the performance screen to discover that my cpu is maxing out at 99 - 100% (and i tense myself up and wait for the bang)I understand how easy it is to presume that it is the system idle process causing this. But when i can clearly see that no other programs are maxing out the cpu you gotta think - is there something wrong with the system idle process. It is a logical thought. And it seems you can all go - oh no thats silly system idle can’t do that - but it is a process in a computer - something has to tell it to do what it is doing doesn’t it. Perhaps there is a fault - or a new virus type encoded into system idle. No dissing unless you can provide the answer please. :slight_smile: Some of my programs are set to update when system is idle - or virus scan when idle - could it be the scheduling of these tasks having confliction issues that causes the cpu to max out even when it says the system is 80 - 90% idle?? I really want to fix this issue just like the others so some smart person please give a proper valid real answer.

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so how do we get rid of it without restarting the computer?

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wtf?

For CPU Usage, do not look at the Processes.

Look at CPU Usage in the Performance tab. In task manager, click the tab to the right of the Process tab. You will switch to the Performance panel, which shows CPU Usage.

I have the same issue and was confused by system idle process. Thanks, well! Anyway, if you look at the cpu usage, mine jumps up to 25% regularly, at night around 3 and 4 am. I’m up working sometimes and it’s really frustrating. I’m thinking of disabling windows auto updates. That’s just a guess, but what else would be running? I don’t have any scheduled tasks.

Am I on the right track???

Thanks!

PS. Gotta love this sentence by Eric: First, I love this sentence:

“He’s become comfortable enough in his own opinion to wander into areas he only vaguely understands, and periodically it bites him on the ass.”

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Funny people, always one more coming in saying “how do I get rid of it”, “i have this problem”…idiots

Go to the nearest window, open it, then take your computer and throw it out, that’s the best solution for you and it will get rid of all your problems with the idle task, guranteed.

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excuse me can any one tell me why my system idle wont let the last 50 go to a program am 18 an trying to play ff8 on my emulator could you perhaps explain for me in an email to my grans account yvonnefox25@hotmail.com

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I had the same problem. It turned out that I had installed one program from a network drive on another computer, which was installed into the shell. When the other computer it was installed from was shut down, is when I had these problems. I uninstalled that program and have had no problems.

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(TG - 8/23/07…“Right On”)

“Excuse me, ma’am/sir: I think I understand your problem now. Please disconnect all cables and power cords, locate the original packaging material which your computer arrived to your house in and pack everything back up. Ship your computer to your closest teen age relative or children’s friend and give up now. You’re simply to F$#%()$*% Stupid to ever operate a personal computer!”

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I have the same issue…can’t someone offer advice instead of bs?

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“you’re simply to @#$%^ stupid…” Dude, when you’re calling someone stupid, try to make sure you’re using the word “too” correctly. Maybe you’re “to” stupid to grab a dictionary next time. Dictionary.com.

-mike,
helping flamers be grammatically correct since 1981!

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There’s also a tool called DPC Latency Checker that can help determine if you’ve got driver troubles causing undue system activity. That, combined with procmon and procexp and help show a bit more about what the system is doing when it’s idle. STFW for their links.

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I am what you consider an “uneducated, un-informed newbie” when it comes to fixing this cpu stuff… and I too wondered what this system idle thing was all about… but… I did what most idjuts do and googled it… here I am. Now I understand the simplicity of the idea…the cup is almost full of air… not partially full of liquid… I get it… it’s a backwards thing… 98% simply means it’s using 2% … and it’s 98% free. I opened the task manager… saw this running at 98%… opened a couple of programs… and geee… guess what… the number started to dive to 60%… I get it… thanks team.

Almo

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Good-oh, mike on Sept 18! Just because someone doesn’t know some particular thing (yet) does not mean he/she is stupid - just ignorant of that thing. People who are new at it, or who have found that computers have changed a LOT in the last xx years, need advice/pointers/information not derision. I have also been having this problem: computer slows down to less than a crawl System idle process is at 99%. Found some leads to follow on this site. Thanks to those people!

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Woo, i was wonderin why my computer was lockin up, when i checked my processes i seen that my System Idle was takin up 97 percent of my CPU…How the hell do i stop it from using up all of my CPU? How do i turn the shit off???