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Question

CPU constantly at 100%

Sep 17, 2018 2:54AM PDT

I've been using this laptop for a while but, seemingly randomly the CPU usage has jumped to 100% and stays there constantly, whether I'm running anything or not. If I'm not running anything it might dip to 94% at the lowest but it never goes any lower than that. My computer is obviously painstakingly slow, but I can't find anything with high CPU usage in Task Manager.

I've tried quite a few solutions but nothing seems to help. My first thought was malware but I've run scans with several different antiviruses and they've all come up with nothing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

OS - Windows 10 home 64bit
Processor - AMD A9-9420 RADEON R5 3.00 GHz
8.00GB installed RAM 7.46GB available

Oh, and my copy of Windows is legitimate & activated - just putting that out there since according to the solutions I've been trying this seems to be a big issue with pirated copies.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Re: CPU 100%
Sep 17, 2018 3:02AM PDT

- Did you check 'Show processes for all users' in Task Manager?
- What does Resource Monitor say about processor usage?

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Re
Sep 17, 2018 3:44AM PDT

Mine is the only user account on this computer.

Not exactly sure what I'm supposed to be looking at in Resource Monitor, but it's showing essentially what Task Manager is. CPU is 100% or higher but no programs are taking up too much of it.

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Re: only user account
Sep 17, 2018 3:49AM PDT

"Processes for all users" includes the SYSTEM user. That can use a lot of CPU. Sometimes apparently nearly 100%.

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Answer
Follow Kees advice.
Sep 17, 2018 9:23AM PDT