System Idle Process

by nsns Jun 10, 2005 5:49AM PDT

I know that there was something about system idle process in a recent newsletter, and know I have an issue with it. In the last week or so, my computer has been lagging. I've done spyware and anti-virus searches. Generally, I notice it when I am trying to watch a file in media player, the movie lags. It isn't the movie (poor encoding). When I look at the task manager, it says I have tons of memory available, but the system idle process is using tons of CPU. I'm using XP by the way, 2.8GHZ processor, 1 gig ram, 9800 pro gfx.

Discussion is locked

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by dagger906 Jun 10, 2005 5:54AM PDT

System idle process doesn't really mean much, it's just idling. It bascially mean resources that's not used. I don't think it's the cause for your lag...

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System Idle Process

by MarkFlax Former Forum moderator Jun 10, 2005 5:56AM PDT

The web site http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist_s.htm says this about System Idle Process;

"Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003 only. This is a process which runs on each CPU in your PC/Server and whose sole purpose is to total up the amount of time when the processor is not doing anything. In Task Manager (Task List) this process usually accounts for the majority of processor time.

Recommendation :
An integral part of the operating system, leave alone."

I haven't seen anything myself about problems with System Idle Process, and know of no malware that would mimic it in anyway, and the description above seems to suggest it should only kick in when your system is idle, so are you sure that System Idle Process is taking up the majority of your CPU capacity? Is there anything else in Task manager that could be doing so as well?

Mark

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Malware?

by dagger906 Jun 10, 2005 6:28AM PDT

If a malware is mimiking it, shouldn't there be two processes on the list?

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Isn't 2 processes

by nsns Jun 10, 2005 9:45AM PDT

Thanx for the replies. There isn't two processes, so there probably isn't malware mimicking it. When I look, only like 3 processes are using CPU. One is using like 30-40, one is like 2 and the other is system idle process, using the rest.

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OK, when you say,

by MarkFlax Former Forum moderator Jun 10, 2005 9:52AM PDT

"Using the rest", what do you mean?

How much CPU time is it using?

I've just checked my own Task Manager, and even as I type this the System Idle Process is at 98%, so it doesn't take a lot of cpu processing to type.

Now, I am running video in WMP, (a movie trailer clip), and Task Manager shows WMP at 5% and SIP at 95%, +or- 1 or 2%.

The video is running smoothly

So perhaps this isn't so unusual at all.

Mark

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Hate Lag

by nsns Jun 10, 2005 11:58AM PDT

By using the rest, I mean every 100 - the processes that are using CPU = amount SIP is using. I also am noticing lag in games I'm playing (not online) when there was never lag before. I always log out other accounts on my comp as well, so this isn't the problem. This is really frustrating. Maybe its not SIP at all, I don't know.

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Can't be SIP

by dagger906 Jun 10, 2005 12:55PM PDT

System Idle Process isn't a process at all, but rather the amount of power left over. You mentioned that one process uses 40%, what is that?

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You'll hate this...

by nsns Jun 10, 2005 1:15PM PDT

Bitcomet

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Yeah. Bitcomet

by MarkFlax Former Forum moderator Jun 10, 2005 8:29PM PDT

Are you saying that Bitcomet is running all the time? Or is it running when you play games?

If either, then you have found the cause of your lag.

And I'm sure I need not say anyting about the risk of viruses spyware trojans from downloaded files of course.....

Mark

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No need for the lecture

by nsns Jun 11, 2005 1:01PM PDT

Bitcomet is supposed to consume low resources, and it doesn't take up a very high percentage of CPU. Media Player and Bitcomet together don't even come close to maxing out my cpu or memory, according to the Task Manager. And I have had Bitcomet for a while. I tend to only download things from reputable sources, and I don't open .exe files that are usually infested with spyware, viruses and trojans.

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Bittorrent...

by dagger906 Jun 11, 2005 1:38PM PDT

You may want to get TorrentStorm. It's the only one I found that uses less system resources than Bitcomet. Azerous is just horrible. The more recent versions are better, but still horrible...

In any case, torrents, no matter how fast they're running, shouldn't use up more than 15% of processor capacity for most cpus. It may be some kind of errors... or something...

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