audiodg.exe causes 99% of CPU usage

[windows_user]

Since last week my computer keep on freezing. In Task Manager I came across with audiodg.exe. I have never seen this program or heard of it. It is using a lot of my CPU (about 99%). I tired to abort this program but couldn't.

Do I need this? Can I turn it off or stop the process? How?

[Nihir]

The short answer is that audiodg.exe hosts the audio engine for Vista. All the DSP and other audio processing is done in audiodg.exe. There are two reason it runs outside of the windows audio service.

The first is that there's 3rd party code that gets loaded into audiodg.exe. Audio hardware vendors have the ability to install custom DSPs (called Audio Processing Objects or APOs) into the audio pipeline. For a number of reasons (reliability, serviceability, others) we're not allowed to load 3rd party code into svchost processes (svchost.exe is a generic host process for services that's used inside Windows). So we need to move all the code that interacts with these 3rd party APOs outside the audio service (that way if an APO crashes, it won't take out some other critical part of the system with it).

The second reason for using a separate process for the audio engine is DRM. The DRM system in Vista requires that the audio samples be processed in a protected process, and (for a number of technical reasons that are too obscure to go into) it's not possible for a svchost hosted service to run in a protected process.

[Steve123]

The audiodg process is indeed a system process, which is used by sound
processing on your machine. The solution to the CPU problem is to disable the service. For solution see here:

Audiodg.exe - FIXED

[kraal]

This file/process used to cause problems in Vista too for some people. It is basically the new audio engine/manager of Windows Vista and now Windows 7. You are experiencing a memory leak that over time, as more applications produce sound, becomes a resource hog and brings down your computer and sound performance. It is similar to how my Alienware AlienFusion Power Management works under Windows 7. I had to disable it. In your case you cant disable audiodg.exe without losing sound, so my best guess is it is a driver issue.

[mv]

The short answer is that audiodg.exe hosts the audio engine for Vista. All the DSP and other audio processing is done in audiodg.exe

Vista uses superfetch and readyboost. Superfetch loads different sheet into ram, and you will always see a lot of ram use. currently i have 2048 with 1400 cached and 0 free, and the system is very smooth.

- if you want better performance, get vlite and strip your vista... i have a 880MB installation kit with aero and everything.

- disable aero, although at your specs you should not have any issues.