cpu meter gadget

[KRK]

Hello

I use the cpu-meter gadget in my sidebar and find it useful. Sometimes my
cpu seems to be very busy even when I am doing very little. How do I find
what the cpu is doing ?


Thanks

KK

[Charlie42]

Right-click the task bar and select Task Manager from the context menu. Take
a look at the Processes tab. Many services, such as indexing, defragmenting
and virus/spyware scans, run in the background.

[John Barnett MVP]

Take a look at what processes are running. Right click on the taskbar and,
from the drop down menu, select Task Manager. In the task manager window,
Click the Processes tab. Click the at the top of the column marked CPU so
that the 'most used' processes are displayed first.

--

[LesleyO]

I've set those "busy" programs (defragger, virus scanner, updates, backing
up to my USB drive) so that they all run in the hours when I'm not usually
on the computer. Yes, I know they run in the background and generally don't
cause problems, but it just makes sense to have them do their thing when I'm
not doing mine! Once you find out what is running, you can customize those
that give you that opportunity.

[KRK]

Thanks,

this is very helpful, but what does the CPU number actually mean? . Most
seem to be 0, others vary up to 5 or 6 and keep changing ?

Thanks again

[John Barnett MVP]

K,

Zero means that the CPU is not being accessed by that process. 5 or 6 means
5 or 6% of CPU is being used. If anything you are looking for something
that is taking 90 to 99% of processor power. If this large leap in processor
usage I only temporary then you shouldn't worry, yes, even if you are not
doing anything. In most cases it is only sporadic. On my Core2 Due machine
both cores hit 100% a few minutes after the machine has booted to the
desktop. It isn't anything that worries me, because the percentage decreases
again quite rapidly. I'd be more worried if the percentage rate stayed at 90
to 100% for hours with you not doing anything.

--

[Rich]

Go to
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDeta...517a&bt=1&pl=1
and get the Top Process gadget. It will display the top 5 processes that are
using your CPU.