CPU usage goes up to 50% when computer is idle.

I don't have my computer go into standby or hibernate because of past experiences of it interfering with programs, but I do have the LCD shut off after three minutes of idling. I recently reformatted my computer and now whenever the monitor goes into standby, the cooling fans start chugging away and the CPU usage goes up to about fifty to sixty percent. As soon as i move the mouse to turn it on, the cpu usage drops down to 5-11 percent.

Any ideas why this is happens?

 

If you're using Vista, then your computer is probably building up indexes. Building up indexes helps make the search function a lot faster, but I always found it kind of annoying. If you want to turn it off, go to My Computer -> Right click on C: -> Properties. Uncheck "index this drive for faster searching" and hit apply.

 

Your computer also defrags itself automatically, and checks for updates....AKA it tidys up your computer while you're away. I wouldn't worry about it. I remember I left my computer idle for 3 hours and the hard drive light was blinking continuously for about 2 hours.

 

Open up task manager and see which process is taking up so much CPU when it hits that mark.

 

go to 'services.msc' via run & disable 'Windows Search' ..it will stop indexing files for faster search (not sooo useful anyway) and u ll have a faster computer and CPU usage will be under 10 on idle.

 

Besides slower searches, are there any other downsides to uncheck indexing?

 

Wouldn't it be better to just allow Vista to index the files for now (as appose to turning it off). Then after it's all indexed, it won't be a nuisance anymore... Then you will have the benefit of faster searches .

 

I would just let whatever service it is finish its work. A full system index should only take 2 or 3 hours and then it shouldn't need to do it again.

Let it jump up to 50% for a couple of days, if it continues to give you issues, THEN try turning off services.