Vista - CPU usage keep going up and down even when computer is not use.

My CPU usage keep going up from 1% through 36%, 46%, 50% randomly and then
goes back to 1% again. CPU usage keep going up and down this seem to happen
when i hear my harddrive make a whistling sound. I disable my antivirus and
still does that and it also happen when computer is not being use.

Is this CPU usage activity normal in Window Vista?

Most likely it's background or idle time tasks. Vista has a number of
maintenance type scheduled tasks. Some work from a fixed schedule
and others are triggered. Some will run when the system has been at
an idle state for a period of time.
Best to use a tool, such as SysInternals Process Explorer. It can give
you very exact information on what process(es) are running the system
resources used by them.

Download and tool description here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys...sExplorer.mspx


"GT" <GT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8645F45B-4E19-43ED-A61B-A8E6C74279C6@microsoft.com...
> My CPU usage keep going up from 1% through 36%, 46%, 50% randomly and then
> goes back to 1% again. CPU usage keep going up and down this seem to
> happen
> when i hear my harddrive make a whistling sound. I disable my antivirus
> and
> still does that and it also happen when computer is not being use.
>
> Is this CPU usage activity normal in Window Vista?

Same problem as GT. The program "searchprotocolhost.exe" reads my harddisk
all the time. Is this normal?

"GT" wrote:

> My CPU usage keep going up from 1% through 36%, 46%, 50% randomly and then
> goes back to 1% again. CPU usage keep going up and down this seem to happen
> when i hear my harddrive make a whistling sound. I disable my antivirus and
> still does that and it also happen when computer is not being use.
>
> Is this CPU usage activity normal in Window Vista?