For my mom's laptop, in the beginning (boot up) it goes from 50 to 100% constantly (between 50-100%). I see it on SmartRAM, Task Manager, Sidebar and when it's at 100%, the light for a busy CPU is off...
You know? That light that is on while the computer is busy? This laptop has. My PC upstairs (my PC) has one at the keyboard... Weird.
Maybe. It has a picture like a book besides... But my keyboard above has 2 lights. one like this (^) and one for the CPU.
let me see, the best that you can do for such an old computer would be to install linux on it, but that isn't likely going to happen, therefore you should get some dry ice/liquid nitrogen and submerge the hot processor inside, then you can get a new computer
again, I recommended linux first, I honestly think that if your mouse can get you CPU up to 45%... wait, is this a desktop or a laptop, because if it is a desktop then you can replace the motherboard and CPU without changing too much... but then again that probably qualifies as a new 'pc' right there doesn't it.
So, you have a process called nmsrvc.exe that is occasionally jumping up to 40%+ usage? Google says that is a program called "Network Magic" from a company called Pure Network. Seems to be a home-networking-made-easy type program. Maybe this program is constantly monitoring and checking on your network, using CPU. It's not necessary for a computer to work, you can stop using it to free up your computer. What you need to do, rather than monitoring just your total CPU usage, is monitor which programs are using the most and find out if there is something necessary or not, and if that program or service is running correctly.
Lets list everything it displays... taskmgr.exe opera.exe RocketDock.exe jucheck.exe wgatray.exe nmsrvc.exe svchost.exe mDNSResponder.exe avgwdsvc.exe AppleMobileDeviceService.exe spoolsv.exe ONENOTEM.EXE ctfmon.exe jusched.exe dcmsvc.exe LinksysWirelessManager.exe (Internet) nmctxth.exe avgtray.exe GrooveMonitor.exe SOUNDMAN.EXE brs.exe PDVDServ.exe (Power DVD, I think) avgrsx.exe svchost.exe 5 times lsass.exe services.exe winlogon.exe csrss.exe smss.exe explorer.exe System ^All it says. Can I disable some? And I'm gonna get FireFox instead of Opera... The only things I'm running are Opera, RocketDock and Stardock Fences.
It depends on which ones you need to run. And which ones are causing the spikes in your CPU usage. I would check your system tray first, and see if you have any programs running in the background that don't need to be. Open them up and look in the options for a way to shut of the "start when windows starts" option. Many programs that are useful make themselves less useful by starting up a "wait to be ready" type program when windows starts, adding more processes and potential resource hogs to your system. Like PDVDServ, Groovemonitor. Both serve purposes, but if you aren't using your Power DVD or your Folder Sync programs, they don't really serve any purpose.
stardock software is a very likely culprit. I would also disable mdnsresponder, applemobiledeviceservice (or at least make it so it only starts when needed). The first is a security hole, and the second, well apple software is well known for being bloated and inefficient these days. juschedand jucheck can also go, and I'd check your windows because if wgatray is present its not legal and that could be causing issues as it will be phoning home and possibly receving instructions from microsoft.
The only programs are: Fences, Linksys Wireless Manager. I noticed that Bejeweled Twist has a .dll file that needs most of the CPU. It gets to 80% when playing. Post Merge: [time]1267884108[/time] Fences is always on 0%.
It wont necessarily show, stardock software buries itself deep into windows files and causes all kinds of problems indirectly.