If your PC has slowed down, high CPU usage may be the cause. In this guide, we will show you how to check your CPU usage and how to fix it when it's too high.
PC freezing, going slow, or running into hitches where it shouldn’t? Even if you have one of the best processors, high CPU usage could be to blame.
Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming Check your inbox! Privacy Policy If you’d like to read a more in-depth explanation about the CPU itself, check out our guide to what a CPU is. How to check CPU usage Checking CPU usage on Windows comes down to simply opening the Task Manager. If you already know how to do that, you can skip ahead to our next steps.With Task Manager open, navigate to the Performance tab and select CPU from the left-hand side menu. This will produce a curve diagram that displays real-time updates about the performance of your CPU. You can also check the Open Resource Monitor option at the bottom to see more detailed information about your processor.
How to fix high CPU usage It’s important to monitor CPU usage and act if something seems amiss. If the amount of software you’re running doesn’t warrant slower loading times or high CPU usage, check out our quick steps below to resolve this problem. Launch Task Manager and click the Processes tab at the top. You will be presented with a list of processes that are currently running on your computer. This is a long list, and it’s important that you don’t close any programs without knowing what they do. To make the list easier to navigate, click on Name to sort by software type.
Getting rid of malware and viruses can be tricky and highly situational, but there are a few steps you should take that can resolve your problem. A word of warning: Do not use third-party software for updating drivers. A lot of the commonly advertised software on the internet may be dangerous to your computer. Whether it’s out-right malware or it simply downloads all the wrong things, you don’t want to deal with that. It’s best to learn how to update your drivers yourself and rely on secure methods of doing so.
If you’re not sure which motherboard you’re using, we’ve got you covered. Check our guide to find out all of the specifications of your PC, including the motherboard. Once you know the model of your motherboard, simply search for it in Google and add “BIOS.” Download the latest BIOS directly from the manufacturer’s website — do not trust other sources. Follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer in order to update your BIOS.
Run System Restore If your high CPU usage is a recent development and everything was running smoothly just a few days ago, fixing the problem may be as easy as running System Restore on Windows. Windows 10 users can refer to our separate guide on reinstalling and restoring Windows here.You will then be prompted to select a restore point that you want to go back to. Choose one from before these issues started and follow the instructions provided by Windows.
Reinstalling Windows 10 If you need to reinstall windows and don’t know where to start, our guide explaining how to reinstall Windows 10 will lead you through the steps required to do so.
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