NOW I UNDERSTAND!

Thanks to Chicken for suggesting a different direction of thought and also using logic.

For those that might be interested here is the answer,

Was NVidia LAN/Driver and it's interrupt usage - Uninstalled driver, disabled in BIOS, enabled on board 3COM instead, installed drivers, Hoorah back down to about .5% Thank goodness I have 2 onboard LANs

Task managers process list show the running processes that have a process ID, however it does not show kernel processes (including Interrupts), although you can tell it to show Kernel usage on the graph display.
So basically it totals up the CPU usage of these processes, any remainder is the CPU Idle usage.
However both the Graph & the little CPU Usage number shown at the bottom of TM are based on the Real actual total CPU usage (including Kernel times) - Thats why there is a difference to the Process list.
I downloaded an excellent utility called TaskInfo2003 (100x better than Task Manager, search Majorgeeks.com) which tells me that the constant 3-5% CPU usage is because of Interrupt & DPC Time (whatever DPC is?), so now I know, however I know it's not down to the mouse pointer!

That is all, (still awake?) :beer:

guess who's awake
hehe but what causes this "high" CPU usage I mean even if I have emule running I have 2% max CPU usage ... on total idle .... which means only DUmeter ... daemon tools speedfan mailwasher and trillian runng I have 0 in few cases 1%
you may check this out ... its definitvly not normal maybe a bad driver ? or something else
I would take an investigation into that ...

which nF driver u use ?

But you never sleep!

Well I do seem to have an abnormal number of Interrupts running, but can't think why, perhaps like you say I've got a dodgy driver.

I'm using the NForce 3.13 [Edit: not 3.43] set apart from Audio because I have Audigy2 instead, all WHQL even video. I will put some further investigation into this, process of elimination.

I too have been using eMule a lot recently which is why I couldn't get to an idle stage.

Cheers.

Hey if you aren't happy about the mouse taking 3% of your processor I'll take the CPU gladly from you.

huh 3.43 ain't that the stupid "remix" driver ?
just go back top 2.45 oder 3.13 best would be 2.45 since this one MUST work

Say NO to Firewalls and Virus Scans they all suck...

A Virus scan is good to check individual files but don't have it running all the time...

Firewalls ares simply a joke - a simple PING is an attack...

Mertsch and I have said many things about these items and I'll say once again I have been in IT field for 11 years and have never gotten a virus or have lost any data due to any kinds of attacks I run a web site and a ftp and yes people try doing thing to them all the time but guess what the logs always say 550 NO ACCESS

I've never used a Router or any firewall or virus software in those 11 years and my items have all been up and running perfectly fine - I might add I have 5 PC's and not a single one has ever had a single problem without any of that CRAP...

Don't get me wrong for a Corporation they are great because too many people working at them open EVERY single email and YES there is Sensitive Information to Protect - But on a home PC - No One Cares what you got... Just don't put your Credit card information on PC... If you want to know where I live feel free that can be found on any search site and the items I have on my PC won't do you any good plus if I ever do get something such as Virus - Simply FDISK and FORMAT and start over it should be done anyway every 3-6 Months...

Just my Opinion... :beer:

I said the same till Blaster got through my router.

löl instead of the firewall the MS Update would have been enough ... thats no reason
yes Virus scan is a good point, too ... realtime ... whatta BS I spend lotsa money to make the system run fast and stable or I spend the same money just to keep up firewall realtime scanner realtime malware scanner realtime trojan scanner realtime 0190 warner ?
its fully enough not to click any damn link you see ... not open any damn email ya got and just virus check files which do have suspicious origin that all ... the perfect protection

So do you have the MS update service running on full auto or do you have to remember to regularly visit the Windows update site?. Personally this is the crap I want to do without. I visit MSUpdate once or twice a week and choose what I want, i.e. I certainly don't want the out of date NVidia driver update it currently offers!
Do you trust M$ to release a patch on time for every breach?

and FYI this is a list of services I turn off after installing XP, (A-M = Auto to Manual), but of course it depends on what you use your computer for...

Automatic Updates - A-M
Computer Browser - A-M
DNS Client - A-M
Distributed Link Tracking Client - A-M
Error Reporting Service - A-M
Help and Support - A-M
Internet Connection Firewall - A-M
Messenger - A-D
Portable Media Serial Number - A-D
Remote Registry - A-D
Secondary Logon - A-M
Server - A-M
TCP/IP NETBIOS Helper - A-M
Upload Manager -A-D
Windows Time - A-D
Wireless Zero Configuration - A-M

Well the blaster worm was a joke of a worm anyway but NO I have Auto Updates off...

For those that had the worm, which I did get because I did a repair on my XP machine and went to activate and when even doing a repair and even though those updates are there the system needs to redownload all updates again after a repair and that was how I got the Blaster Worm... I don't consider this a virus...

Anyway by being in the field I simply knew how to stop SHUTDOWN from running with the /a switch and then it was just a matter of going online and finding what was causing the problem or simply use a system that didn't have Blaster and look for remedy that way...

But either way I knew all the steps it took to kill the critter anyway... Besides I know exactly what services are on my system at all times and anything new or out of ordinary I do extensive research on unless I know already that it's a trojan or something like the BLASTER worm...

First off if you see Blaster.exe running and you don't have like a Sound Blaster sound card then it should throw up RED FLAGS anyway...

But I will go to my grave with my opinions on Firewalls and Virus Scanners and any software in this FAMILY... IT'S ALL A JOKE... MONEY MAKERS...

If you are a gamer as I am all of these only take away from playing and cause nothing but troubleshooting hassles and less time playing and making many people ticked off about playing mulitplayer games - They always blame the games!!! Most things people get or have problems with is their own doing or by using those great things this post is about...

As Mertsch stated I spend big bucks getting my system running TOP NOTCH and COMPATIBLE with EVERYONE so that I can REAP the benifits of having a good system than to knock it back down with rediculous software running and taking up valiable resources that I'd rather use gaming...

yeah auto update is off and I visit MS update site ~1 time a week ... anyway any update is shown here or anywhere else ...
no I don't trust MS 100% but for now I havn't had any problem with all those security holes or what so ever ....
based on one thing ... be a carefull user ...
what do ppl. expect when installing "+600% IE speed" or surfing all those XXX for free sites ? ppl. do not have anything to give away they want to harm you and they will ALWAYS find a way and be 100% sure when there is one day that 95% use linux the will be thausands of dialers worms and whatsoever for linux .... hackers do always find their way ... firewall or not ... and if they just write their own virus which is not known for now and won't be detected ... they will find a way into ya system if they want ...
nobody can do anything against that .... but you can do something against malware you get by urselfe ... this means all ppl. outa there ... not especially you .... and it mean @ most those ppl. who use 0190 warner ...

Well I think this thread has gone out of the twilight zone...

Yes like you Cellar I had to manually remove blaster, fairly obvious, easy, :roll: I still didn't trust M$'s patch enough, and who knows what variants where just around the corner, however I never felt the need to brag about any skills or tell people how long i've been in the IT industry.

I use an old free version of Tiny personal FW which does everything I want, without bloat, and even after 24Hrs doesn't register any CPU usage!

My McAfee virus scanner is from work, cos like you I don't want to pay for crap, but it gives peace of mind, and it's real easy to right click and disable before starting a gaming session.

We agree to differ. May I suggest another thread for those that are interested.

now do something against CPU usage its about time LMAO

I will...

dam, my mouse pointer has just changed into a copy of Half life 2 running in a small window, with a very small message...

it reads... HA HA The HL2 Virus ownz! your firewall!!!


So thats what it is...... :knife:

:beer: