"system idle process"

[maglinders]

This is taking up to 90 pc of my CPU, with everything hanging. ALL the time. What is it? Can I disable it (stop the process) without harm?

[efc]

This is an answer that PC Magazine provided on this subject:

"You're not the first to worry about the mysterious System Idle Process (Process, not Services). As noted, you can't change its priority. You can try to terminate it, but you'll get an error message. Why? Because it doesn't exist. "System Idle Process" is just the name Task Manager uses to track unused CPU cycles. If your system is only 5 percent busy, you'll see 95 percent CPU usage for System Idle Process. By shutting off everything possible, you're actually cranking that percentage higher and higher. Don't worry! It's nothing—literally."

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1969271,00.asp

[maglinders]

Thanks but that means... aarrgghhh.

OK. So, any idea what's consuming 99 pc of my CPU when no applications are shown as running and "system idle process" is the ONLY process visibly active (apart from a little bit of McAfee stuff) as in pic
here ?

[rik]

nothing. It's basically showing that your proc is 97% free.

[maglinders]

OK - many thanks.