Windows 10: "System" process hogging cpu, traced to non existent driver

Hi all.


A few weeks ago I installed an audio recording software, but only used it once initially, and haven't used it since. I noticed a little later on that a process called "system" was hogging 15-20% cpu when my games were running, and I had never seen this before.


I did not make the connection until today. I downloaded MS process viewer, and opened up the thread list, where it showed a driver as the cause, or at least it pointed to it as the "start address". The driver name is " stdriver64.sys " and belongs to NCH software.


This surprised me because when this is using cpu, I am not running the software, so It shouldn't be doing that. I then went into MS services and looked for the running service related to it and found nothing.


So then I tried uninstalling the software, and rebooted, but still, the thread shows the driver using cpu! I searched my pc for the driver and it was gone from both the win folder and the app folder.


So I'm stuck at this point. The software and driver are gone, but this process thread is still referencing it for a "start address" and it's hogging my cpu, and I believe this is causing lots of stuttering and lag spikes in my game.


So, I would appreciate some help on how to fix this, and am also curious how this problem could have occurred in the first place. Thanks.

:)

 

System and compressed memory background process persistently consuming high CPU resources

Hi,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

Please answer these questions to get more clarity on this issue:

1. Did you make any changes to your computer prior to this issue?

2. Which anti-virus program is installed on the PC?

High CPU usage occurs for various reasons, for example: virus/malware infections, out-of-date drivers, anti-virus programs or other third-party programs, etc;

Method 1: Windows has a built-in troubleshooter to check and fix issues with system. I would suggest you to run this troubleshooter to check if the issue is with your System
Maintenance.

Refer these steps:

• Press Windows key +X, select Control panel

• Change the view by option on the top right to Large icons
• Click on troubleshooting and click on the view all option on the left panel

• Run the System Maintenance troubleshooter

Method 2: Check if the issue resolves in
Safe Mode.

Refer this article to boot to safe mode:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/change-startup-settings-in-windows-10#v1h=tab01

Steps to reduce the CPU usage.

1-Press "Ctrl," "Shift," and "Esc" on your keyboard. This brings up the task manager without any intermediary screen.

2-Click the "Processes" button on the task manager.

3-Click the "CPU" column header until the arrow next to the label points down.

4-Right-click a program you recognize that uses a high percentage of the CPU and click "End Process." Click "End Process" to reconfirm. This eases up on the CPU's load. Use this step if you're not using a process or if the process has stopped responding. Do
not use this procedure for windows processes.

Hope this helps. If the issue remains unresolved, please get back to us and we would be happy to help.

Thanks.

 

Process called "System" using 10+ % of my CPU please help !

Hi,

Thank you for letting us know.

ntoskrnl.exe is an operating system kernel. It is a fundamental part of the system. However, there are parts of it that might be hogging usage on your system.

What we suggest is disabling a few system services running on the background. Follow the steps below:

• Press Window key + R and type in services.msc
• The services window will popup. Now a few service task will appear, locate
  Superfetch service, double-click on it and select Properties.
• Once the Properties window comes up, under the General tab, find the section that says,
  Service status. There should be a Stop button. Click on it.
  
• Close all windows Services,
• Restart the PC.

Do check your Task Manager if the same system (ntoskrnl.exe) process appears again.

Looking forward to your response.

 

System Idle Process CPU Allocation?

Hi,

I am Sumit, an Independent advisor and a Microsoft MVP here to help.

System Idle Process, as the name suggests is a process that indicates CPU is idle and is not being used, aka is at rest. This is done to totalize CPU usage to 100 between the processes.

So you do not have to worry about anything.