Computer Usage

I recently bought a new Dell Dimension E510 with a 2.8Ghz Dual Core processor and 2gig of ram. I also have recently upgraded my internet service to the new FIOS stuff (30MBdown/5MBup). When downloading alot of stuff my computer usage skyrockets to close to 100%. I have monitored the process which are taking up the most usage. I have found that when I end explorer.exe everything calms down. Why is that? The application (Limewire Pro) that is actually doing all the downloading has very little computer usage.

Thanks

some programs such as Limewire use other programs such as explorer. i bet if you stoped useing limewire you will not have this problem..

as a note limewire is most used to download illegally.

verizon also has a call home program that is installed when you get their service. it might be a hidden process thats taking up some cycles and ram.

LOL, explorer.exe is the Windows Program Manager. It manages the Windows Graphical Shell including the Start menu, taskbar, desktop, and File Manager. when you remove that you have no GUI and that would drop your CPU usage.

Also how many explorer.exe processes are running (1=OK 2=WTF because it could also be a process which is registered as a trojan.

In reference to the original post, my Dimension 8400 had the EXACT same condition. Many, many times it would reach 100% and stay there. It's hard to even close programs and restart when it is stuck at 100%.

does explorer tend to close down by itself? or only if you end task? id say its limewire.

What are the specs on the hard drive? It is POSSIBLE (though not likely) that Limewire is trying to download faster than your drive can write (I had this happen on a laptop once, lol!). Which would mean a lot of stuff is getting stored in your RAM, and then pushed out to the hard drive when it has a chance to catch up.

Explorer (pretty much the whole of the Windows Shell) would be the one who 'keeps track of it' while it's being cached in memory and wrote to the hard drive, thus making Explorer work harder to keep up.

NuAngel