Why is my CPU always at 100%

[SRRAE]

My CPU is always at 100%. Simple things like YouTube videos keep pausing or typing in an address bar or search box become very slow.

 

When I look at task manager its usually something like a browser taking nearly 100% of the CPU.  Closing that browse doesn't fix the issue but the CPU usage just moves to another process which could be anything from Task Manager itself to the calculator, again closing those processes/applications it moves else where.

 

If I go to "Choose or customise a power plan" and change the power plan, it sometimes fixes the issue.  The CPU usage drops to single figure % idle usage, the CPU starts cooling down and my CPU cooler fans slow down too.

However this doesn't always happen and no matter what power play I select, Balanced, High performance, Power saver, or AMD Ryzen Balanced they all cause 100% CPU utilisation when doing nothing.

 

When it acts like this, I can click on "Restore default settings for this plan" click "Yes" on the "Are you sure" screen and the CPU usage will drop down.

This happened on my previous setup, 2500K i5, ASUS P8P68 mobo.  A few months ago, I got a Ryzen 2600X with new mobo and RAM fresh install of Windows and its doing the same.

 

Any idea what may be causing this?  When it this happens the CPU is on constant boost complete with hotter CPU temp and louder fan speeds not to mention wasting electricity.

Thanks

[G0rg3us_fr33man]

Make sure you don't have too many Programs that start with windows. When I cleared my Autostart Programs in Task-Manager half of the CPU was free again.

Doesn't work every time... 

[NinJake]

Someone's hijacked your PC and is mining crypto? It's odd that it's happened on your old and new CPU/Mobo, which leads me to believe a virus of some sort. Might be better off doing a clean install of windows.

[SRRAE]

1 minute ago, NinJake said:

Someone's hijacked your PC and is mining crypto? It's odd that it's happened on your old and new CPU/Mobo, which leads me to believe a virus of some sort. Might be better off doing a clean install of windows.

This is what I would suspect if someone asked me the same thing.  However what I have installed is quite minimal, official drivers and the few games I have installed is from either the MS store or Steam.
Does anyone know a good malware scanner I can see if that's causing anything?

 

[G0rg3us_fr33man]

6 minutes ago, SRRAE said:

This is what I would suspect if someone asked me the same thing.  However what I have installed is quite minimal, official drivers and the few games I have installed is from either the MS store or Steam.
Does anyone know a good malware scanner I can see if that's causing anything?

 

BitDefender is the no.1 at the moment

[NinJake]

33 minutes ago, SRRAE said:

This is what I would suspect if someone asked me the same thing.  However what I have installed is quite minimal, official drivers and the few games I have installed is from either the MS store or Steam.
Does anyone know a good malware scanner I can see if that's causing anything?

 

Malwarebytes, and if you download it now you'll get the free premium trial which has a bunch of additional features.

 

Also, ensure your Windows Update is fully up to date.

[SRRAE]

I'm doing a scan now.  I doubt anything will be found as it usually doesn't when I've done this in the past.

 

After this I'll do another clean install and see if I notice when it starts happening.