CPU SPIKES! HELP!!!

[myhomie]

hi guys! ive read quite a few post here in cpomuterhope and i think this is a very friendly and helpful site. thats why i decided to come here and ask for your assistance. this is my first time to register and make a post to ask help from the helpful guys here due to a problem that occured in my computer.

heres the thing while im doing my routine maintainance for my computer, after running some anti-spyware programs i ran SPYBOT S&D 1.4 and after it scans i closed it. i noticed that my pc slowed down. so i checked my pc performance in the task manager and it showed a lot of spikes! from 2% to 50% to 100% and back again to 0% and so on. it keeps fluctuating every 1 second or so. i restarted my computer and it still doing the spikes.

i dont know what to do! somebody pls help me!!

im pretty sure that i dont have any virus or spyware that slow my pc bcoz i didnt installed anything prior to the spikes. and i regularly ran antivirus, anti trojan and diff anti spyware programs to make sure i woudnt have any problems but here it goes i had a problem on spikes and i dont have any idea whats causing this. can somebody pls help me? i cant use my computer properly!

here are the specs of my computer i dont know what info should i write here so il just write what i know.
im running windows xp home edition sp2
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3400+
version  x86 Family 15 Model 47 Stepping 0
current speed  2190 MHz
cache size  512 KB
Maximum capacity 2.00 GB
Installed memory 1.00 GB
Memory Slot 1 512.00 MB
Memory Slot 2 512.00 MB

Oh God! pls send a good soul to help me! im desperate! thanks you in advance.
Godbless Him!

-a guy in despair

[Windows98]

When you hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete It will use some CPU process. Do you have applications that are currently in the background? PS. Make sure your update speed is on fastest not normal so it wont seem like spiking all the time.

[myhomie]

oh thank God for the quick reply! you guys are the best!

how do i make sure the update speed is in the fastest and not normal?
i already checked the processes and its seems normal to me, theres no foreign process and theres no process that is superhigh on its mem usage.

ok here i got some more info. here are the list of the security softwares im running, kaspersky antivirus ver 5 (realtime protection), outpost firewall, trojan hunter (trojan hunter guard enabled), ad-aware, spyguard,spyware blaster and spybot S&D and counter spy ver 1.5 (active protection enabled). ive been running this programs for quite a while now and in the past they have been consistent,giving me no problems at all.

oh..isnt this problem a common one? i dunno..im getting a bit worried now.

as i noticed the spikes turned relatively low now, but then when i opened the counterspy 1.5 it the cpu usage went crazy again flying up and down the screen! but this is the 1st time this happened, im using the CS 1.5 for 5 days now and for the past 4 days everythings normal. im not sure if its the CS of the Spybot. i really havent got a clue.
maybe the CS is the one whos causing the problem because i have it only for 5 days now.and its the one who is new to my security arsenal.

(should i uninstall CS and Spybot?) what do you think? maybe i could use Hijackthis log to show you guys more info bout whats happening in my computer? (i havnt used that yet but maybe il figure it out if i needed to use that). Indeed thank you so much. hope you guys can stick around til i solve what the *censored* is wrong with my computer. i rely on your expertise to solve my problem as i have no where to run to. Thanks again, you help is greatly appreciated. Godbless you.

[myhomie]

oh. ive set my update speed now to high and its still spiking! its still going crazy like *censored*!

oh..boy. what to do?!  

thanks again for your help.

[Windows98]

CPU usage only spikes when there are background applications running. Ex. The windows you see Windows Task Manager uses alot of CPU well I have a 466mhz so it is alot for me. When you run an application or have applications that are providing real time protection it can cause the CPU on the screen to go up. THe refresh rate on it must be on normal so that is why you see the sudden jump so high. Also note while doing anything when you have task manger running can cause it to spike. As long as you are not opening and running applications and it does not stay at 100 % CPU for more then a minute everything should be fine.

[myhomie]

thanks windows 98 for your time and help. i really appreciate that you took the time to help me out with this. thanks man.

i found whats causing it, its a bug in the CS ver1.5. and everything is cool now. thanks windows 98. i didnt know how to look at the taskmanager properly the 1st time thats why i cant find whats causing the spikes from *censored*, now i know. thanks again. and im sorry i known that earlier i shouldnt bothered you. thanks again.

Godbless good souls like you. keep up the good work man, keep helping people like me. we desperately need some1 like you.