Solved! High CPU causing laptop to be slow(task manager)

[Wilkesy]

Hello.

My dad gave me his laptop just to check an issue. His Laptop when first given to me check was constantly running high CPU when checking task manager with it running 100% and I couldn't identify what was making it do this. So a quick restart (off and back on) the laptop was doing the same so it was not a an app nor a programme causing this. I did a some googling and read it could be a Virus or malware so I downloaded and installed Avast premium and scanned and there was zero viruses on the laptop. I then proceeded with Ccleaner Professional and updated all his drivers and also did a full clean on it whilst also fixing any errors which could potentially be making the laptop run slow but still no luck.

When on task manager the 100% cpu usuage has gone but theres still something running in the background making it run slow and CPU increase and decrease constantly when no programs are running. A simple forum page on google chrome or watching a youtube video has become a huge painful task because the laptop is running so slow.

Can anybody help try and fix the issue or know what the problem could be? If push comes to shove I have mentioned doing a full reboot from factory but I would like to try and fix the issue just in case it happens again for future reference.

The laptop is a Lenovo thinkpad/ideapad 330

Cheers.

 

[rgd1101]

what is the spec on this ideapad 330?
check the cpu temp?
ram usage?
hdd usage?

 

[Wilkesy]

what is the spec on this ideapad 330?
check the cpu temp?
ram usage?
hdd usage?

Not sure about the specs yet but will post when I find out on Tuesday.

when he was using the laptop it was running fine and then all of a sudden the laptop just started running high cpu. He doesn’t download nor game on it. He just literally uses it for watching YouTube videos or just looking at football forums. Hence why I thought it was a virus or something making it run slow

 

[AlHuneke]

These can be hard issues to solve. I have found that Windows "ages" and starts having more quirks as time goes on. My solution to a problem similar to yours was to reinstall Windows--doing a complete "clean" reinstall. This will wipe everything including any data and programs you have installed it is a pain but usually results in a machine that runs well.
Note that you could still have a virus that is well hidden. Here is a recent writeup about such a virus:

Crackonosh: A New Malware Distributed in Cracked Software - Avast Threat Labs

New malware strain we discovered could be the reason why your antivirus doesn’t work anymore. Especially if you have installed some popular software from not so legal distribution recently

decoded.avast.io

To do a complete reinstall, run the media creation tool from
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10. I advise running BelArc advisor first to get a list of installed SW and (most) of the keys you need to reinstall.

There may be a simpler solution but that is hard to know without having hands on the machine.