CPU running at 90-100% - possibly due to perfmon.exe

Question

Lately my computers CPU has been running at 90-100%, even when I shut things down. It seems to be somewhat triggered by the flash player, even though it doesn't seem to be what's taking up the ridiculous amounts of CPU. What does show up, however, is perfmon.exe. The advice I've seen so far has been to either do a system restore - I tried it once before and the problem went away, but has now come back and my computer says it doesn't have any restore points. The other piece of advice I found was to disable it from starting up when the computer does, but it doesn't show up in msconfig. Advice? I'm very frustrated and tempted to just delete it, because it is driving me mad to not have a working computer. I'm running windows 7.

Answer 1

Aleria

PerfMon is a Performance Monitor application that will cause high CPU utilization.

To check if there is a scheduled PerfMon task

Click Start

type Perfmon in the search box

Select PerfMon

Expand Data Collector Sets

Expand User Defined

If there is a data Collection Set in the User Defined

Check the properties of it to see when it's scheduled

Answer 2

Perfmon is the resource monitor. You opened it when you opened Task Manager. It has nothing to do with the CPU usage apart from showing you that it's being used.

Answer 3

perfmon.exe is a process associated with Microsoft® Windows® Operating System from Microsoft Corporation.

perfmon.exe is located in the folder C:\Windows\System32. The file size on Windows XP is 120,320 bytes. 

It is a Windows system file. The program has a visible window. perfmon.exe and is a trustworthy file from Microsoft. There are no real threats from the file although it is not yet known whether removing it will harm the computer.

It is advisable not to remove it.

You can find more information here

Answer 4

Hi,

1. Were there any recent changes made to the computer prior to the issue?

I would suggest you to follow the steps provided and check if it helps.

**Method 1:**Scan your computer from Microsoft Safety Scanner, which would help us to get rid of viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

The Microsoft Safety Scanner is a free downloadable security tool that provides on-demand scanning and helps remove viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. It works with your existing antivirus software.

http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx

Note: The Microsoft Safety Scanner expires 10 days after being downloaded. To rerun a scan with the latest anti-malware definitions, download and run the Microsoft Safety Scanner again.

Note: Any data files that are infected may only be cleaned by deleting the file entirely, which means there is a potential for data loss.

Method 2:

If the issue persists then try to set your computer in Clean Boot state and then check if the same issue occurs.

By setting your system in clean boot state helps in identifying if any third party applications or startup items are causing the issue.

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

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Note: After clean boot troubleshooting step, follow Step 7 in the provided link to return your computer to Normal startup mode.

Hope this information is helpful.

Answer 5

If it's for windows xp or vista, as it says at the MS description, why is it running with Windows 10?