System Idle Process?

edited June 2004 in Science & Tech
System Idle Process is a process that runs on my computer and seems to take nearly all the processor resources and power. It uses a very small amount of system memory, 20k, but uses upwards of 90% of my processor's potential power at any given time. Is this a necessary process to have, or would it be safe to end the process? Thank you.

Comments

  • qparadoxqparadox Vancouver, BC
    edited June 2004
    Welcome to Short-Media

    The system idle process is simply a notational count of cpu cycles NOT used by the system. In other words its counting how much time your computer spends doing nothing.

    You can ensure that system idle process uses 0% of your processing time by installing something like folding@home which will use all your unused CPU cycles to further scientific research into diseases. If you're interesting in making sure you don't waste any more cpu cycles on the dreaded system idle you'll want to check it out:
    http://www.short-media.com/folding.php?v=projectinfo
    http://folding.stanford.edu
  • edited June 2004
    Thanks Qparadox, you've been very helpful to me so far. I would like to contact you personally if possible, do you have contact info you use for business such as an email account of AIM handle? Thanks.
  • qparadoxqparadox Vancouver, BC
    edited June 2004
    If you left click on my name at the top of this post and then click "view personal profile" all my contact info is there. Feel free to add me although some of those accounts aren't used much anymore. I haven't checked my yahoo account in years so you probably don't wanna send to that. The others are all used i think.
  • edited June 2004
    Ok great, thanks. Ok I just got the folding@home program running, but it only runs as a process when it's open, not when I close it. Also, system idle process is still running and using all the processor resources. What exactly do I do with it?
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