Windows 7 100% CPU

[REDACTED]

I got a message, which I think said that avast had crashed, so I'm repairing the product after trying a reload. It's running very slowly as the CPU use is still 100% I fear that I've managed to get a virus.

[Asyn]

Attach your basic diagnostic logs. (MBAM, FRST and aswMBR)
Instructions: https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=53253

[REDACTED]

I'm running the latest mbam, and it has started the scan file system, but is going SOOOOO slowly. One .msi file took half an hour! The little green line has yet to move. I fear it will take all night, or longer!
   

GOOD GRIEF!!!

Now it's overheated!!!

😡😡😡

I Don't believe this! After letting it cool down and recover from hibernation, the problem has gone. CPU now normal.
I'll still continue with the scan etc.

[Lotan]

That sounds like it could be a problem with the CPU cooling unit in your pc. When the pump broke on my liquid cooling unit my CPU usage was at 100% at the most trivial of tasks, I couldnt even browse the internet.

But you should still do the scans first if you can, just to be sure.

[DavidR]

@  Lotan
I don't see how the deceased water pump would raise the CPU usage/activity. Yes it would raise the CPU temperature, but there is no correlation between the CPU getting hot and that increasing activity. There has to be something else increasing CPU activity.

@  robin53
When the CPU activity was at 100% what were you doing ?

Was the avast tray icon rotating ?
If not (and you have it set to rotate) then something is likely to have locked the system..

What makes you think it was a virus ?
Hence my question above "what were you doing."

[REDACTED]

mbam log file attached

100% started when I had a browser, Outlook and Explorer open.
After restarting the computer I had nothing running. Still 100%

[DavidR]

OK, nothing much in MBAM, presumably you installed this FLVPlayerSetup.exe ?

Strange that it went back to 100% after reboot. Are you able to quickly open Task Manager on restart to see what process/processes are using the most CPU activity ?

It can get a bit busy at boot as lots of programs are trying to load (ensure that you only have essential applications run on boot. Avast is also checking for updates instup.exe (install update function).

How long have you had avast installed on this system and did you have another AV installed before avast ?

[REDACTED]

Addition and FRST files attached

[REDACTED]

Actually FLV... was on the computer when I bought it (second hand), never used it! Not flagged as a problem by earlier version of mbam.

Task Manager did not show any process using more CPU than expected. I as expecting to see one process using lots. Not the case.

avast has been installed for over a year, it had some other anti-virus on initially, but I scrapped it straight away and can't now remember what it was.

[DavidR]

It is flagged as a PUP by MBAM - Potentially Unwanted Program - if it was on your system and you had no knowledge of it and or didn't install it. Then it could be considered unwanted (PUP).

The lack of a culprit in the Task Manager is normally as a result of the system hanging for some reason, hard to pin down when the system doesn't give you much help in the Task Manager.

If this issue happened after the avast update, then it might be worth doing a clean reinstall, Download the latest off-line installation file, see https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=189836.0 for direct download links.
- Download the avast! Uninstall Utility, avastclear.exe http://files.avast.com/iavs9x/avastclear.exe and save it to your HDD.

• 1. Now uninstall avast! - using add remove programs/Programs & Features, if you can't do that start from the next step, reboot.
• 2. run the avast! Uninstall Utility, it will request it be run from safe mode (and will handle the boot into safe mode), once complete reboot into normal mode.
• 3. install the latest version, reboot.

Note:1 if you can't do this in this order because your is using 100% CPU then try booting into safe mode and uninstall from there and then run the uninstall utility.
Note:2 save the copy of avastclear.exe so it can be reused as some users are reporting that after running it, it is self-deleting.

As far as the previous AV, not knowing exactly what it was makes it difficult to point at an uninstall utility by the maker to ensure all remnants are gone.

[Lotan]

@  Lotan
I don't see how the deceased water pump would raise the CPU usage/activity. Yes it would raise the CPU temperature, but there is no correlation between the CPU getting hot and that increasing activity. There has to be something else increasing CPU activity.

This happened to me only about 3 to 4 months back, I even formatted and reinstalled windows and the CPU did register 100% usage in the task manager, but as soon as I replaced the cooling system for my CPU everything went back to normal.
My friend said at the time that the cpu slows down in order to cool itself as a safety measure to the point that it forces windows to shutdown.

[REDACTED]

aswMBR log added