General Discussion

According to the task manager, my CPU usage will randomly spike to 100%, stay there for a random amount of time, then everything will go back to normal. When this happens my computer stops responding, and what I find most strange is that the clock falls behind, even if I had just resynced it.

Anyone have any idea on what may be going on?

It sounds to me like you might have a virus, although it could be many things. Two items of note:

First, do you have anti-virus, and if so, what kind?

Second, take a look at the Task Manager list of processes, specifically the ones with *your* username rather than just "SYSTEM" or similar labels, and let us know if there are any you don't recognize. With a few exceptions, processes labeled with your username should only include programs you started yourself or you have set to load on startup when you log in (such as instant messengers).

I must admit, I don't know much when it comes to this stuff and I don't use any anti-virus...I had norton, but never subbed to it. I've had the laptop for two years and didn't have a problem, so I felt cocky and thought I didn't need it (which i always knew was a falicy). (the "it" is a reference to anti-virus in general, I HATE norton.)

These I don't recognize, or think I recognize but aren't too sure. It's everything that isn't aim, explorer, and taskmanager.

HPQTOA~1.EXE

hpqimzone.exe

msmsgs.exe

eabservr.exe

QPService.exe

ehmsas.exe

ccApp.exe

SynTPEnh.exe

hpwuSchd2.exe

jusched.exe

atiptaxx.exe

ehtray.exe

ati2evxx.exe

wuauclt.exe

Avira Anti-Vir

This is regarded in some circles as the best free antivirus available. It does have a once-daily popup, but IMO it's a small price to pay. This particular service scans your hard drive in real time while files are being edited, to prevent viruses before they happen.

As for the processes, most of them are harmless.

atiptaxx.exe = ATI video driver

ati2evxx.exe = Never seen this before, but probably also for your video card.

msmsgs.exe = MSN Messenger

jusched.exe = Java Update Scheduler

hpwuSchd2.exe = HP software updater

hpqimzone.exe = Some kind of HP software thing.

wuauclt.exe = Windows Update

I don't recognize the others but they don't look particularly dangerous. I'd recommend you download Avira (linked above) and run a good thorough scan, and consider downloading Ad-Aware or something similar as well to eliminate any spyware you might have.

EDIT: I should clarify that it IS POSSIBLE that a virus would be running and active but not show up on the process list. There are ways to hide it, or mask it as a different process. Be sure to run anti-virus anyways just to be sure.

Okay thanks. I've been scared to download anti-virus programs for fear of getting a virus or trojan or what-not.

ccapp.exe is part of Norton and as you are no longer using Norton it should be disabled so as not to conflict with any other anti-virus software that you install.

What kind of laptop is it because you have processes running from HP, Compaq & IBM there.

it's a HP pavilion dv 8309us

So far avira has found two things, but if it isn't a virus, what else could it be?

Originally posted by mrcalhou

it's a HP pavilion dv 8309us

So far avira has found two things, but if it isn't a virus, what else could it be?

Spyware or Malware.  Run a couple of decent spyware checkers like Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D. 

But you don't think it could be a hardware issue?

Unlikely.  Run the spyware programs and the anti-virus, you may also want to run a good registry cleaner as the windows registry has a habit of filling up with all kinds of rubbish which slows the machine down a lot.  Windows itself ( especially vista ) is known to go off at a tangent from time to time and do what it wants to do rather than what you want it to do, usually stuff related to security etc. which makes the PC seem unresponsive for a few seconds.

Btw eabservr.exe is a compaq process  that manages Easy Access Buttons control panel on Compaq laptop computers so what it's doing running on your HP I have no idea.