a cry for help

Hope this is the right place. My CPU usage rate is going from 0 to 100% and everything inbetween after Windows installed 48 updates. Its Windows 7, a new laptop and just connected to the internet for 2 days. Can anyone help?

Right click on the task bar or press CTRL+ALT+DEL together. Choose "Task Manager".

In the list of "Processes" tick the box to show processes from all users.

Then click on the CPU % column to get the highest numbers at the top.

What are the names of the processes which are hogging the CPU resource?

It says the system idle process is taking about 90% of everything.

That means that your system is only running the processor at 10% which is in direct contradiction of what you said earlier (system idle is not a process, it is the item that shows how much free processor there is).

Ha ha ha. I don't understand it either. I'm far from a computer expert but when Windows said it had updates, i clicked to start it. It installed and it has been screwed ever since. I think it it is constantly trying to access the hard drive as well.

If the graphic in the performance tab in task manager is showing 100% all the time that does not link with the system idle process at 90% (as the graphic excludes the system idle figure). Can you quickly switch between the tabs to confirm the graphic is showing 100% at the same time as the system idle is showing 90% - if it is then there is something wrong as that is not how windows should work.

Sorry to reply to me but thought easier than editing.

Having checked the OS you are using something seems really strange. Have checked 2 different versions of win7 and neither of them show the system idle at process at all so I would assume that has been removed from win7. What happens if you try to kill the system idle process? I am wondering if it is some sort of malware that is hiding itself under that name (as that is how XP would have shown free proc).

I should have explained better. The CPU usage is going from 0 to 100 for about 10 seconds then back down. I have only got the net and task manager running.

It only shows up when you select show process from all users. I am the only user.

The co-incidence of the updates and the sporadic performance afterwards seems a co-incidence too far.

"When Windows said it had updates" - was that officially via the Control Panel > Windows Update feature?

As what you describe does unfortunately sound a bit like something horrid has been downloaded and installed.

Have you run the various Windows things (Defender, Security Centre, Security Essentials or whetever they're called, or Sophos/Norton etc.) to identify is there's any malware on the system?

When the system "spikes" and slows down you'd expect to see something other than System Idle Process taking up processor cycles.