Windows – What does it really mean when CPU usage is 0% in the Windows Task Manager

cpu usagewindows

I don't know if there's any instruction that could make the CPU idle. And I also notice that there's a System Idle Process that use 99% of the CPU when the CPU usage is shown to be 0%. What is this System Idle Process? If it is using 99% of the CPU, why is the CPU temperature lower than other process taking 99% of CPU?

Allow me to put it a little further, how is the usage percentage of CPU is calculated?

Maybe this is a dumb question. Hope the geeks here won't feel tedious…. 😉

Thanks…

Best Answer

The system idle process is a program that is an infinite loop of IDLE commands with the priority lower than the lowest possible priority.

Your CPU can never "stop" so to speak, however there is usually an IDLE command (or something similar) that can be run on a CPU.

The IDLE command is simply a command that is meant to use the smallest number of circuits possible on your CPU, thus keeping its temperature as low as possible.

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