Windows 7 CPU usage high for Explorer.exe and DWM.exe











up vote
6
down vote

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I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate. I get a problem with two processes: explorer.exe and sometimes dwm.exe.



The two processes tend to have a CPU usage between 20-30%. It only occurs when I play games on my PC - the PC works perfectly otherwise.



The processes consume no CPU as such, only really consuming CPU time when I try to refresh my desktop. When I right click on the desktop it takes a noticeable number of seconds to refresh.



I have no virus problems.



I've tried the following things:




  • Killed explorer.exe and relaunched from Task Manager: problem still persists

  • Killed dwm.exe, it relaunched again: problem still persists

  • Logged off and logged back on: problem still persists

  • Restarted the machine: problem solved, but need an alternative


Can anyone kindly suggest some quick fixes to this problem?










share|improve this question




























    up vote
    6
    down vote

    favorite












    I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate. I get a problem with two processes: explorer.exe and sometimes dwm.exe.



    The two processes tend to have a CPU usage between 20-30%. It only occurs when I play games on my PC - the PC works perfectly otherwise.



    The processes consume no CPU as such, only really consuming CPU time when I try to refresh my desktop. When I right click on the desktop it takes a noticeable number of seconds to refresh.



    I have no virus problems.



    I've tried the following things:




    • Killed explorer.exe and relaunched from Task Manager: problem still persists

    • Killed dwm.exe, it relaunched again: problem still persists

    • Logged off and logged back on: problem still persists

    • Restarted the machine: problem solved, but need an alternative


    Can anyone kindly suggest some quick fixes to this problem?










    share|improve this question


























      up vote
      6
      down vote

      favorite









      up vote
      6
      down vote

      favorite











      I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate. I get a problem with two processes: explorer.exe and sometimes dwm.exe.



      The two processes tend to have a CPU usage between 20-30%. It only occurs when I play games on my PC - the PC works perfectly otherwise.



      The processes consume no CPU as such, only really consuming CPU time when I try to refresh my desktop. When I right click on the desktop it takes a noticeable number of seconds to refresh.



      I have no virus problems.



      I've tried the following things:




      • Killed explorer.exe and relaunched from Task Manager: problem still persists

      • Killed dwm.exe, it relaunched again: problem still persists

      • Logged off and logged back on: problem still persists

      • Restarted the machine: problem solved, but need an alternative


      Can anyone kindly suggest some quick fixes to this problem?










      share|improve this question















      I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate. I get a problem with two processes: explorer.exe and sometimes dwm.exe.



      The two processes tend to have a CPU usage between 20-30%. It only occurs when I play games on my PC - the PC works perfectly otherwise.



      The processes consume no CPU as such, only really consuming CPU time when I try to refresh my desktop. When I right click on the desktop it takes a noticeable number of seconds to refresh.



      I have no virus problems.



      I've tried the following things:




      • Killed explorer.exe and relaunched from Task Manager: problem still persists

      • Killed dwm.exe, it relaunched again: problem still persists

      • Logged off and logged back on: problem still persists

      • Restarted the machine: problem solved, but need an alternative


      Can anyone kindly suggest some quick fixes to this problem?







      windows-7 windows-explorer process cpu-usage






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited Nov 14 '11 at 2:09









      3498DB

      15.6k114762




      15.6k114762










      asked Mar 7 '11 at 13:56









      Nitinzz

      36113




      36113






















          4 Answers
          4






          active

          oldest

          votes

















          up vote
          6
          down vote



          accepted










          The explorer problem sounds like a misbehaving shell extension.

          Shell extensions are Windows Explorer addons that add additional functionality.
          CD burners, compression utilities, some backup systems, and other programs will add shell extensions to integrate with Windows Explorer.



          However, a poorly-written shell extension can slow down your machine. Since they are explorer addons, they would show up as CPU usage in Explorer.exe.



          Use this utility to disable every non-Microsoft extension that you don't actually use.





          You can also run Process Explorer and look at the call stacks of the misbehaving processes to get a general idea of what they're doing.






          share|improve this answer





















          • Yes, my problem is solved now.Thank You.
            – Nitinzz
            Mar 8 '11 at 10:15






          • 2




            @Nitinzz: What was it?
            – SLaks
            Mar 8 '11 at 13:04










          • Well even after i play games, refresh doesn't become slow now. But recently It took some seconds for refresh after i play game and it continued until i restart my PC.
            – Nitinzz
            Mar 10 '11 at 13:00






          • 5




            If it was a shell extension, what was the name of it? Inquiring minds want to know.
            – TuxRug
            Apr 29 '11 at 19:12






          • 6




            @Nitinzz what shell extension was it?
            – Flak DiNenno
            Aug 28 '13 at 20:57


















          up vote
          0
          down vote













          The DWM process is the 'Desktop Window Manager' process.



          I would say that as you notice the problem when gaming then first thing to check is that you have the latest graphics drivers?






          share|improve this answer























          • yes, i have updated all my drivers.Also I have windows update on in my PC. But still the problem is there.
            – Nitinzz
            Mar 7 '11 at 14:51












          • I had a problem with "dwn.exe" using CPU and slowing down the Windows UI to a crawl and causing stuttering/fps-drops all over the place. In my case it was because of Multiple Monitors + ShadowPlay in the latest nVidia drivers. I disabled ShadowPlay then ran a clean installation of the same driver I was on and it went away immediately. As long as I stay away from recording atm. this does not happen.
            – andersevenrud
            Nov 13 '14 at 23:04




















          up vote
          0
          down vote













          Clear out as much from c:windowstemp as you can, then kill and restart explorer.exe. (Source)



          This made a big difference for me. I'm not quite sure what explorer would keep wanting to do with its Temp files - but whatever it was it was driving me crazy spinning up the fan all the time.



          Using Process Manager you can view a graph of CPU usage per application.
          Even with no virus protection running - once I removed files from temp it hasn't been spinning up.



          You can also show a mini CPU graph per process - just right click one of the column headers and select 'Choose columns'. I can't see a way to reset CPU time - but if you did this right after a reboot you'd get to see what was cumulatively using your CPU time.



          enter image description here






          share|improve this answer




























            up vote
            0
            down vote













            Start, right click Computer, and click Properties.
            Click Advanced System Settings and under the "Performance" option, click Settings.
            Select "Adjust for best performance" and click OK.



            Or configure Custom visual effects - Try to turn of one-by-one.






            share|improve this answer





















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              4 Answers
              4






              active

              oldest

              votes








              4 Answers
              4






              active

              oldest

              votes









              active

              oldest

              votes






              active

              oldest

              votes








              up vote
              6
              down vote



              accepted










              The explorer problem sounds like a misbehaving shell extension.

              Shell extensions are Windows Explorer addons that add additional functionality.
              CD burners, compression utilities, some backup systems, and other programs will add shell extensions to integrate with Windows Explorer.



              However, a poorly-written shell extension can slow down your machine. Since they are explorer addons, they would show up as CPU usage in Explorer.exe.



              Use this utility to disable every non-Microsoft extension that you don't actually use.





              You can also run Process Explorer and look at the call stacks of the misbehaving processes to get a general idea of what they're doing.






              share|improve this answer





















              • Yes, my problem is solved now.Thank You.
                – Nitinzz
                Mar 8 '11 at 10:15






              • 2




                @Nitinzz: What was it?
                – SLaks
                Mar 8 '11 at 13:04










              • Well even after i play games, refresh doesn't become slow now. But recently It took some seconds for refresh after i play game and it continued until i restart my PC.
                – Nitinzz
                Mar 10 '11 at 13:00






              • 5




                If it was a shell extension, what was the name of it? Inquiring minds want to know.
                – TuxRug
                Apr 29 '11 at 19:12






              • 6




                @Nitinzz what shell extension was it?
                – Flak DiNenno
                Aug 28 '13 at 20:57















              up vote
              6
              down vote



              accepted










              The explorer problem sounds like a misbehaving shell extension.

              Shell extensions are Windows Explorer addons that add additional functionality.
              CD burners, compression utilities, some backup systems, and other programs will add shell extensions to integrate with Windows Explorer.



              However, a poorly-written shell extension can slow down your machine. Since they are explorer addons, they would show up as CPU usage in Explorer.exe.



              Use this utility to disable every non-Microsoft extension that you don't actually use.





              You can also run Process Explorer and look at the call stacks of the misbehaving processes to get a general idea of what they're doing.






              share|improve this answer





















              • Yes, my problem is solved now.Thank You.
                – Nitinzz
                Mar 8 '11 at 10:15






              • 2




                @Nitinzz: What was it?
                – SLaks
                Mar 8 '11 at 13:04










              • Well even after i play games, refresh doesn't become slow now. But recently It took some seconds for refresh after i play game and it continued until i restart my PC.
                – Nitinzz
                Mar 10 '11 at 13:00






              • 5




                If it was a shell extension, what was the name of it? Inquiring minds want to know.
                – TuxRug
                Apr 29 '11 at 19:12






              • 6




                @Nitinzz what shell extension was it?
                – Flak DiNenno
                Aug 28 '13 at 20:57













              up vote
              6
              down vote



              accepted







              up vote
              6
              down vote



              accepted






              The explorer problem sounds like a misbehaving shell extension.

              Shell extensions are Windows Explorer addons that add additional functionality.
              CD burners, compression utilities, some backup systems, and other programs will add shell extensions to integrate with Windows Explorer.



              However, a poorly-written shell extension can slow down your machine. Since they are explorer addons, they would show up as CPU usage in Explorer.exe.



              Use this utility to disable every non-Microsoft extension that you don't actually use.





              You can also run Process Explorer and look at the call stacks of the misbehaving processes to get a general idea of what they're doing.






              share|improve this answer












              The explorer problem sounds like a misbehaving shell extension.

              Shell extensions are Windows Explorer addons that add additional functionality.
              CD burners, compression utilities, some backup systems, and other programs will add shell extensions to integrate with Windows Explorer.



              However, a poorly-written shell extension can slow down your machine. Since they are explorer addons, they would show up as CPU usage in Explorer.exe.



              Use this utility to disable every non-Microsoft extension that you don't actually use.





              You can also run Process Explorer and look at the call stacks of the misbehaving processes to get a general idea of what they're doing.







              share|improve this answer












              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer










              answered Mar 7 '11 at 15:23









              SLaks

              6,91622857




              6,91622857












              • Yes, my problem is solved now.Thank You.
                – Nitinzz
                Mar 8 '11 at 10:15






              • 2




                @Nitinzz: What was it?
                – SLaks
                Mar 8 '11 at 13:04










              • Well even after i play games, refresh doesn't become slow now. But recently It took some seconds for refresh after i play game and it continued until i restart my PC.
                – Nitinzz
                Mar 10 '11 at 13:00






              • 5




                If it was a shell extension, what was the name of it? Inquiring minds want to know.
                – TuxRug
                Apr 29 '11 at 19:12






              • 6




                @Nitinzz what shell extension was it?
                – Flak DiNenno
                Aug 28 '13 at 20:57


















              • Yes, my problem is solved now.Thank You.
                – Nitinzz
                Mar 8 '11 at 10:15






              • 2




                @Nitinzz: What was it?
                – SLaks
                Mar 8 '11 at 13:04










              • Well even after i play games, refresh doesn't become slow now. But recently It took some seconds for refresh after i play game and it continued until i restart my PC.
                – Nitinzz
                Mar 10 '11 at 13:00






              • 5




                If it was a shell extension, what was the name of it? Inquiring minds want to know.
                – TuxRug
                Apr 29 '11 at 19:12






              • 6




                @Nitinzz what shell extension was it?
                – Flak DiNenno
                Aug 28 '13 at 20:57
















              Yes, my problem is solved now.Thank You.
              – Nitinzz
              Mar 8 '11 at 10:15




              Yes, my problem is solved now.Thank You.
              – Nitinzz
              Mar 8 '11 at 10:15




              2




              2




              @Nitinzz: What was it?
              – SLaks
              Mar 8 '11 at 13:04




              @Nitinzz: What was it?
              – SLaks
              Mar 8 '11 at 13:04












              Well even after i play games, refresh doesn't become slow now. But recently It took some seconds for refresh after i play game and it continued until i restart my PC.
              – Nitinzz
              Mar 10 '11 at 13:00




              Well even after i play games, refresh doesn't become slow now. But recently It took some seconds for refresh after i play game and it continued until i restart my PC.
              – Nitinzz
              Mar 10 '11 at 13:00




              5




              5




              If it was a shell extension, what was the name of it? Inquiring minds want to know.
              – TuxRug
              Apr 29 '11 at 19:12




              If it was a shell extension, what was the name of it? Inquiring minds want to know.
              – TuxRug
              Apr 29 '11 at 19:12




              6




              6




              @Nitinzz what shell extension was it?
              – Flak DiNenno
              Aug 28 '13 at 20:57




              @Nitinzz what shell extension was it?
              – Flak DiNenno
              Aug 28 '13 at 20:57












              up vote
              0
              down vote













              The DWM process is the 'Desktop Window Manager' process.



              I would say that as you notice the problem when gaming then first thing to check is that you have the latest graphics drivers?






              share|improve this answer























              • yes, i have updated all my drivers.Also I have windows update on in my PC. But still the problem is there.
                – Nitinzz
                Mar 7 '11 at 14:51












              • I had a problem with "dwn.exe" using CPU and slowing down the Windows UI to a crawl and causing stuttering/fps-drops all over the place. In my case it was because of Multiple Monitors + ShadowPlay in the latest nVidia drivers. I disabled ShadowPlay then ran a clean installation of the same driver I was on and it went away immediately. As long as I stay away from recording atm. this does not happen.
                – andersevenrud
                Nov 13 '14 at 23:04

















              up vote
              0
              down vote













              The DWM process is the 'Desktop Window Manager' process.



              I would say that as you notice the problem when gaming then first thing to check is that you have the latest graphics drivers?






              share|improve this answer























              • yes, i have updated all my drivers.Also I have windows update on in my PC. But still the problem is there.
                – Nitinzz
                Mar 7 '11 at 14:51












              • I had a problem with "dwn.exe" using CPU and slowing down the Windows UI to a crawl and causing stuttering/fps-drops all over the place. In my case it was because of Multiple Monitors + ShadowPlay in the latest nVidia drivers. I disabled ShadowPlay then ran a clean installation of the same driver I was on and it went away immediately. As long as I stay away from recording atm. this does not happen.
                – andersevenrud
                Nov 13 '14 at 23:04















              up vote
              0
              down vote










              up vote
              0
              down vote









              The DWM process is the 'Desktop Window Manager' process.



              I would say that as you notice the problem when gaming then first thing to check is that you have the latest graphics drivers?






              share|improve this answer














              The DWM process is the 'Desktop Window Manager' process.



              I would say that as you notice the problem when gaming then first thing to check is that you have the latest graphics drivers?







              share|improve this answer














              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer








              edited Apr 29 '11 at 17:28









              studiohack

              11.3k1880113




              11.3k1880113










              answered Mar 7 '11 at 14:26









              sharepointalex

              62




              62












              • yes, i have updated all my drivers.Also I have windows update on in my PC. But still the problem is there.
                – Nitinzz
                Mar 7 '11 at 14:51












              • I had a problem with "dwn.exe" using CPU and slowing down the Windows UI to a crawl and causing stuttering/fps-drops all over the place. In my case it was because of Multiple Monitors + ShadowPlay in the latest nVidia drivers. I disabled ShadowPlay then ran a clean installation of the same driver I was on and it went away immediately. As long as I stay away from recording atm. this does not happen.
                – andersevenrud
                Nov 13 '14 at 23:04




















              • yes, i have updated all my drivers.Also I have windows update on in my PC. But still the problem is there.
                – Nitinzz
                Mar 7 '11 at 14:51












              • I had a problem with "dwn.exe" using CPU and slowing down the Windows UI to a crawl and causing stuttering/fps-drops all over the place. In my case it was because of Multiple Monitors + ShadowPlay in the latest nVidia drivers. I disabled ShadowPlay then ran a clean installation of the same driver I was on and it went away immediately. As long as I stay away from recording atm. this does not happen.
                – andersevenrud
                Nov 13 '14 at 23:04


















              yes, i have updated all my drivers.Also I have windows update on in my PC. But still the problem is there.
              – Nitinzz
              Mar 7 '11 at 14:51






              yes, i have updated all my drivers.Also I have windows update on in my PC. But still the problem is there.
              – Nitinzz
              Mar 7 '11 at 14:51














              I had a problem with "dwn.exe" using CPU and slowing down the Windows UI to a crawl and causing stuttering/fps-drops all over the place. In my case it was because of Multiple Monitors + ShadowPlay in the latest nVidia drivers. I disabled ShadowPlay then ran a clean installation of the same driver I was on and it went away immediately. As long as I stay away from recording atm. this does not happen.
              – andersevenrud
              Nov 13 '14 at 23:04






              I had a problem with "dwn.exe" using CPU and slowing down the Windows UI to a crawl and causing stuttering/fps-drops all over the place. In my case it was because of Multiple Monitors + ShadowPlay in the latest nVidia drivers. I disabled ShadowPlay then ran a clean installation of the same driver I was on and it went away immediately. As long as I stay away from recording atm. this does not happen.
              – andersevenrud
              Nov 13 '14 at 23:04












              up vote
              0
              down vote













              Clear out as much from c:windowstemp as you can, then kill and restart explorer.exe. (Source)



              This made a big difference for me. I'm not quite sure what explorer would keep wanting to do with its Temp files - but whatever it was it was driving me crazy spinning up the fan all the time.



              Using Process Manager you can view a graph of CPU usage per application.
              Even with no virus protection running - once I removed files from temp it hasn't been spinning up.



              You can also show a mini CPU graph per process - just right click one of the column headers and select 'Choose columns'. I can't see a way to reset CPU time - but if you did this right after a reboot you'd get to see what was cumulatively using your CPU time.



              enter image description here






              share|improve this answer

























                up vote
                0
                down vote













                Clear out as much from c:windowstemp as you can, then kill and restart explorer.exe. (Source)



                This made a big difference for me. I'm not quite sure what explorer would keep wanting to do with its Temp files - but whatever it was it was driving me crazy spinning up the fan all the time.



                Using Process Manager you can view a graph of CPU usage per application.
                Even with no virus protection running - once I removed files from temp it hasn't been spinning up.



                You can also show a mini CPU graph per process - just right click one of the column headers and select 'Choose columns'. I can't see a way to reset CPU time - but if you did this right after a reboot you'd get to see what was cumulatively using your CPU time.



                enter image description here






                share|improve this answer























                  up vote
                  0
                  down vote










                  up vote
                  0
                  down vote









                  Clear out as much from c:windowstemp as you can, then kill and restart explorer.exe. (Source)



                  This made a big difference for me. I'm not quite sure what explorer would keep wanting to do with its Temp files - but whatever it was it was driving me crazy spinning up the fan all the time.



                  Using Process Manager you can view a graph of CPU usage per application.
                  Even with no virus protection running - once I removed files from temp it hasn't been spinning up.



                  You can also show a mini CPU graph per process - just right click one of the column headers and select 'Choose columns'. I can't see a way to reset CPU time - but if you did this right after a reboot you'd get to see what was cumulatively using your CPU time.



                  enter image description here






                  share|improve this answer












                  Clear out as much from c:windowstemp as you can, then kill and restart explorer.exe. (Source)



                  This made a big difference for me. I'm not quite sure what explorer would keep wanting to do with its Temp files - but whatever it was it was driving me crazy spinning up the fan all the time.



                  Using Process Manager you can view a graph of CPU usage per application.
                  Even with no virus protection running - once I removed files from temp it hasn't been spinning up.



                  You can also show a mini CPU graph per process - just right click one of the column headers and select 'Choose columns'. I can't see a way to reset CPU time - but if you did this right after a reboot you'd get to see what was cumulatively using your CPU time.



                  enter image description here







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered Feb 2 '15 at 22:00









                  Simon

                  473618




                  473618






















                      up vote
                      0
                      down vote













                      Start, right click Computer, and click Properties.
                      Click Advanced System Settings and under the "Performance" option, click Settings.
                      Select "Adjust for best performance" and click OK.



                      Or configure Custom visual effects - Try to turn of one-by-one.






                      share|improve this answer

























                        up vote
                        0
                        down vote













                        Start, right click Computer, and click Properties.
                        Click Advanced System Settings and under the "Performance" option, click Settings.
                        Select "Adjust for best performance" and click OK.



                        Or configure Custom visual effects - Try to turn of one-by-one.






                        share|improve this answer























                          up vote
                          0
                          down vote










                          up vote
                          0
                          down vote









                          Start, right click Computer, and click Properties.
                          Click Advanced System Settings and under the "Performance" option, click Settings.
                          Select "Adjust for best performance" and click OK.



                          Or configure Custom visual effects - Try to turn of one-by-one.






                          share|improve this answer












                          Start, right click Computer, and click Properties.
                          Click Advanced System Settings and under the "Performance" option, click Settings.
                          Select "Adjust for best performance" and click OK.



                          Or configure Custom visual effects - Try to turn of one-by-one.







                          share|improve this answer












                          share|improve this answer



                          share|improve this answer










                          answered Nov 20 at 15:16









                          RouR

                          1011




                          1011






























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