<![CDATA[100% CPU USAGE ON IDLE]]>Hi,

I noticed that in the system activity screen, WCPU goes to 100% ( Please see attached ). I saw similar posts on the forum but was not able to address the issue.

In the Dashboard cpu usage is between 1% - 12% only.

What gives?

Activities done on the box are install packages squid and squidguard. Packages were then again uninstalled but looking at config.xml theres a section that says <squid>and <squidcache>and <squidnac>. Will it be safe to delete these blocks of code?

ANY Suggestions please.

Thank you.
Configuration : Core 2 Duo, 1.8Ghz., 4 Gig. RAM, 160 Gig HD, 3 WAN Interfaces, 1 LAN
![Screen Shot 2013-09-17 at 10.46.49 AM.png](/public/imported_attachments/1/Screen Shot 2013-09-17 at 10.46.49 AM.png)
![Screen Shot 2013-09-17 at 10.46.49 AM.png_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/Screen Shot 2013-09-17 at 10.46.49 AM.png_thumb)</squidnac></squidcache></squid>

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/topic/60463/100-cpu-usage-on-idleRSS for NodeMon, 15 Jun 2026 10:21:52 GMTTue, 17 Sep 2013 07:34:41 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to 100% CPU USAGE ON IDLE on Tue, 17 Sep 2013 18:22:58 GMT]]>Indeed, everything looks good.

Steve

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/418589https://forum.netgate.com/post/418589Tue, 17 Sep 2013 18:22:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 100% CPU USAGE ON IDLE on Tue, 17 Sep 2013 14:40:57 GMT]]>Thanks! So there's nothing to worry about then.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/418527https://forum.netgate.com/post/418527Tue, 17 Sep 2013 14:40:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 100% CPU USAGE ON IDLE on Tue, 17 Sep 2013 09:58:36 GMT]]>^Excactly. What your are seeing is the system idle process, one for each core/CPU. When the core is doing nothing at all that uses the spare cycles. This is the expected behaviour.

Steve

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/418416https://forum.netgate.com/post/418416Tue, 17 Sep 2013 09:58:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 100% CPU USAGE ON IDLE on Tue, 17 Sep 2013 09:47:17 GMT]]>I always thought this was normal behavior. When all processes are at 0.00% or close to that then the CPU is 100% idle. Seems logical to me.

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/418412https://forum.netgate.com/post/418412Tue, 17 Sep 2013 09:47:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to 100% CPU USAGE ON IDLE on Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:58:59 GMT]]>Packages leave their settings behind when uninstalled. That way, if you uninstall then install again, the previous settings stick/come back. Often that is what you want, but sometimes its annoying if you had a bad combination of settings and want to start again from scratch.
Backup your config first, then if you are comfortable with making direct edits (deletes in this case) to config.xml and realise the risk if you stuff it up, then you can delete the various package sections.

Those WCPU processes seem to be idle processes - are they just dummy things that count up the idle time on each CPU? Someone else can advise on that…

]]>https://forum.netgate.com/post/418394https://forum.netgate.com/post/418394Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:58:59 GMT