Programs "Not Responding"

[Ballyhoo 0]

I have an Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q8400 @2.66GHz 8GB running Windows 7 Professional SP1.  It has ESET NOD32 V8 and, because several techies told me that AV software does not cover all malware and recommended Malware Bytes Anti-Malware Premium, that is also installed.  This problem started happenning a couple of years ago before I started using ESET and then Malware Bytes and was uning Norton.  Periodically the computer freezes and on the title bar with the program name it says "not responding".  When I open Windows Task Manager and look at the processes tab (for all users) often the System Idle Function is at 99%.  I assume that some undetected malware is in there doing something.  The software that I primarily use is:

 

Thunderbird

Open Office Suite

Coreldraw

DesignShop (embroidery graphic tool)

Adobe Reader IX (seems to have major problems getting started)

Firefox

 

I am trying to figure out what is going on and how to stop it.

 

Thanks for any insight.

 

[Marcos 4,932]

Does disabling MBAM's real-time protection followed by a computer restart make a difference? What about uninstalling MBAM completely? Was Norton uninstalled completely using the Norton removal tool?

[rugk 397]

The system idle process has to be on 99% CPU usage - at least this is no bad. You're wondering?

Well... it just shows that 99% of the CPU is not used. In fact it does not really use these resources. More information you can find in the Wikipedia article I linked (or here e.g.).

 

About the issue:

Is it similar to this issue? What means "the computer freezes" - only a specific program (egui.exe for instance) or the whole computer freezes?

 

BTW (although I doubt that your issue is caused because of this) if you need to do a system scan you can use ESET SysRescue or ESET SysRescue Live.