WinMeter Abnormally High with Some Programs (89881)

SUMMARY

The WinMeter application that comes with Windows for Workgroups may report abnormally high CPU activity when some programs are run, including the following programs:

3.10 3.11 WIN.SRC Spooler Print ManagerMS-DOS virtual machine (VM) (that is, COMMAND.COM)
POINTER.EXE from the Microsoft Mouse software
Norton Desktop for Windows

These programs make it appear that the system is busier then it really is. Try disabling the program(s), then check WinMeter again.

MORE INFORMATION

WinMeter reports CPU performance by monitoring CPU idle cycles. If a program does not allow the CPU to return to idle after issuing an instruction, WinMeter shows higher levels of activity than normal.

One such application is COMMAND.COM. Keyboard polling in MS-DOS creates an instructional loop that causes the CPU to rarely return to a completely idle state. The behavior of WinMeter is therefore determined by the applications that are running on the system. This behavior is normal and expected. WinMeter is merely reporting the behavior of the applications.

Steps to Reproduce Problem

Start Windows in 386 enhanced mode.
From the Accessories group, start WinMeter.
From the Main group, start MS-DOS Prompt.
Press ALT+ENTER to create an MS-DOS window.
WinMeter shows higher activity, possibly as high as 100 percent. It remains that way while the MS-DOS window is the active window.

Changing the foreground and background priority values of the MS-DOS command prompt and the Exclusive execution option has no effect on the program's behavior.

However, if you do select the MS-DOS virtual machine to run in the background, WinMeter shows higher than normal activity whenever the MS-DOS window is maximized but not highlighted, as well as minimized and highlighted.