csrss.exe using too much CPU time

[Zagen30]

I have a couple of old P4 Dells at home that run the classic client and the GPU client on XP. Over the past few months I've noticed that the process csrss.exe has taken up more and more CPU time. According to Microsoft's help center (and other sites on the interwebs), it's probably not a virus, and is instead an issue where the user account is corrupted and causes a valid piece of software to go out of whack. The suggested fix is to switch to a different user account and/or delete the old account and make a new copy of it. Problem is, I did that, and it didn't fix the issue.

The reason I don't think it's a virus is that I can't close it. The real csrss.exe is a system operation that you can't touch, while viruses using its name can be affected by the user. Also, I one time tracked down where it was running from, and it was the proper directory for that process.

What's strange is that on this new user account it doesn't start using lots of CPU time immediately, but instead about a minute or two after starting both clients. Has anyone seen this issue and been able to permanently fix it?

[John_Weatherman]

If this file is running as a process from folder C:\Windows\System32 then it`s NOT Dangerous because it`s a file system, but if this file is running from another location on your hard drive (c:\, c:\windows ) then it`s a VIRUS and you must kill this process. My csrss on XP is 6,00 kB (6 144 byte). I'd suggest running anti-virus, anti spyware programs or do a complete re-installation of XP.

[toTOW]

It's a Windows component, but it might get hijacked by some trojans or viruses ... I guess you'd better run a deep system scan (or even a complete reinstall if you don't want to bother about cleaning the system).