Windows 8 64 bit - "System" high % of CPU - Lenovo N580

Hello,

First I hope this is posted within the correct room of the forum, My apologies if not...

I have a Lenovo N580 (which uses an Intel B960) that uses Windows 64 Bit (with Start 8 added to it so it mostly is used like 7). Lately it has been having it's "System" taking up a lot of the CPU (when viewing the Task Manager). As of this post, it's at 55.6%. It's not going back down to a reasonable level without restarting the computer. Sometimes it makes the computer get warm and the fan run higher when this happens. If I put the computer to sleep when this happens lately, I often cannot wake it up and have to shut it off using the actual power button and start again. In the past this only happened occasionally, and then it might subside on its own. Now it doesn't subside on its own, and is happening too often - IIRC about three times within less than the last week.

I've read a bit where there are sometimes driver issues, etc., but I'm not sure what to do here to correct whatever the problem might be. I know I may need to run something on the computer to give the forum more information, but I'm a novice with this sort of thing and basically need my hand held to walk me through.

My appreciation in advance...

This typically is not a driver issue unless you recently made some hardware changes and this problem started right after that. Are there any errors noted in Device Manager?

It likely is not Start8 either as that is a very popular start menu alternative. I used it on all my W8 system and now use Start10 on all my W10 systems.

From within Task Manager, you should be able to see which Process is consuming most the CPU resources. Resource Monitor, available from TM's Performance page, should help you narrow it to something more specific.

Have you scanned for malware?