ACC: MS Access Shows 100% CPU Utilization During Idle Time

• Microsoft Access versions 2.0, 7.0, 97

SYMPTOMS

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

When you use System Monitor in Microsoft Windows 95 or Performance Monitor in Microsoft Windows NT to track CPU usage, Microsoft Access is reported to use 100 percent of CPU resources even though it appears that Microsoft Access is idle.

CAUSE

During idle time, Microsoft Access continuously polls its message queue to check for keyboard and mouse activity.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Access was originally designed to operate in the cooperative multitasking environment that Microsoft Windows 3.x provides. The idle processing code built into Microsoft Access was designed to ensure that Microsoft Access does not begin processing background tasks during brief periods of inactivity, such as when a user pauses between keystrokes. In the preemptive multitasking environment of Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Windows NT, this idle processing code causes Microsoft Access to use 100 percent of CPU resources briefly during idle time.

Microsoft Access polls its message queues for activity for about the first 30 seconds of idle time. During this time, Performance Monitor reports that Microsoft Access is using 100 percent of CPU resources.

NOTE: Microsoft Access only uses CPU resources that are idle. If your computer has other processes that are ready to run, it will run them. Microsoft Access does not degrade performance of other applications as it polls its message queues.