System Idle Process Using 85% of CPU

[Clive]

Hi Everyone,
This may be one of those newby questions that only the hopelessly naive would ask, but please be patient with me.
I recently installed a HIPS program called System Safety Monitor. It has the ability, like Process Tamer, to show what processes are running and the percentage of CPU being used by each process.
I was alarmed to see that something called System Idle Process was using between 65 & 85% of the CPU and this was when everything else was ticking over at 1 - 3%. SIP doesn't appear in the PT process list.
Is there really something in my computer using so much of the CPU or do I just not understand something simple which everyone else knows about?

Thanks,
Clive

[Josh]

The system idle process is nothing but a timer for IDLE CPU time. It is not actually USING your CPU, however, it is used to let you know that nothing else is requesting CPU time. When it drops below 99%, that means other processes are accessing the CPU.

[f0dder]

Yeah, don't be worried about "System Idle Process".

Shows up in decent task managers as well, like SysInternals' Process Explorer.

[Clive]

Thanks Josh & f0dder for putting my mind at ease.

Clive