The system idle process is a procedure performed by the system. If this procedure doesn’t always “occupy” the chip, the system crashes. In other words, the system idle process does not consume CPU resources. To make it easier to understand, think of the system idle process as a placeholder. That’s why Task Manager explains this process as “the fraction of processor time that is not running”. Now, let’s learn more about it in my short guide.
Reasons Why Your Windows 10 Needs System Idle Process
As mentioned above, the chip is not always “active” in any procedure, so the computer will likely crash. The system idle process comes from the Windows NT operating system, which has been around since 1993. It is also found in Unix-like operating systems, such as Linux, but it works slightly differently. The sole purpose of this system idle process is to keep the CPU “active” all the time, doing something (literally) while waiting for another process to linger.
The main reason for this is that ‘Idle’ threads use a zero priority, which is lower than normal processes, so they can be pushed out of the queue as soon as the OS has valid processes running. Later, when the CPU goes into time out, the system causes idle processes to continue processing. You will find “Idle” threads that are constantly in the “Ready” state to keep the CPU running and waiting for operating system actions to be introduced.