Lately my computers have locked up several times when CPU usage hit 100% under MS Windows. Typically, I’d have several tabs opened in a browser like Firefox while I’m working on something else on my computer. Curious to know what could be causing it, I went about doing a few tests. It turned out that the browser application was the main culprit, which was very curious. Through this testing process, I realised that just opening a website like the Sydney Morning Herald’s caused spikes in my CPU usage and that the main culprit were largely useless, very annoying Flash advertisements. It’s time to engage a utility like Adblock!
So now I’ve turned off the Flash plugin for browsers since they’ve somehow managed to render an otherwise powerful (and relatively new) computer unusable. Technology is wonderful when it makes our lives better, let’s us do things more productive. In this instance, it is just a major annoyance.
