High CPU usage in IE8 or Firefox 3.5.x when viewing a published project

[shawninvancouver]

I noticed this for some time but because I had bigger problems to solve I ignored the fact that when I view a published project (.swf file), the CPU usage jumps to about 80-90% in the browser that is viewing the project.

This problem is not specific to one computer. I have noticed this on several computers, different OS's (Vista 32, XP 32, Windows 7 64), different versions of Flash (9 and 10), and different browsers (IE8, Firefox 3.5.5).

My published project can be left in the background, without any active flash processes occurring except for awaiting the Next (slide) button to be pressed.

Further information:

- Projects created in Captivate 4 (latest update)

- Problem occurs when running the project from a local hard drive or from Adobe Connect Pro

Has anyone else noticed this problem?

[Scout_s_mom]

Hi, Shawninvancouver!  I haven't noticed this, but maybe I'm just oblivious.  How big are your CP files?  Does this happen with IE7 or other browsers?  Are you bogging down or does everything run fine and this is just a curiosity?  Hmmm. --Leslie

[shawninvancouver]

Hello,

Thanks for your reply.

I don't have IE7. But the high CPU is a consistant 'issue' on every computer I tested.

I am seeing about an average of 80% CPU usage in the browser (IE 8, FF) until that tab is closed.

It doesn't happen with other types of Flash, just my lessons but it is not a huge problem since it doesn't seem to affect the lesson session. I only noticed it because I have Google CPU usage widget running on the sidebar in Win 7.

[Scout_s_mom]

Well, there's your problem: turn off the dang usage widget!   

Happy Holidays!  --Leslie

[shawninvancouver]

I am receiving reports from nearly all my testers that my captivate lessons are causing high CPU usage. This is an issue I originally reported back in December (and until now forgot about).

I don't believe this is an issue directly attributable to Captivate 4 but rather to Flash itself. And I also don't believe it has anything to do with the size of the published Captivate lesson (swf file size) because the high CPU utilization occurs as long as the lesson is open (in use or not).

But for the curious, my lessons as well within the recommended sizes (between 6 - 20 mb), about 20 slides (including 5 quiz slides), up to 2 minutes of audio on about 14 of the 20 slides. I have been able to easily duplicate this issue on my own computer with Firefox (haven't tested IE, Chrome, or Safari yet) on a Windows Vista based computer.

I know it is not an LMS issue because a) preview in browser also exibits the same problem, b) the exact same lesson in Lectora doesn't exibit this problem.

I am especially surprised that others have not reported this problem because searching this issue in Google reveals a lot of hits. For example:

http://getsatisfaction.com/adobe/topics/when_using_adobe_flash_player_10_why_is_there_high_cpu_memory_usage_100_utilization

http://forums.adobe.com/message/208297

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=234087

The fact that Captivate can only output as Flash is one of my motivations for moving all lesson content (SCORM based) to Lectora. Flash is becoming 'long in the tooth' aka obsolete in favor of HTML5; I only wish Adobe realized this.