How Leaving SQL Server Activity Monitor Open Led to a 100% CPU Crisis
The IT manager of a major logistics company wanted to investigate nighttime slowdowns in their SQL Server environment. For this purpose, he opened SQL Server Activity Monitor and left it running overnight, hoping to identify resource-heavy processes.
Instead of gaining insights, he woke up to a crisis: the CPU usage hit 100%, queries slowed down, and business applications became unresponsive!
Activity Monitor, meant to help diagnose issues, had become the cause of a major performance crisis.
SQL Server Monitoring is Risky
SQL Server Activity Monitor is a common tool for performance monitoring, but ironically, it can be the very cause of performance degradation. When investigating issues, using it can lead to CPU overload, making matters worse instead of better.
Activity Monitor runs heavy queries that consume system resources, exacerbating the very problems you’re trying to diagnose.
SSMS performance tools like Activity Monitor and Profiler continuously query system views and DMVs, which can:
- Consume high CPU & I/O resources when left open too long
- Lock internal system tables, slowing down queries
- Only show the last few minutes of activity, limiting root cause analysis
For high-activity systems, these built-in tools are more of a bottleneck than a solution.
The AimBetter Advantage
After installing AimBetter, the culprit of the CPU spikes was quickly identified —Activity Monitor itself. The moment they stopped using it, the performance problems improved.
After switching to AimBetter, the company diminished CPU overloads and unpredictable slowdowns with:
✔️ Zero impact on server performance – Unlike Activity Monitor, AimBetter doesn’t drain resources
✔️ Comprehensive analysis, not just statistics – AimBetter tracks all SQL activity for deep insights
✔️ Historical data retention – View performance trends up to a month back, not just recent minutes
✔️ Automated 24/7 monitoring – No need to manually open a tool—AimBetter collects and analyzes everything
⚠️ Still relying on built-in SQL Server monitors? They could be slowing you down!
💡 Switch to AimBetter for real-time, in-depth performance tracking—without the risk.
