Maximum PC

Hey all. seems I'm posting in the free clinic a lot this month. anyway today I have my main laptop doing some weird things. Here are the specs:
Dell Inspiron 15R N5110 (2011)
Intel Core i5 2.4GHZ-3.0GHZ 2430M Dual core
6GB DDR3
640GB HDD
Windows 7 Home premium 64Bit
Intel HD 3000 Graphics

OK so here is whats going on, Recently I found an old game I've had laying in the closet for a few years. Sim city 4. I installed it the other day and it runs great on this laptop. But since Installing it I've noticed my laptop heating up just idling on the windows desktop. not running any applications. Task manager is saying I have 102 Processes which is normal for the most part. None of which show they are using any processor power but I'm seeing the CPU on Core temp up from the 49-53 degree idle now idle its over 72 degrees not running anything. when the game runs I hardly notice the processor fan kick on but when its running windows it seems to stay on constantly.

What could be causing this laptop to overheat? I've had it for coming up on a year this month or next month. the warranty may be out I'm uncertain at the moment but if so I have no problem going in and fixing it as long as its easy. But I'd rather it be a error with windows than a hardware issue?

Silly question, but have you uninstalled Sim City 4 to see if everything reverts back to normal?

I would recommend using Revo Uninstaller to be certain you get as much of the program off your computer as possible.

Oh, and when you have nothing running, what does the Task Manager is using your CPU? that might help identify the culprit.

Hope this helps.

In Task Manager, did you click on the "Show processes from all users" button, and then check to see what is soaking up all the CPU cycles? Often a hidden process can do this.

I've since installed it on another system of mine also running Windows 7 as this game was not around when 7 was. only difference is the laptop is 64bit and the other system tested with is 32bit. the other system doesn't seem to run any different with it installed if anything the game runs smoother but it is also a desktop with a dedicated graphics card. I've also uninstalled it from the laptop and there seems to be no change except today its running a bit cooler. yesterday it was getting so bad I broke out an old cooler mat for an old laptop I had a few years back which barely seemed to help. I've installed the game again and the system is the same as it was yesterday just not getting into the 70's with temp. its holding just above 60 when idling.

I have looked into the task manager using the show all processes ability and nothing except system Idler process is showing anything, maybe a tick or tock here meaning a jump from 00 to 01 on some processes. I do notice google chrome is running many processes even with just one tab open it has almost 5 running. I've run cleanups and virus scans since yesterday and have also defragmented my hard drive thinking that that may cause the system to heat up. but this is really weird and I am still stumped by what could cause a still fairly new laptop problems that I've only seen on computers infected with viruses and older computers say 4+ years.

Thanks for the help in narrowing this problem down. anymore advice would be great!