Google Auto Backup | high processor utilization

Google Auto Backup, Quit Making my Fans go Crazy!

I use Google Auto Backup at the reduced (2048x) resolution for an unlimited quantity tertiary backup. I already keep things saved and saved at full resolution, but it is hard to say "no" to another level of backup with minimum hassle. Plus, the auto-awesome animations (animated gif files) are actually usable pretty often, even if they aren't as honed as when I spend 30 minutes to create one myself.

Back to the topic, lots of times Google Auto Backup's process hangs or something and pegs out one core of my processor at max utilization for an indefinite period. I feel like it prevents the machine from sleeping, which is a pain. My cooling fans sporadically spin way faster to cool the processor which is working so hard...it is just a noisy mess. I'm not alone in this problem, it seems (https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/picasa/8l5p8I6Ilu8). In the past, I've just killed the process and manually restarted it when I needed or restarted the computer to get it going again. That gets the job done, but I've often wished for a more elegant solution.

A More Elegant Solution

I can't make any promises, but in 1 of 1 test scenario, the following "fixed" the issue for me, albeit temporarily [i only upload pictures to my computer every few days]:

• right-click the auto backup icon in your system tray
• selct the 'view failed uploads' option
• select 'retry'
• assuming the retry is successful, you should see an immediate drop in processor usage, I hope

That's it. Let me know if this does't work for you. I'm writing this on memory (I don't have a "failed uploads" option in my right-click context menu because I have no failed uploads, currently. If you don't have failed uploads, but are seeing high processor utilization by the Google Auto Backup process, I've given bad advice or you have a different problem. Either way, I'd like to know.

Thanks for reading!