AMD Turion X2 Cores Peaking - Is this normal?

Hello all!

I have a question regarding dual cores and was wondering if it is normal for them to do the following below:

I have a HP Pavilion xt1320us laptop with dual cores (2.00 Ghz).

It is running on Windows Vista Home Premimum.

I use the Windows Vista Gadgets program with the Multi Meter (Dual Core) v1.25a addon running. Its basically a display on my desktop that shows me the usage of my two cores and memory. It looks like this at the following link:

http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDe [...] 7bd66ca5af

Whenever I open up a program like Microsoft Excel or Office or AVG professional etc, the two core meters would jump up instantly to 80-90% and then drop down a second or two later. Sometimes it even 100%. I was wondering if this was normal with dual cores? I am un-sure of whether to say it effects my performance any because I do not notice and usually it only jumps up instantly for a second... on another note as well when Im using programs the cores would flux up and down 30-50%... which I assume is normal.

Anyway thanks for any help! Happy Holidays!

what do you expect them to do? never use half their processing power or something?

I assume he doesnt know thats why he is asking. Anyway Happy Holidays everyone!