I am running Win Me. Recently I found the machine runs by itself without my input. I turn on System monitor and found that the processor usage stays at a high level, from 65% and in some cases up to 80%. I therefore quitted the applications one by one. The usage did not fall even no application was opened. I then opened task manager and quitted the program one by one. The usage stayed until four left (explorer, resource meter, rundll and systray). I then quitted systray. Usaged jumped to 100% and HDD revolving. This continued for a few minutes then HDD stopped but processor usage stayed. I quitted rundll. Nothing happened. I can't quit explorer because it will ask me to turn off the machine. However, explorer and system monitor should not take up that high level processor usage. Any idea what the machine was doing?

You should at least have Explorer & System Tray running all the time do not close these....You need to use Trevs Tweaks on this forum #24159 I followed it to the T, and really helps, print page 1 to 6, that thread has 16 pages because other people replied to it, but print it and keep it and all his suggestions are GREAT and really help..in msconfig, I have only this running at start up SCAN REGISTER - SYSTEM TRAY -STATE MANAGER (for system restore) & INTERNET ANSWERING PHONE, when i start my computer I have 92% avail per performance tab everything else is unchecked when I install a program I never approve it to start up when windows starts....This encludes my Virus protection, zone alarm, if I want to use my scanner I just click the short cut and it starts, same with virus check I do it manualy I think it really is a big problem if you let your Virus and firewall start up with Windows....I have been on the net for 3 hours right now I have Zone Alarm, my Pow (for pop up stopers) and my Answering service, my resources right now are 79% with the resource meter on too, if I close a program the resource meter goes up meaning I have more to work with...I have no NSNIA (Internet Access program) I made my own connection to internet, I think these take a lot of resources, I do not have msn messenger running nor installed I check my own email when I want, doing this along with the tweaks of trevs and few other tweaks I have learned here really take care of the problem you are having. so have a look at his post.

This is a known issue with bad monitor readings in WinME.Don't bother with it. Try freeware WINTOP (or better shareware TASKINFO) to see the real CPU usage. Using Microsoft's freeware WINTOP you can see details for all running processes. http://www.dewassoc.com/support/useful/wintop.htm

The way I got a handel on my user resources was by learning how to configure the System Configuration Utility. Sart,Run type msconfig. When it opens click on the startup tab and see how many items are loading at startup. Eliminate things you can activate on a as need basis. My system after bootup has 94% user resources free. Good Luck,Nick

This is not about resources. I have 97% after boot,but as Alans High CPU usage that is just bad reporting. I searched for it some months ago and I found many others with this problem and Microsoft had recognized this for (some) WinME systems. Alan,try WINTOP or TASKINFO,they are the only ones who show the real CPU usage. The other possibility is to have a virus. Online scans http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp http://security2.norton.com/ssc/home.asp?

System Restore & PCHealth Run in the background. So does FindFast. See if it's listed in start/programs/startup (c:\windows\start menu\programs\startup. Anti-virus programs run in the background. Never use Norton's System Doctor.

Thanks a lot to all your suggestion. Will try all of them.