I recently bought this laptop and so far it blows. I have another HP laptop that works fine, but this one is constantly running at 100% CPU usage, which means I can't get anything done. The high CPU usage comes and goes, but it can be incredibly high for 20 minutes at a time, works normally for 5 minutes, and then shoot back up. Rebooting does not solve the issue. I've looked at the task manager and Process Explorer, and the weird thing is that I don't see anything using up the CPU resource. I can't figure it out for the life of me. This happens regardless if there are any programs running (other than startup programs) or not, and there are very few startup programs. Other than the necessary ones, the only other startup programs are WinPatrol, Avast Antivirus, AdAware, and GoTrusted (for VPN). I've tried disabling those startup programs listed above to see if there was a conflict there, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Here are the specs: Win Vista Home Premier 64bit Intel Core duo 2 2.1ghz 4GB RAM 320GB HD

You have to show processes from all users. See also resource monitor. Might be spyware or malware. Reload to OEM state would be easy test. Playing to the angels Les Paul (1915-2009)

I have the same problem with my mom's new computer, except your computer has a much higher clock speed, and her computer doesn't seem to be affected by it. Check your computer for spyware, also try using resource manager, or show processes for all users. If you still can't find anything, then I wish I could help :(

Hmm, I don't see the option anywhere to show processes from all users. There's only one user (me), so that may be why. But let me know where I should see that. I've also used resource monitor and can't find any abnormally high activity there. Also ran AdAware, Malwarebytes and anit-virus scan in regular and safe mode. Nothing solved there.