everytime i get to the desktop it takes forever to load everything even AIM. I checked the task manager and it said that I was using a 100% of my processor. i think its a virus but not sure. My norton is not compatable with xp. Any help would be appericated.

Hi- Use Grisoft's "AVG" antivirus- free online w/weekly updates. Works great for me, no viri & no system slowdown. Run a full scan on your system as soon as it's up & loaded. Load & run "Spybot: search & destroy"- freeware, that will root out any baddies that shouldn't be on your system & allow you to remove. Defrag, then open explorer, right-click your "c" drive, properties, tools, error checking- tick the boxes & apply- it'll ask if you want this done the next time you startup the PC, say "yes"- restart & let it run the check. When you're back to your desktop, spend the next hour at www.blackviper.com On the left-hand side of the page, click on: "Windows XP services" & start reading. This is an amazing site that will really educate you on all that is running "in the background" by default. Read the definitions of each & decide if the service can be either disabled or set to manual. I did this & shut off 22! services. My machine sped up noticably. Hope this is a help for you, Mom

Press 'ctrl+alt+del' keys at the same time which will bring up 'windows task manager' then select the 'processes' tab at the top. Under 'cpu' look down the list until you identify what service or app is using the cpu. you can right click it and end the process if you don't need it, also once you have identified what it is, take a look in 'msconfig' you may be able to disable it from starting up in there.