I have a brand new HP AMD Athlon 1700+ computer. 512MB DDR RAM. Basically a new, fast computer. When I first start my computer, cpu usage is normal, then it suddenly spikes to 100%. It will not go back down. I cant even access task manager processes off of the toolbar. I have read the other responses to this question, but none are helping. I would be very grateful for some help on this. Thanks!

does it go to 100% instantly after bootup, or after a while? Try opening task manager and waiting for the spike? If it's soon after bootup, there must be a driver causing problems. You might be able to try running bootvis.exe from microsoft to see which driver is delaying bootup

I'm a new user, so I could be wrong. My new computer came with PC-Cillin pre-installed in windows...well Best Buy installed Norton AV in windows also, when I bought the PC. These two AV's would conflict, when I would run a scan, and cause 100% CPU usage and generally cause it to hang or crash. What I did was uninstall PC-Cillin out of windows and keep it to protect by BIOS while NAV protected windows. I understand now that you should never run two AV's in windows. Maybe you have your AV set to scan on start-up - I don't know - just a guess. Good Luck. -Ken