Dear all, I have a similar problem. Windows XP SP 2. The taskmanager displays: CPU-Usage: 90 +, normally close to 100 SystemIdle: Around 20, varying from 05 to 35 %. The performance monitor (as function of time) shows CPU usage according to the CPU-Usage above and not according to system Idle. The system itself is slow as hell. The problems appeared after installing a wireless network card (moved house, used to use a network cable and things were fine). Processes running: taskmgr.exe - Obviously svchost.exe wscntfy.exe svchost.exe nvsvc32.exe sched.exe avguard.exe - should be my antivirus prog spoolsv.exe runddll32.exe firefox.exe svchost.exe svchost.exe devldr32.exe svchost.exe svchost.exe svchost.exe ctfmon.exe lsass.exe sevices.exe winlogon.exe csrss.exe smss.exe avgnt.exe - again Antivir prog I hope alg.exe realsched.exe - Realplayer !? explorer.exe System System Idle Process

Here is a bit of info on taskmanager, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/873... . Which process(s) seem to be using high amounts of memory?

None of them, that's the tricky part! When I cut the network connection everything goes back to normal. Idle percentage 95% and more and a reasonable fast machine. But as soon as I reconnect everything slows to a crawl. I'm typing faster than the letters here appear. Right back to the problem... The numbers just don't add up... Computer Idle around 50 % (changing from 25% to 60%) CPU Usage: Close to 100 % Firefox 10 to 20 % Taskmanager 5 to 10 % nothing else seems to use any noticeable amount of resources. I'm doing a PhD in math and I can! tell you, there's something WRONG here. *dau* Thanks for any help. I'll run another antivirus check -the last was negative. However my antivirus program doesn't manage an update. I'll get an newest version some time soon on an USB-stick and then I'll do a fresh install.

blubb....have you tried running spybot search & destroy or ad-aware on your pc recently...have you checked your pc for viruses lately if you haven't run any of these programs...please do & post back the results !!!! Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 3 Gigs Ram Windows Vista Home Premium 640 Gig HD Quad Core All The Way !! If It Isn't Broken Don't Fix It. !!!!

Most Virus and Spyware scans are likely to work better in Windows Safe-Mode. http://support.microsoft.com/defaul... Computer Speed and Performance May Decrease When you open, then close programs, programs may not free up RAM memory. That is called "Memory Leak". Restarting computer will clear out its RAM memory. OR install more RAM memory. Your 256MB is low for what XP needs. Add another 512MB board. --------------------- To have more RAM available at startup, You can do Start, then RUN, then type msconfig Then uncheck items in the Startup tab. To find out what each Startup(or Process) item does or means, and any recommendation as to if you should close the process: http://www.answersthatwork.com/Task... Task List Programs OR http://www.processlibrary.com/ The Process Library

Thank you, at the moment it looks like I'm okay again. I ran an S&D and an AntiVirus check. Both reported zero problems. Updated windows. Then I deleted the update.exe pf-files in the Preftech-folder. Switched off the automatic updates. Then I installed some drivers for the network card. Turned out that there was more than one driver on CD. There was a driver for each card in the series. Mine was something like 551 G..... CPU usage is still displayed at more than 60 % and Computer Idle process at 80 % but at least I can browse the web at a slow and steady pace. Buying new RAMs is of course never a bad idea but as I mentioned earlier the computer was fine before I moved house; at my old place I had a network cable connecting to my machine. However this computer is not worth upgrading. I might as well buy a new machine. If anyone has an idea as to how to explain the discrepancy between CPU-Usage and ComputerIdle percentages please let me know. Cheers