ok i have had this problem for a long time, since december 02 i think. Have had no luck figuring it out so please if you can help i would really appreciate it. Ok before i beging here is my system specs: -compaq presario 5000 series -windows xp home -1.7ghz -512MB RAM (SDRAM i think) -AGP Nvidia Geforce2 MX/MX400 64MB -cd-rw...dvd.. -DSL -all the latest drivers -has been restored 3 times -never defragmented -did virus scan, spyware, adware checks, blah blah... ok before i start i just want to let you guys know, this computer worked fine for 5 months or so when i purchased back in june 2002. yeah had lots of fun, games ran perfectly everything was fine...then the terror began... one day i was playing Need For Speed and all of a sudden the game started to become slugish and it was just lagging and then eventually it froze (i have recorded an audio clip of what this sounds like if anyone wants to hear). Ok so it was frozen for like approx. 45 seconds then everything went back to normal. I didnt think much of it except 15 seconds later it happened again. At this point i was kind of annoyed. restarted computer to see if it would help. nope. I hoped it was just a problem with the game but i soon found out that was not true. All my other 3d games had the same problem. (starcraft, nfl 2003, counterstrike, etc.) So asked some IT guy for help said it was a graphics card problem..got the latest drivers still no help. Then one day i was running adobe photoshop 7.0 with media player and AOL the same problem happened, except there was no game running. Went to task manager i had like 50 processes running and cpu usage was 100%. I dont know to really explain what this feels like but after it happens every 30 seconds or so you will start to get really frustrated. ugh! Here is a list of appliciations that when launched encounter the problem... -Games (all types 2d and 3d) -AOL (DSL) (getting rid of it soon) -Macromedia Flash MX -Internet Flash Animations -Microsoft Frontpage -Winamp -problem also frequently occuras when you have more then 3 programs running and/or when you have more then one user logged in. tell me if you need more info on my comp. PLEASE HELP THIS IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!

also i have tried replacing memory put in new sticks and tried a new graphics card...

You've never defragged your HD at all!!! Some people suggest you run the defragmentation once a week; personally, I have it run once a month... See if you still have the same problem after defragging your HD. taurus

Ok man this is what is wrong. You had 50 processes running. Go to Start/Run:MSCONFIG and go to the start up tab at the top. Unselect everything to don't need at the startup of windows. Your resources were being used up by programs running in the background. You should have about 15-20 processes running at all times give or take a few. That little list you gave me of the processes can be turned off too. Along with anything else that is not system related. Some things not to turn off: -RUNDLL32 -svshost (if you have it) -mwsvm or anything else that looks like that in MSCONFIG Hope this helps. Good luck

it didnt work! (using MSCONFIG) well here is a picture of the task manager showing my current processes... http://flatface.net/~aznimportz/processes.jpg

I suggest you start by turning some of the services off..some of these services are set to run automatically by default..many you wont ever need...and also...some of them if left running can lead to security exploits being run on your pc.. Its not a job for the faint hearted but here is a link to a web page which will explain these services and whether or not its safe for you to turn them off or on, depending on what you use your pc for. http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm If you decide to follow the advice on this site...and it helps solve some slow down..post back and let us know... BLeeM

How big is your HD and how much space is left on it and have you run a defrag yet ? You need at least 1.5gb of free space on your HD for windows to run correctly