Windows explorer appears to be hogging the cpu. If I open explorer to locate a file I can navigate round as usual. If I then just leave it in the background displaying a folder structure, the cpu consumption of EXPLORER.exe in the task manager sits at ~97%, even if I leave it for 30 minutes. The hard disk light flickers too. It stays in this state until I shut it down. Shouldn't the cpu consumption switch to 'system idle process' when explorer isn't doing navigating ? If I open another application (eg Excel) Explorer still hogs the cpu power. This problem appears to be causing problems in my other applications where file I/O hangs (eg 'save as' within an aplication freezes). Maybe it is the explorer routines that are at fault. Any ideas ? Thanks.

Possibly a corrupted explorer.exe file. You might try replacing it. http://www3.telus.net/_/replacer/ Please post back within 24 hours or I will delete the post from my follow up list. Thanks.

Ive heard 3 cases that an .avi videofile does that. It starts whenever you touch it with your lil´finger, and ends on reboot, or shutdown explorer.exe process and remove it manually. I would love to hear an explanation for this... Anyone?

Problem solved ! I found in another Forum that the problem of Explorer hogging the CPU is common - but most often caused by it coming across a corrupt media file. It apparently goes off searching the rest of the machine looking for the missing property data associated with the file. I painstakingly detected which file was corrupt (which wasn't easy since they all played in media player), deleted it and voila. Working fine now. There is a good fix listed on the 'tweakxp.com' site if you are having similar problems