I have a Pentium III, 450Mhz system running Windows 2000 with 256MB of RAM. Anyway, yesterday I ran Windows Update and went to Service Pack 4 as well as several security updates. Everything seemed to go smoothly except after installing the final set of updates and rebooting the computer is running really, really slow. It takes forever to boot up and get through the login screen. It then takes a long time for it to bring up the start menu bar and desktop icons. After hitting ctrl+alt+delete I noticed that my CPU is running at 100% and won't stop. The process causing the problem is system. The system is so maxed out that I can't even get another program to open. I tried to get IE to run but after 5 minutes the window opens and then task manager shows it is not responding.

What could be the problem. This system is used as my server I guess you could call it with a couple hard drives, CD-writer and some other stuff but my laptop is used for most everyday functions.

Any ideas? Please help! I definately don't want to have to start over.

It could be your processor speed, With low processing speeds, lag and freezing can occur frequently in downloads and installations. Also, make sure your not running alot of programs when you do it, and end all the extra process's running to free up memory. If all else fails, Update to Windows XP and look into a new processor or system :\

There aren't any programs running. Everything has been fine up until I ran windows update. In fact, with this processor this computer has run faster than my P4 2.4GHz laptop with no problems. I don't think it is the processor and there isn't any other programs running now then there was before.

I have the same problem with my 1.2Ghz laptop. When the fan runs, then the CPU is at 100%. I think you should do a system restore to a previous time before the updates. You should also get Si Meter. It is a program that monitors the systems CPU usage, Internet speed, HD usage, and Memory usage.