Open the task list (either use ALT+CTRL+DELETE or go to Start > Run and enter "taskmgr" (without the quotes.)) and look for processes using 100% of the CPU, if you find one, that may be your problem.

If not, go to the "Performance" tab. Look at the "Commit Charge" values. If either the total or peak is greater than your physically installed memory, add more RAM or quit some programs.

Hi,

Thanks for your prompt reply. I guess I didn’t have all the facts about the problem originally. Also I gave some bad information. My wife’s computer has Spy Sweeper and NOT Spy Killer as I had stated. Nonetheless, I’m pretty sure you’ve started me on the path to a solution. It’s clear from observing the Applications in Task Manager that some program or something is frequently (momentarily) hogging the CPU. The evidence is that the CPU usage momentarily “Spikes� to 100% and then drops back to 2% or so. It shows up in performance as well both graphically and in percentage. It turns out that the problem seems to disappear after Spy Sweeper has been run. This is true whether or not Spy Sweeper finds anything. However, after the computer is rebooted, the problem returns. I guess I’m pretty well convinced that the problem’s origin is in something that’s loaded at startup. I’ll find it by process of elimination using msconfig to open the System Configuration Utility StartUp. Once again thank you.

Gary B.