After a year of happily running XP with SP1 and selective
SP2 updates, it has started to consume 100% CPU and
behave in very unstable manner, often freezing up so I
have to reboot.

Even when I am not doing any work at all, CPU usage is
100%!! svchost.exe, winamp.exe, ns.exe,
smsls.exewmmon32.exe seem to be running like mad,
although I am not doing anything and no programs are
open. Have even done end process, but the process just
reappears....!!

I have an array of spyware and ad-aware installed that I
update & run regularly, no use this time....

Any clues????? please....

Clueless...

There running in the backgroud,you need to turn them off
at start-up,do this start,,,run,,,type in
msconfig,,,OK,,,startup tab,,,look for the listings with
you problem programs and uncheck
them,,,apply,,,ok,,,restart,,,at restart check box in
msconfig utility box that appears don't show again,,,OK-
you'll still have access to them they just wont eat up
your processor when you dont need them.Now i'll tell you
what I do,I uncheck everything in msconfig,reboot,check
the box,open my antivirus,go to options,select run at
start-up,apply OK----thats all I need running in the
background anyway.My system boots up faster,runs faster
and handles better.If you don't like it you can always go
back and check what you want to run,if you don't want the
listings in the msconfig utility you can remove them,this
site has a removal tool line 148 right side run it thru
and it will remove the unchecked listings
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
You'll love it i'm sure!I build barebone computers for
fun and sell them,kids in the city come by all the time
with their parents wanting gaming computers that run
super fast,I guess I build them for half the cost of
others,and the yweaks I add in help them run faster than
others,and thats one of the fixes for a super fast
computer,people always call for a 'tuneup',could probably
make a great living doing this,but just a hobbie for
me.Those are running because there set to run at
startup,keep turning themselves back on because there set
to do it.Basic systems can run very good even with 128MB
of ram if people would set msconfig to do this.Have a
great day,and good luck.
>-----Original Message-----
>After a year of happily running XP with SP1 and
selective
>SP2 updates, it has started to consume 100% CPU and
>behave in very unstable manner, often freezing up so I
>have to reboot.
>
>Even when I am not doing any work at all, CPU usage is
>100%!! svchost.exe, winamp.exe, ns.exe,
>smsls.exewmmon32.exe seem to be running like mad,
>although I am not doing anything and no programs are
>open. Have even done end process, but the process just
>reappears....!!
>
>I have an array of spyware and ad-aware installed that I
>update & run regularly, no use this time....
>
>Any clues????? please....
>
>Clueless...
>
>.
>