I am using WinXP SP3

When I looked at my computer CPU usage from Task Manager, and when the Task
Manager window is "small size", the usage is at the 80% range.

But when I "maximize" the veiwing window, the usage will drop to about 2%

Back to "restore down", 80% range again.

Is this normal?

No, it is not. Check to see if Windows Search aka Windows Indexing Service
is loaded.

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"Charles W" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:22384441-1624-4DA2-8DBF-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am using WinXP SP3
>
> When I looked at my computer CPU usage from Task Manager, and when the
> Task
> Manager window is "small size", the usage is at the 80% range.
>
> But when I "maximize" the veiwing window, the usage will drop to about 2%
>
> Back to "restore down", 80% range again.
>
> Is this normal?

=?Utf-8?B?Q2hhcmxlcyBX?= <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
in news:22384441-1624-4DA2-8DBF-(E-Mail Removed):

> I am using WinXP SP3
>
> When I looked at my computer CPU usage from Task Manager, and when
> the Task Manager window is "small size", the usage is at the 80%
> range.
>
> But when I "maximize" the veiwing window, the usage will drop to
> about 2%
>
> Back to "restore down", 80% range again.
>
> Is this normal?
>

Could be.

There are some programs like Google Desktop [Indexing] that become
active and do their work when the computer is sensed as being
"inactive". Minimizing a window can make the computer look inactive.

A program such as Microsoft's "Process Explorer" can identify which
program/process is using the CPU.
<http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx>

HTH,
John