CD audio skips & cursor hangs, as CPU usage spikes

[mimi b]

Some process is occurring approx. every 3-4 seconds that causes the CD
player (music) to skip while concurrently causing the cursor to hang --this
skip and hang are brief, maybe milliseconds. (The cursor will also hang that
way when the player is not in use -- but talking about both skipping, I
think, illustrates something I suspect is systemic.)
A little detective work results in the following observations, but please
don't mistake them for advanced expertise: In Windows Task
Manager/Performance Tab there is a concomittant spike that coincides with
the skip/hang (it spikes to teens-to-twenties % CPU usage from 0%).
There are 34 processes running. Could this be something updating every
couple seconds? I am not savvy as to determining necessary, as opposed to
unnecessary, processes to fool with trial/error disableing.

What type of process or application would have this effect?
Is 34 processes running normal? If not, what to do?

I have many, many programs installed (too many to un/reinstall
individually to assess.) Please help. Thank you.

 

[mimi b]

Sorry, I forgot to say it is XP Home. Also, in Task Manager/Performance when
I clicked View/Show Kernel Times, its red portion of the CPU% scale rises
with each spike if that is pertinent. Thank you.

 

[Steve]

You could try this program. It removes a lot of adware, spyware, etc. -
things that can slow down your computer.
http://spybot.eon.net.au/index.php?lang=en&page=download

Make sure you have run a recent virus scan, also.

This is a good site for finding out about processes:
http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

Does the cpu usage spike even when the cd is not playing?

Steve

 

[Steve]

Sorry I couldn't be of much help. If the old burner isn't XP certified then
a new one would seem to be the way to go. I'm not much of a hardware guru,
wish I had more suggestions. Good luck.

Steve

 

[mimi b]

You have helped and I appreciate it. The burner is XP compatable as it came
OEM, and worked great before. The thing that makes it tricky is XP seems to
decide on occasion that it simply doesn't want to see the CDROM anymore--so
a relative novice like myself doesn't know if it is a Windows or hardware
issue since it will return if I fool with Device Manager or the New Hardware
Wizard
enough..
Thanks for trying. mb