explorer.exe using from 30% to 50% of cpu when no apps are open

[Guest]

I've started noticing a degrade in performance and I've noticed that
explorer.exe is using up around 50% of cpu, sometimes even more in spikes. I
have a Pentium 4 3.2 proc. with 1Gb of RAM. I run antivirus and adaware/
spybot and review all processes runing but found nothing unusual. Can anyone
please help me or point me in the right direction?
TIA, Gus

 

[Guest]

Just a thought,
Do you have 1 or 2 processes called "explorer.exe"?

 

[Guest]

Nope, just one.

Just a thought,
Do you have 1 or 2 processes called "explorer.exe"?

 

[Rock]

I've started noticing a degrade in performance and I've noticed that
explorer.exe is using up around 50% of cpu, sometimes even more in spikes. I
have a Pentium 4 3.2 proc. with 1Gb of RAM. I run antivirus and adaware/
spybot and review all processes runing but found nothing unusual. Can anyone
please help me or point me in the right direction?
TIA, Gus

Does it happen in safe mode? Try some clean boot troubleshooting as well.

How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=316434

 

[Mikhail Zhilin]

Gus,

What an antivirus program is using? And what version of it?

 

[Guest]

Rock,
I keep control of the apps that boot with msconfig. I haven't tried in safe
mode yet but I will let you know.
Thanks, Gus

 

[Guest]

Mikhail,
I use AVG 7.0.296 but I've tried with Norton AV as well.
Gus