Grumble and moan my way through XP (in Off-topic)

Windows XP
Fresh Install over a formatted NTFS partition
All updates are current
JRE 5.0 2

Task manager reports 100% CPU
System is eating 97% (Note: Not System Idle Process)

The 100% CPU usage has been there since day one.

Anyone have any ideas as to why 'System' has been and is eating 97%?

The only thing running on the machine is 1 browser and CB chat.

Please, don't turn this into Microsoft vs. The World issue.

computer specs?

This hasn't happened before and I have installed this and other OS's several times on it.

But, it' an AMD Athlon XP with a half a gig of RAM, ATI card, DVD etc etc etc ;)

It's a laptop with no peripherals

Wuauclt.exe is a process managing automatic updates for Windows and has been known to cause problems.... is this running ? Try killing it or google for info on it.

Possible spyware/virus issue, depending on how much/what type of browsing you've done since installing. ;)

have you run spyware removal tools yet? Ive seen systems get infected on the way to download firefox and adaware using IE. I keep spybot and adaware in my toolkit, helps many problems.. .

I bet it is has something to do with previewing the movie files... Search on the web for disabling the preview option for movie files...

Maybe you should look at the services in task manager and see what is using up your CPU. Then disable it :)

Yeah, it could very well be related to a virus. I once managed to get the Sasser worm within five minutes of completing a fresh XP install.

Flashed BIOS. All is well finally. Allow me to the end of the day to get back up to speed. (Advertising, CB Logo, etc)