[wilhil]

from what you have shown there, it does not actually seem bad, I am pretty sure usually taskmgr never takes up that much usually, (infact im lucky and have about 97-99% idle whilst typing this thread)

and of course when you shut down task manager, that usage would go.

from what you said and what you have typed up, if that is really all what is there, I can not tell you what is wrong, Is there any application that is taking a abnormal ammount of memory? (this is a big problem I hear)

again, when you have finished task manager, and closed it, does the system run faster...

if you cant figure this out later, I can take control of your pc if you want (either msn -> through remote desktop sharing, or special software I wrote..) I run a computer company in the UK and I do technical support all the time, this is actually a common problem, it usually occurs after something new is installed or new device.

The other problem that no one likes to hear is that it could be a virus... do you have up to date scanners?