Thanx, Jim, I'll try that. I had only tried TM because it was easiest to
invoke, especially with the machine running in slow motion. I've set up
perfmon to run the next times that I start the machine, if that doesn't show
the culprit I'll try process explorer.

"Jim" wrote:

>
> "Joe Auerbach" <JoeAuerbach@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:CEF69A10-9EFA-419C-94C4-2C4FA11AD520@microsoft.com...
> > Sorry, Leonard, but the machine being unusable and unresponsive for that
> > time
> > isn't "Don't worry, be happy" mode. It's not as if I'm using a 286 or some
> > such, it's a current Dell with a good processor & 1GB of memory. I'm also
> > not
> > that loaded up with apps, maybe 2 instances of IE and that's about it.
> > I agree with Jerry that it's probably one of the background tasks doing
> > updates, what I'm trying to do is identify which one & see what the story
> > is.
> >
> > "Leonard Grey" wrote:
> >
> >> Your processor is idle (System Idle Process) 90% and that's a problem?
> >>
> >> It's completely normal for software to do housekeeping in the
> >> background. Not to worry.
> >> ---
> >> Leonard Grey
> >> Errare humanum est
> >>
> >> Joe Auerbach wrote:
> >> > I have XP Home, all the current patches. After the system has been up
> >> > for abt
> >> > 20 minutes, something kicks off that sucks up all the cycles for about
> >> > 3
> >> > minutes, bringing the machine to a crawl. Task Manager shows Idle at
> >> > abt 90%,
> >> > with a couple of other tasks flashing in & out. After about 3 minutes,
> >> > the
> >> > machine returns to normal. How do I nail which task or process is
> >> > chewing up
> >> > all the cycles ?
> >> > Thanx, Joe Auerbach
> >>
> Process Explorer might be a better choice than Task Manager.
>
> In addition, your problem may be excessive interrupt service time. Process
> Explorer shows this time.
> Jim
>
>
>