Wellness.....I followed your steps as I've been having problems with my Dell also...."system idle process" is showing up as 99 CPU (well jumps from 85 to 99). There is a list if about 45 processes....is that normal?
Don't know if it's related, but I kept getting "sysfader.iexplore.exe-app error". Kept popping up constantly yesterday (every few mins)....but no sign of it today???
Wanderer - I also followed your steps:
...problem is I don;t know what they are?? The list is made up of names like :
- igfxtray
- hkcmd
- igfzpers
- justhed
(just a few of them.....I'd happily type out the list if anyone can advise!!)
Don;t want to end up deleting something important
re: sysfader error - if it occurs again go to IE Tools, Internet Options, Advanced Tab, uncheck 'Enable Page Transitions' under the 'Browsing' section. This may help.
It could be caused by an update of one of the programs like Adobe or Java OR it could just as easily be a virus of some sort.
Re: the startup items
Hint - under the list of startup items there is a column titled "Command". If you expand this out it should give you the path to the program. If it's something you dont recognize leave it alone.
If it's a program you have installed like Adobe or skype or Winamp etc. uncheck the box. This will just prevent it from starting when you boot the computer and prevent it from running all the time. You can always start those programs manually.
Go ahead and post the startup programs here if you have a problem.
The other thing you can do is download a program called Tweaknow PowerPack. You can get a 30 day eval from their website.
It has a few good tools such as a registry cleaner. Run this (the reg cleaner) several times and delete the the "Safe to Delete" items.
BTW i only have about 20 items in startup, of which about 6 are unchecked.
40 is a bit excessive. What have you been doing with that PC ???