Further to my question the other day about my PC slowing down – I tried the suggested fixes to no avail (except a full format, which scared me a bit). I have since noticed that the damn thing seems to be 'working' all the time and upon further investigation, the 'CPU usage' box is showing 100% constantly. I'm sure it only used to show about 25%. Is this likely to be the problem and if it is, Is there anything I can do about it?

the 'CPU usage' box is showing 100% constantly. I'm sure it only used to show about 25%. Is this likely to be the problem and if it is, Is there anything I can do about it?

I'd say more than likely!

What OS are you running? Windows? XP? Vista? 7?

Good idea to download and install the following link though, then let it run… http://www.filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware/

That's a good point to start anyway.

Can you access task manager and check cpu usage and see whihc program is using it up and investigate (don't deactivate the program).

Mine can be 0% or 4% idle and 100% when something is eh-oh! or dumprep which is annoying too.

Check for spyware etc.

It is XP – I downloaded and ran the Spybot program that someone recommended. It found loads of 'malware', but to no obvious effect.

It is XP – I downloaded and ran the Spybot program that someone recommended. It found loads of 'malware', but to no obvious effect.

Download and run Malware Bytes…

It's in another league to Spybot!

Mine can be 0% or 4% idle and 100% when something is eh-oh! or dumprep which is annoying too.

Yeah likewise. Generally caused by all sorts of crap you don't want running in the background or Malware etc.

Any possibility you could take some screenshots of your task manager "applications" "Processes" and "Performance" tabs whilst it is at both idle, and also 100% usage…

Also, what processor and how much RAM has your machine got? Might be that it's just particularly slow and even the most mundane of tasks are maxing out your processor and RAM!

Antivirus?
Windows Update sometimes does this to.

Use task manager to find which process is using the CPU