work computer running slow

[goblues]

My appologies to the Mods if I'm in the wrong forum...

I'm using a Gateway laptop with an Intel Pentium 3, 192mb of RAM, Windows 98.

For about a few days now, everything is running terribly slow, and I have difficulty starting or moving between applications. Even typing out the text for this post is slow to react & display. When I started my computer the other day, I noticed the problem, and here's what I have observed. The system monitor says I an running 100% kernel processor usage. It has been stuck on that for days. When I check the properties under my computer, the system resources vary in availability from 65% to 45%. I hear the fan running constantly inside the laptop, so I guess maybe this thing is hot and wants to melt on my desk. I've run maintenance wizard, scan disk, defrag, virus scan, and claw hammer. Nothing makes any difference.

Please respond if there are any ideas to look into. I'm not very familiar with editing the registry, so if the recommendations deal with that, please make it easy to understand. I'm very much a point & click kinda' fix-it idiot, so somebody help!

Thanks

Patrick

[Redo40]

Check in msconfig and see what is starting when the computer is booted. Here is a good place to see what each item does in case you don't know what some are.

Also, download Ad-aware or Spybot and do a scan for spyware that may be running in the background and using up your resources.

Have you installed any new programs or anything lately, just before this started?

[goblues]

Top Notch Redo! I used these simple instructions, and I'm back up and running with no problems. Thanks for your help.

[Redo40]

Your welcome!