I recently had to reinstall windows (Windows 2000) and I have found that my computer is acting much slower...like there is a program that is running badly taking up too much CPU power.However, there doesn't seem to be anything taking up too much CPU power on the Windows Task Manager except for Winlogon.exe. Also, when I activate the Windows Task Manager, the CPU percentage usually goes from around 90% - around 12%...any ideas on what this might be?

Some things to check:

1. Check available memory in Task Manager/Performance display (as well as Total in Commit Charge(k)) in Task Manager.

If these two figures are stable and the Available Memory is reasonably static thenthe system probably has enough memory.

2. Select Process tab and click on CPU column - this will sort the processes by CPU used, clicking on CPU column again will reverse the sort display.
See what Processes are using CPU, pay attention to the "system Idle process" as a lot of Windows tasks seem to run under that guide in Windows and this make it hard to work out which process/threads of the dozens on your system are guzzling the CPU.

3. If you reinstalled over the top of the existing Windows 2K system, without reformatting the disk, see if the disk is fragmented, and if the disk is NTFS and over 50% full, then definately defrag the disk.

4. If Reinstalled over the top of existing system, then consider that your Registry files are probably fragemented - download pagedfrg.exe from www.sysinternals.com

If none of these are at fault, let us know.

Did you install this fix by any chance ?

If so, then then remove it from your software menu and everything will be peachy again.

i have not installed any updates (it claims that I don't need an y.) The defragmenting helped a little, but it still is very slow and sometimes when I click on Internet Explorer it doesn't go online (and I am on a cable internet.)

Did you install all the relevant motherboard drivers? This is especially important if you have a non-intel chipset mobo.

-Zeke