icky,
A system restore to a date when everything was running fine (one month ago?)
might fix it for good.
However, if you want to investigate a little bit...
1.- Run msconfig and see what programs are loaded during startup ("startup"
tab). Is there any program you don't know about there?
2.- Check the "services" tab and click on "hide ..." . See if there is any
suspicious services running there.
3.- Go to control panel, "remove programs" and see what programs are
installed in your PC. Check the list very carefully and see if you can find
unwanted software there (a little googling might help you on unknown
installed programs).

Carlos
"icky" wrote:

Meaning CPU meter goes up to 100% and the programs that I use either freeze
or slow down.

It's been doing this for a couple of weeks now.

And I have Windows Vista, Home Edition.

"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

What do you mean by thrashing and how long has it been doing this? What
model laptop is it?

"icky" wrote in message
...
I don't know what's wrong. I've scanned and defragmented my system (more
than
once,) I've deleted some files (including some cookies, temporary internet
files and my history) and I've rebooted a few times. Yet, the system still
keeps thrashing. Could it be an unknown virus? Should I downgrade to
Windows
XP? BTW, I've had this laptop for 10 months...