Cpu 100%

I'VE DONE A COMPLETE INSTALL OF WINDOWS XP PRO ON TO 2 DIFFERENT HARD DRIVES (a 120gig 7200rpm & a 40 gig). THE 40 WAS MY ORIGINAL HD. EVERYTHING RAN PRETTY QUICK UNTIL I FOUND A FEW VIRUSES. THAT WAS WHEN I DECIDED TO DO THE NEW INSTALL AND USE 2 HARD DRIVES BOTH SET UP AS MASTERS AND NOT USED AT THE SAME TIME. NOW EVERYTHING RUNS SLOW AND NO MATTER WHAT I TRY TO USE IT GOES TO 100% CPU USAGE. THE RESULT IS THE SAME WITH EITHER HARD DRIVE. THIS MEANS EVERTHING STARTS SLOW AND EVERY THING RUNS SLOW.

FOR YOU DOD PLAYERS WHEN I TRY TO PLAY THE GAME RUNS 4 TO 12 FRAMES PER SECOND(opps your dead!!).

THE SYSTEM IS A 1.5 GIG CPU - 256 MEG RAM - GFORCE 2 Ti 64 MEG (the latest driver from nvidia is installed)

I'VE TRIED TO INCREASE VIRTUAL MEMORY, I'VE SHUT DOWN EVERTHING I COULD THROUGH TASK MANAGER. NO CHANGE!

I'M LOST AND NEED HELP!!!

 

See if you can add more system memory that is one of the most crucial speed factors in a computer. An IT guy once told me "When in doubt, ad more memory!". This will help for sure.
I'm running WIN98 and not sure about the virtual memory, but I usually make my own virtuall memory settings at about 1.5 times what my system memory settings are. WIN 98 automatically tries to use all available space for virtual memory which causes problems defragging. As I don't have a lot of XP experience you might want to check on that aspect with other people, but if your doing what I think your doing you might be severely reducing the free space that your programs have to run in.