unknown problem

some problems that im having

-when i start ie/ff my cpu usage jumps to 50%+

-when opening notepad or any file and moving the window around it becomes jagged and torn

-pc seems to be slower then normal

-gamming runs around 50-60% (might be normal)

unsure of the problem or where to put this topic, im running windows xp on a p4 2.8 HT (800 bus 512 cache) with a gforce 7600 gs(512) (agp) and 4 gigs of ram. was running fine tell a few days back, i noticed cpu usage spikes very high like 100% just to open task manager for the first time. video is choppy now, things load slower. any help would be great.

 

You state that your computer was working fine until a couple of days ago.
The first thing you should try is to do a system restore back before the problem occurred.
As long as you haven't added any new software since the date of the restore, this should have you back running as before.

If you have added new software recently, it will no longer be usuable.
If this is the case, you should undo the system restore and (one by one) uninstall the newer software.

If neither of the above solve your problem, you may have picked up some malware.
Go to http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407 and follow the instructions exactly.