too many processes.

[TEAK36]

My laptop is only 2 months old, but it has really slowed down in the past 2 weeks.I looked in the task manager and there are currently 51processes running,but I dont know which ones are safe to stop.I have 512 MB RAM and 2 weeks ago ran multiple applications without too much hassle, but now I only need to run Nero and Kazaa at the same time and a green icon appears in the taskbar saying my CPU usage is at 100%.I dont have enough confidence to stop any of the procsseses because I dont know what they are.I cant think of what I have done to make my laptop slowdown o dramatically.Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

[jacey]

You could try typing the name of the processes ur not sure of into Google :)

[KebabMeister]

Kazaa is very hungry on CPU usage, even after you've disconnect from it (since it continues to be 'connected' for about 12 hours afterwards).

[mikeyp]

You might find that a lot of the processes are dodgy. Running an antivirus or adware program is a good thing to try. I've done a lot of manual cleaning of virus' form my computer, and over time you begin to notice ones that are dubious. If you open task manager, a good place to start is order the processes by the 'User Name'. Your name should be running a lot, as well as LOCAL SERVICE and SYSTEM. The rule I use is to not close any system or local service processes. These are maintained by windows and are usually important. You can pretty much end whatever else you like safely. Except NEVER END explorer.exe, or systray.exe if you can see that one. The most important is explorer.exe. This is start bar, and main windows user interface.

Occasionally, if you close something you shouldn't, you might get a message saying "Windows will be shutdown in XX seconds. If this happens, don't panic, just click start->run  then type cmd, and bring up the command prompt. then type:

shutdown -a

to abort the shutdown. You'll find with shutting down processes, that it's difficult to break the computer, because they'll just start up again when you reboot. Don't worry too much, just exercise a little caution.

One other thing, a lot of viruses and adware startup when windows does, by adding themselves to the startup list. A good thing to try is to click start->run then type msconfig. This will bring up a window. Click the startup tab, and take a look at some of the processes that startup when windows does. If some look weird, like teekids.exe, or q6tveff.exe, then search for them on google and find out what they are. Be more careful in msconfig, because turning off a process at startup is slightly more risky than task manager. Use it as a reference until you get more confidence. Oh, and I agree with the other answers, get rid of kazaa, get kazaa lite instead. Same basic program, no dodgy spyware.

[QmunkE]

When you try and get rid of Kazaa (and like the other users above, I suggest you do it ASAP) use KazaaBGone, which can be found here:

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

This page has a lot of nice cleaning software for your machine, and should help you slash those useless processes out from your system. It also has links to messageboards where people will help you with specific issues.

[Ralph]

You can put the name of the process into http://www.processlibrary.com which will give a pretty accurate indication as to whether it is a legit or harmful program that's causing it.

Also quite good are two small & free utilities available from http://www.mlin.net Startup Control Panel shows a list of the various programs that are registered to start at boot up along with the path to where they reside which can give clues to which software it is. You can then disable stuff easily. It's very like MSconfig like mikeyp mentioned.
The other thing on the same site is a program called StartupMonitor which is a tiny program that runs in the background and lets you know if something is registering itself to be run at startup. You can then allow it if it was something you were expecting (installing software) or deny it if it's come as a surprise or looks dodgy.

[terry911]

Mykazaagold offer so much in the way of music and service that it is second to none! I would highly recommend http://www.mykazaagold.com to any one who needs almost free music files not only for the selection available, but because of the customer service that they are providing.

[jennifer1987]

Try Kazaa Platinum at :

http://www.kazaa-platinum.com

I recently bought it. It was the best choice I ever made.

More search results, than any other music/movie download company.