Best way to make sure is, when playing your movies or using winamp, that you look in the Task Manager Processes tab and make sure that it is in fact Winamp or your movie player thats consuming all that CPU.

If you're that indecisive about buying parts now, your system must be in good enough shape that you can wait 4 more months for Windows 7 and new hardware to come out.

So my grandma gave me this laptop because she never used it. It's descent, not meant for gaming or anything, just a good browser. However, the battery is terrible (like many laptops I have run across). I know this is a common problem with laptops and is probably just my batter, but I don't see how it got so bad without my grandma ever using it. Is there something else that could be causing this? I don't want to pay $55 for a new battery only to screw that one up because it turned out to be the AC charger and not the battery. Any suggestions? Is it the battery? Should I get a new one? Thank you.ThunderChunkier

Laptop batteries are starting to irritate me, too. I work with Dell laptops and nowadays the batteries only go about one year before their charge life drops off dramatically and need replacement. Meanwhile I have systems that are 3-4 years old whose batteries still perform normally. I swear its the latest greatest way to nickel-and-dime us by system manufacturers.

From what I've read, Lithium Ion batteries are a curious thing though. They are pre-destined to lose their charge ability and expire no matter what, and the expiration process is actually accelerated if the battery is left depleted and unused for extended periods.

I have Clear Sky too. Getting it for 1 dollar would be a rip offSchnauzerz

I concur.

Remove the graphics drivers for the 9100 first. Be sure that you only remove drivers for the graphics card and not for the rest of your motherboard.

Sounds like a power supply issue/failure to me.

Anything at or slightly over $100 - 4850, 4770, 9800GTX, etc. - are all great buys and, even though you think you don't need it, will run circles around the 7900GS.

Doesn't matter - if you're system is a Dell, chances are you won't be able to OC - they remove those settings from the BIOS.

A general rule for all CPUS is around or below 50C is a very comfortable temperature.

You don't have any Restore or Operating System discs for your laptop? You're only hope then is that the manufacturer can send replacements to you.

By tapping F8 repeatedly as your system boots, you can attempt to get into Safe Mode and try a System Restore. If you can't do that, you're kinda SOL until you can get a restore disc or Operating System disc.