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MSTASK.EXE is using up 90% of CPU power

My PC is running Windows 2000 Professional. It often runs very slowly. When I open the task manager, I find the MSTASK.EXE using up 90% of the PC CPU power. Hence, other applications like Outlook and Internet are running very, very slowly. Any idea what I can do about this?

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MSTASK is the task scheduler. It may be hung up on executing a process that is not ending. I suggest stopping and restarting the task scheduler to see if that resolves the problem. You may need to edit/delete scheduled tasks to prevent a re-occurrence. It is also possible that the task scheduler has become corrupted or your system is underpowered. You could attempt an upgrade install to repair the problem and be sure to use Windows Update to download the latest patches. Make sure you have sufficient RAM (at least 64MB, but I'd recommend 128MB or 256MB or more).

This was first published in August 2002

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