[sunshinelov1n]

My computer has recently started running waaaay slower. It used to run pretty fast, and now the cpu usage will go from 5% to 50 or sometimes 60 percent when nothing is being used. I know thats not a good thing.

Heres my specs:
Acer Aspire X1200
Athlon Dual Core Processor 4850e 2.5GHz
4GB RAM
64 bit OS
Geforce 9600 GT video card.
Windows Vista Home Premium

Here is a screenshot of my processes and services

Attached File(s)

•  processes.jpg (73.45K)
  Number of downloads: 48
•  services.jpg (203.01K)
  Number of downloads: 48

[mudmanc4]

The CPU will do that when idle, it has something to do with heat dissipation.

  Since you recently started to notice a slowdown, it's best to run viral / bot / any type of malware scans in safe mode while the chance is better that "it" isn't running in memory and can be seen, removed.

[zalternate]

Scan with these free programs. Download and install and update and scan.
A-Squared . Crapware scanner
http://www.emsisoft..../software/free/
Download link.
http://download.cnet...4-10262215.html

or

MalwareBytes. Anti-Malware
http://www.download....cdlPid=10896905