running IE 6.0.28
Windows XP
cable modem

Just resently we have noticed that the machine is running a little boggy. When you check the task manager there is an instance of "SYSTEM" running that is taking up between 1 - 18 % CPU and always 44K we also notice that we always have uplaod traffic even when nothing is open. We have done 2 virus scans and I also ran ad-aware just in case.

Oh great tech gurus please tell me you have seen this before.

thanks,

This can happen for many reasons. The number one culprit would probably be that you have some hidden processes running. Pieces of programs you've installed that are running at start-up. You may not see all of them in your system tray, but they may actually be there hogging your processor.

You can check this by using Start -- > Run, then typing in MSCONFIG. Choose the 'Startup" tab and see if you find anything unnecessary in there.

Also, if you are running a lot of programs at the same time, you can try closing them one at a time to see if any one is causing a problem.

Last, there may be additional service packs for Windows that may be helpful, but use these as a last resort since some can actually makes things worse: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;322389

Good luck. :)