[chellejeff]

Used msconfig to uncheck everything in startup except 2 items which it wouldn't let me uncheck. AvastUI and Nvcpl.dll. It said I didn't have permission to uncheck those, even though I'm logged in as sys admin. Still have the explorer.exe problem.

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oK lets try this then.
To disable add-ons in Internet Explorer 8
1. Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, and then clicking Internet Explorer.
2. Click the Tools button, and then click Manage Add-ons.
3. Under Show, click All add-ons.
4. Click the add-on you want to disable, and then click Disable.
5. Repeat step 4 for every add-on to disable. When you are finished, click Close.
Now restart IE and retry IE as before. Let us know if it still happens or not. If not then try enabling one add on at a time and trying IE again till you find the problem.
Most times the cause will be a toolbar add on.

[rshaffer61]

oK lets try this then.
To disable add-ons in Internet Explorer 8
1. Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, and then clicking Internet Explorer.
2. Click the Tools button, and then click Manage Add-ons.
3. Under Show, click All add-ons.
4. Click the add-on you want to disable, and then click Disable.
5. Repeat step 4 for every add-on to disable. When you are finished, click Close.
Now restart IE and retry IE as before. Let us know if it still happens or not. If not then try enabling one add on at a time and trying IE again till you find the problem.
Most times the cause will be a toolbar add on.

[chellejeff]

I think I found what's causing the explorer.exe problem but I don't know why. In My Documents was a folder called barnyardinvasionsavedata. In the folder are 5 files with a .dat extension. It appears they think they should be opened by media player since that's the icon that shows. I moved this folder out of My Documents and put it in a temp folder. Now My documents works fine but when I open the temp folder my system immediately goes to 99% cpu. I've scanned the folder in question with MBAM and Avast and neither find anything. Barnyard Invasion is a goofy game that came on the computer. I uninstalled that game already. Do you see any problem with deleting these files?

[rshaffer61]

Nope if it is not needed and nobody misses it then uninstall it.
BTW great detective work on your part. I would have not thought about that since we were not pursuing a program issue but more the OS or the IE.

[chellejeff]

You notice anything else I should be dealing with. GPU temp?. I've been thinking about puting in one of those slot fans next to the gpu but there's not much space.

[chellejeff]

Earlier you mentioned "With the exception of turning off some startups and autoruns". Which ones do you have in mind. I assume this is for increased performance.

I deleted the .dat files as mentioned above. They were resistant, I ended up using MBAM file incinerator to get rid of them.

[123Runner]

I would check to be sure that all your fans are clean and there is no dust buildup on the blades.
Also that they are all spinning and not hanging up.

Again. Great detective work.

123runner

[rshaffer61]

If system is now running good then you should be running without having to do any other steps.
As 123Runner suggested maybe opening the system up and checking for dust bunnies especially around any fans.
We are going on the assumption this is a desktop unit and not a laptop.