Well for starters get shot of ME LOL It was (IS) just about the worst OS ever, given the choice of that or windows 3.1 i would take the later :o)

TASKMANAGER should show you exactly what is running and what resource its sucking up while doing what ever its doing!!

Although using the TAsk Manager of ME is a real Pain, i suggest WinTasks from LIUtilities its easy to use and much better.

To access Task manager on ME, use the CTRL, ALT & DEL combination and selct Task manager, you can see them here but stopping them can take ages :(