BleepingComputer.com: IE 7 hogging my resources

This problem started 2 or 3 weeks ago. I'll be on the internet with IE7 and all of a sudden my computer comes to a screeching halt. Start task manager and I see that iexplore.exe is using 90+% of my CPU.

I am running XP and I have a little fluff installed but nothing new in a long time. I have all of my unnecessary crap turned off in startup and services. I haven't made any major changes to my computer in eons. I have used several different virus/malware/adware scanners and found a few very minor issues, mainly just cookies.

I'm trying to stay away from doing a fresh install because regardless of how thorough I am at backing up my data I always lose something.

Any hints as to what might be causing IE to be eating all my resources?

This post has been edited by Rider66: 11 November 2008 - 05:20 PM

Have you tried a defrag? If you haven't tried a defrag, I recommend Iobit Smart Defrag It includes an active defragger that defrags while you are using the computer but doesn't use a lot of resources, this feature can of course be turned off.
How many tabs do you have open when it locks up?

IE in general uses a LOT of resources by the way.