Hi guys, been having some CPU usage problems that SEEM to be related to IE7 would you recommend Firefox instead? If so do I delete IE7 first and then download Firefox?

Thanks in advance. Great site!!Is this the first time you've had this problem? If not, did you install or change any settings in Internet Explorer 7?

If you want, you can see if your problem continues with Firefox.In other words, you don't need to uninstall IE7 in order to use Firefox. You can have both installed WITHOUT problems.Yes, I recommend Firefox but not necessarily instead of Internet Explorer 7.  You will probably want to use both.  I've never been successful accessing my "hotmail" email account or Microsoft Windows Update from any browser except Internet Explorer (and for those of you with too much time on your hands, please don't bring up the Internet Explorer plug-in for Firefox). I think the two access examples I gave require active-x (supported by IE browsers) to work.  I prefer Firefox and/or Opera browsers for most web access.

So no, you don't want to permanently remove IE 7, but you might want to "repair" it.  Not sure where the "repair" function is triggered from these days.  Thanks guys,

Carbondudeoxide - Have a clean install of XP Pro and a fresh download of IE7, just seems that IE7 is using a *censored* of a lot of the CPU capicity when it runs. Have virus/spyware software and, according to those, all clear.

dahlabear - I don't have a Hotmail account so that shouldn't be a problem (I hope)

Deerpark - OK I will give it a go, nothing ventured nothing gained!!Both classic Hotmail and Live Hotmail works fine in FF 2 without any plugins btw.
But yes Win Update does not and probably never will work in FF.I have been to other sites that will only work with IE also.  I don't remember what they were though. Deerpark,
Because of your comment, I revisited my attempts to access my "hotmail" email account THRU Firefox 2.  You are correct, it does work.  I had blocked "Java" for untrusted sites in the "NoScript" add-on I'm running within Firefox.  By allowing "Java", I once again have access.

Thank you for the correction.
dahlarbearI would highly recommend FF overIE7, on  both technological and ideological grounds. I find it far more stable than IE,  even on Vista ("IE will have to close.."), and may even  be safer.   It offer far more customization, which reflects out God-given  individuality,  from multitudes of many skins (Outlook blue is my favorite)  to addon's (extensions) like Colorful Tabs, to TabsMixplus, Fireftp, Fullerscreen,  Menu Editor, SaveWithUrl, lto IE. view and IT tab, which let you view a link in IE or open selected sites under IE within Firefox.  You could even write your extensions  if you knew how. Overall this enables users to be part of a community that almost daily offers improvements. 

I recommend all the extensions mentioned (though Fireftp may slow it down a bit, and the more extensions, the more memory it uses) ).  However,  right now FF is moving to it's newest edition, Firefox 3, and some of the extensions may not be ready.  Have you noticed certain websites that are a especially bad about causing IE to consume a lot of CPU resources? 

Have you tried deleting Browsing history in IE?  Alternatively, might download CCLEANER and run it's Windows scan; be sure to include most of all of the IE items shown in CCleaner's list of items to select for the scan.  Get the Slim version of CCleaner at http://www.ccleaner.com/download/builds

If you install Firefox and try it, compare it to IE.  Maybe there won't be as much difference in CPU Usage as you expect.