Running programs eating too much CPU?

[Mazza558]

Is there a way to limit a specific programs' use of the CPU? The new Windows Live Messenger is currently using 48% of the CPU and iTunes is using about 20%. Surely these programs don't need that much power whilst idling? The RAM use is also way too high for normal use... (500MB free out of 1GB)

My specs are:

AMD 64 3400+
1GB RAM
XP Home (Optimized)
9600 vanilla

 

[DragonMaster]

Kill Live Messenger and use, Miranda IM, Gaim or Trillian instead. They are multi-protocol messengers so if you deiced to use more than MSN one day you don't need to have 600 different IM programs running in the background. Miranda and Gaim are pretty lightweight and are not full of bloat. (Trillian also has a pay version, so there are ads too)