Explorer.exe hogging system resources again

There are numerous threads on how people have come to solve their individual "explorer.exe hogging system resources" problem, but I'd like to know if there's a more straightforward way to solve the problem than "Oh, I remember such and such file, I'm going to delete it."

I can essentially inflict the system resource hogging by simply randomly clicking on a few files in any random folder in my computer. It causes the system resources to spike up to 70% on task manager, and causes a massive slow-down of my computer.

HijackThis, spyware scans, virus scans, scandisk, etc. don't show up anything, so I'm assuming it's just a faulty file accessing error, even if no error messages have popped up.

Anyone know of a good diagnostic tool that'll tell me what programs/files are being accessed by explorer.exe?

Also, I'm using Windows Vista Home Premium, if that helps.
 
Is this really a problem? Can you tell us what you have, with specifics on board, memory, and other aspects of your system?
Any way you can fit Windows 7 in your budget, to replace VISTA?
 
You can download Sysinternals which is now owned by Microsoft. That should give you a pretty good idea as to what is using the resources. However, be informed that when you click to open a folder or an application it is not unusual for your cpu to jump up significantly. The only time this is a problem is if the resources do not level out after the folder or app is open. What scanners are you using to detect malware? What is the cpu use percentage when your system is idle? And, as asked by RayBay.. what are your system specs?

http://download.cnet.com/Process-Explorer/3000-2094_4-10223605.html
 
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