Windows 7: rundll32 running at 40-50%

Hello,
I just installed windows 7 about a week ago, and when I go to run a game now, the CPU goes up to a 40-50% workload due to rundll32, and the game does not start. Then when I click on the game icon again, it loads, but when I quit the game, rundll32 is still using 40-50%. This happens when I try to run Age of Empires 3 or Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

Do you play any games that work exactly like they are supposed to? With some older games I have to play them in XP Mode. You have Ultimate. Why not try downloading and running it. Play your games in XP Mode and see if there is a problem.

Thanks for the speedy reply!
I guess I could try that, but it was working fine a week ago, when I installed everything. I guess I started noticing it after I installed RTCW, which was working fine for a while as well. I just don't see why or how it could just suddenly do this. I installed the latest updates for windows about a week ago as well, and I don't think I have a virus or any spyware because my computer is currently not connected to the internet.
There is one game that runs fine and that is Penumbra Overture, but all others have this problem.
The only solution I have found is to end the process after the game is running, but sometimes it is hard to get back to the desktop in some games :P

Didn't realize that they worked fine then suddenly started acting weird. Hitting ctrl+shift+esc usually opens task manager directly, as opposed the menu that comes up in 7. Anytime I open task manager it automatically minimizes and sometimes pauses my games.

After doing some searching it seems that some older games (like RTCW) don't work quit right on vista/7 and can cause others to have problems as well. I want to do some more research before recommending a solution, as some people say certain fixes work, will others say those same fixes don't. I try to figure out what works best and get back to you.

Okay, think I found away to fix it. I won't go into too many details about what causes it. Go to the start menu. Click all programs, games, games explorer. If a pop up does not happen, click options. Set it to not check online for updates, and uncheck the two boxes about collecting info for your games. It seems that when the a certain dll tries to collect the info from the internet it starts an infinite loop of sorts. This should solve your problem. Please write back with the results of doing this.

I tried that, but it didn't work. I even restarted my computer after i made those changes.

I would try to find out which .dll is being run by this .exe. You might be able to do that with Process Explorer. Right click on the rundll.exe in question and go to properties and see what you find. You can kill the process there or if it runs several threads you can kill the thread that uses all the CPU time.

rundll32.exe is being used by the games I try to run (AOE3, RTCW)
What do you want me to look for in properties?
Thanks!

Anybody?

Hello,

Follow this article and reboot the System in Selective Startup How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

Good Luck,
Captain