Maybe I need a more powerful computer

I have a 2 year old Intel E6550 (Dual 2.33) with 4 Gigs of RAM and a video card with one gig of RAM so when I video talk with someone and want to do some computer work like sending pictures or just screwing around with the computer my CPU's are pushing 90%+. I thought it was my slow 3 meg Cox but my CPU's' go pass that 90% mark if I'm just browsing my computer. Maybe it needs a good cleaning but I kept it pretty much junk free and I only use about 15% of my hard drives space so I'm wondering if I need a more muscular PC?

CPU's are pushing 90%+

Hi, where do you get this info from. a pick of taskmanager would be good.

Everyone 'needs' a more powerful machine, but your machine is not the cause of this problem.

I would like to see your Task Manager sorted by CPU %

Do you have a large HOSTS file with the DNS service enabled? If yes, you may wish to disable the DNS service (I am jumping the gun here).

Dual CPU Gadgets and my computer runs just fine, just when I video call

if u are using a hd web cam that doesnt have hardware encoding your cpu with be taxed. if ur using a standard web cam then it shouldnt be a issue. u may want a fresh install

i'd go with the good cleaning. 2 years = alot of dust, alot of heat retention and serious performance degradation.
fresh install + thorough cleaning of the inside of the case will give you like-new performance... for a while

also if you're not doing anything and the System process is using up all your CPU power, you have a problem (and a big one). its probably that. system idle is the only thing that should show up a majority of cpu use while your pc is doing nothing

Have you considered your connection speed may be the underlying issue here ? ?