It looks like compiz is running amok and using 100% CPU. That might mean that it is using 100% of one of eight threads, or maybe using all of one core. I'm not sure on that. This is my chip, and in /proc/cpuinfo it comes up as having 7 cores: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz What I'm really interested in is what compiz is doing for me. I'm sure it is needed for the window manager on the console, but on this machine I'm never in front of it, always logging in via SSH and using VNC with IceWM. So what would happen if I just killed the compiz process? Or maybe I could just restart it. But would that disrupt the IceWM? I'm thinking IceWM doesn't use compiz, so it wouldn't be affected. The desktop on on the console would probably be hosed, but that isn't a problem for me. What do you think? Mike