The Power Management Features in Windows 9x are not completely bug free, and many times they can introduce system instability or erratic cpu usage.

It is a generally good idea to disable power management features especially if using an ACPI compatible computer.

1. Press Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System-Device Manager and expand System devices
2. Right click Advanced Power Management support and select Properties
3. Toggle Disable in this hardware profile for the device

At the same time one should also disable the power management features in the motherboard BIOS, as long one is running Windows 9x.

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