“New” menu opens slowly

I’m using Windows 98se. When I right-click on the desktop and point to the “New” menu, it takes almost 10 seconds for the menu to expand. Similarly, in Windows Explorer, when I click “File” and “New” it takes the same amount of time for the menu to expand. I ran system monitor at the same time and noticed that kernel processor usage jumps to 100% during the time it takes to display. Once the menu expands, usage drops back to normal. What could be the cause of this? Has anyone else experienced this? It is very annoying.

Infoguy