Hello Does anybody have any idea why a 'top' should do this? It's on a Linux xxxxxx 2.2.17 #1 Mon Dec 18 13:06:46 CET 2000 i686 unknown A machine with no administrator :-( It had a var 100% full which was quickly sorted out then it was rebooted , but still the same problem. I suspect the swap: longchamp:/home/wwwadm# cat /proc/swaps Filename Type Size Used Priority /dev/hda6 partition 284216 0 -1 Thanks James