I would go into the task manager's processes page and sort that by CPU usage, see what's at the top. You should also try running with nvda instead of jaws to see if this improves performance any (NVDA has a resource monitor addon which should let you figure that out easily enough). Dropbox could be using a lot of processing power as well if it's busy indexing, but not when it's idle. Skype is known for using a lot of ram but it shouldn't hit your CPU so hard. If you have an antivirus of some kind, it might be running scans or maybe it's just pourly optimized so its resident protection is very CPU intensive. Also make sure that you don't have web pages open that have a lot of things going on, mainly flash. If you use Internet Explorer, try using Firefox (I was using about 5% CPU when writing this post, and I just launched IE to see how much it would impact the system, CPU went up to 50% usage with IE using most of it). While we're on the topic of web browsers, check if you haven't accidentally installed junk into them, things like the ask or conduit toolbars, those won't help much
Does this happen immediatelly after you start your system or does it boot up in a more normal state? If it does, then try to monitor it, start launching programs that you use regularly and see when the problems start.

Hi, how do we change the sorting in the task manager?

If you haven't already, make sure you uninstall any bloatware from the manufacturer. For example, if it's an HP machine, you would uninstall anything that says HP lol. If your running windows 8.1, make sure to get rid of any apps you don't need, you never know what could be running in the background and hogging resources.

It's a custom built computer so there isn't any bloatware, thankfully. I do need to research what is safe to turn off in services.msc and msconfig since I've run both. I haven't gone beyond reinstalling windows... but that would mean reformatting and taking time to back up all my crap. sigh. But it might just come to that. lol

hi,
I also have alot of driver processes starting up on my pc
fortunatly my pc didn't come with a operating system so I just installed windows and went to the toshiba site to selectively download only the drivers and utilities I might need
I researched and disabled alot of the driver processes on startup
i'm pasting the startup items I still have 
I ggot this list from ccleaner
I would appriciate it if someone who knows about these processes could tell me what is safe to turn off
Yes    HKLM:Run    1.TPUReg    TOSHIBA    "C:\Program Files (x86)\TOSHIBA\PasswordUtility\readLM.exe"
Yes    HKLM:Run    AvastUI.exe    AVAST Software    "C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\AvastUI.exe" /nogui
Yes    HKLM:Run    Classic Start Menu    IvoSoft    "C:\Program Files\Classic Shell\ClassicStartMenu.exe" -autorun
No    HKLM:Run    HotKeysCmds    Intel Corporation    "C:\WINDOWS\system32\hkcmd.exe"
No    HKLM:Run    IgfxTray    Intel Corporation    "C:\WINDOWS\system32\igfxtray.exe"
No    HKLM:Run    NvBackend    NVIDIA Corporation    "C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\Update Core\NvBackend.exe"
Yes    HKLM:Run    Persistence    Intel Corporation    "C:\WINDOWS\system32\igfxpers.exe"
No    HKLM:Run    TCrdMain    TOSHIBA Corporation    C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\Hotkey\TCrdMain_Win8.exe
Yes    HKLM:Run    TecoResident    TOSHIBA Corporation    C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\Teco\TecoResident.exe
Yes    HKLM:Run    TSSSrv    TOSHIBA Corporation    C:\Program Files (x86)\TOSHIBA\System Setting\TSSSrv.exe

Hi.
To be honest I disabled all Toshiba stuff as I didn't need it running all the time
persistence doesn't need to be on though ians.
On that note
I wouldn't touch windows services, yes I know that turning some of these off may help but to be honest the last time I did this on an old box windows went unstable and I had to reformat.
I wouldn't touch windows services or registry or anything because windows just uses that stuff weirdly.
I suggest using ccleaner.
I also suggest not running Skype or dropbox at startup or jaws for that matter.
I have nvda running at startup and msse and that's about it.
Skype is a hog even for those that can see my cousin had issues with his i7 locking up at startup or slowing down a lot.
it was Skype being loaded at startup.
Using ccleaner, defrags, etc should increase performance.
upgrading all drivers, and also clearing unneeded programs should help.
especially any windows live software.
yes I know those of you on win8 have to live with it but if you have any extra live packs essentuals and other junk loaded get rid of it.
I wouldn't go killing all the programs that come with your laptop everything hp is not bad, like everything Toshiba is not all bloat with no use.
wild tangent games may be splashtop remote is inaccessible, also remove clickfree and Norton everything and all their customised adobe software because that's outdated by default.
To be honest, if you are that set on  making sure you are really performing ok, do the following.
reformat and install windows 7 or whatever you want to use.
install the following drivers.
usb graphics, sound, network, lan wireless and that's all you need for your basic system.
intel NVidia etc have driver updates but to be honest if you don't want or need an NVidia card pull it out, and use the crappy intel one on the board.
I am supprised no one has mentioned before pcpitstop.com though.
the free tests on there should tell you what you need to do.
Note though that its fragmentation, cpu usage and memory/ driver errors are to sensitive.
its main wish is for you to install their software and other junk.
I am not sure about the access to that software but still.
I use the tests to find any hardware errors which it will give you freely.
Next try to reflash your bios or update it this may help you.
Finally if things don't work well much pull the battry on the bios if you can and leave it out for 5 minutes and put it back and see.
In msconfig boot advanced, check number of processers, and change that to the max you have, this will cause windows to use all cpu power at startup it only uses 1 otherwise.
You may get a little performance.
With sighted help in bios, if you have enough ram boost to max all buffers and memory shared devices  if you must use a high end videocard get a radion unit.
I have one, and while its driver is good and yes while you have to get rid of a lot of bloat at startup its quite stable.
More so than the NVidia stuff I used and more than the intel cards I used.
It also does help that amd units boards in particular come with the card, and if you get an amd card you will get hdmi audio with that to.
As for other things, anything that says via on it sucks I have an i3 with via chipsets and as well as the interfaces being inaccessible, and such they are bloated and do not perform well.
Realtech is in a lot of things fortunately and it performs well.
To be honest though, if you really want performance and don't ned highend features then running the crappy ms drivers will probably be fine.
I never do but if you don't care you can do that.
The other thing I'd do is get speedfan and install it, there is a smart info page for disks and other things.
you want to perform an online test, this will tell you if any errors are up and other things.
Over that, who knows.
I have a system that reboots randomly, but according to my diagnostics its within the norms and its fully optimised.

Given the games mentioned previously I really wouldn't recommend removing the NVidia card for the Intel one. Also I'll stress this again, CCleaner and defrags won't cut the resting CPU and memory usage figures. They will improve general performance but not solve the issues mentioned in this topic.

I also wish to add it can be well worth installing drivers from your mobo manufacturer for chipsets including the drive controller ones, these can optimise your drive performance somewhat.

Also be very, very careful flashing the bios. Since this system had no issues previously I don't anticipate this solving the problem either but I won't say don't reflash ever, just be very cautious when you do because you can wreck your motherboard if it goes wrong. Make sure your sighted assistance has some idea of what they're doing as well if at all possible.