How to identify what is starting a process?

On my XP machine, a python.exe process starts every so on which takes up 100% of my CPU. I have to kill it from the task monitor.. How can one identify what this process is and how you can disable it? I have no idea what is starting Python.

Solution 1:

Check out Process Explorer. It can arrange processes in a parental hierarchy, so you can see at a glance what process started what.

Plus it has a ton of other useful features (such as inspecting a program's launch parameters- this will also help you identify what is starting python) and can be set to replace the Task Manager.