Manchester United bounced back after a miserable March to win for the first time in five league outings. Ryan Giggs' backheeled the first goal on 30 minutes after good work on the right by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Substitute Cristiano Ronaldo confirmed Spurs' 10th consecutive defeat at Old Trafford with a mazy run and shot.
Then Giggs set up the third - passing to David Bellion who shot home to see off Tottenham, whose best effort was a Stephen Carr drive.
The victory ended a desperate run for the defending Premiership champions.
March had seen Sir Alex Ferguson's team knocked out of the Champions League and humiliated 4-1 by neighbours Manchester City while Rio Ferdinand also lost his appeal against an eight-month ban for missing a drugs test.
The return to winning ways came after a rejig by Ferguson, with Roy Keane and Diego Forlan returning and Roy Carroll preferred in goal to Tim Howard.
Solskjaer, seen as the right-flank replacement for David Beckham at the time of the England captain's departure for Real Madrid, made his first start since suffering a serious knee injury in September.
And he wasted no time in showing why Ferguson had been happy to let Beckham leave, as his good work on the right was followed with a dangerous cross for Giggs to score with a cheeky finish.
Spurs never really looked like causing a shock - having recorded one league win at Old Trafford in 26 years.
Van Nistelrooy and then Paul Scholes flashed efforts just over Keller's bar, before the Dutchman rounded Keller only to be denied by Gardner.
United were dealing with the strong wind better than Spurs - who had just one long-range Stephen Carr shot to show for their first-half efforts.
The gale whipping around Old Trafford was so strong that one Scholes free-kick literally blew away from Keller's goal and ended up almost where it started.
Spurs had switched from the 4-3-3 system adopted at Newcastle last week to a more defensive 4-4-2 - omitting Frederic Kanoute - but at half-time David Pleat threw on the enigmatic Stephane Dalmat and soon after gave Jamie Redknapp a run-out.
Galvanised, Spurs tested Carroll through a Michael Brown shot but it was United who had the wind at their backs in the second half and Giggs came close after another mazy dribble.
Pleat made his last throw of the dice as Kanoute replaced Defoe but one minute from the end of normal time Ronaldo burst through and hit a deflected goal.
Then on the stroke of full-time man-of-the-match Giggs well and truly settled the game by cutting inside and feeding Bellion, whose finish set United up perfectly for next week's massive clash against Arsenal.
