So first of all I will tell you the problem: My computer will be working fine, then all of a sudden it will essentially crash. By crash I mean it will slow RIGHT down. Can't do anything, takes 15 minutes to open a window, etc. it is like I was running a computer from 15 years ago with 1KB of RAM. Just slows down to a crawl and I can't do anything. I originally thought it was a virus, but then about 5-45 minutes later (it has varied, today was only 5 minutes luckily, last night was 45 minutes), it will go back to normal speed (fairly quick).
I have run a anti-virus, and everything it found was wrong (virus, registry, etc.) was fixed. But a day later the computer slowed right down again, so I downloaded a registry cleaner. Cleaned out the registry completely.
I was going to defrag the hard-drive but it says it is unnecessary so I didn't.
But I still have the problem. I have no idea what is wrong, I can run in safe mode fine so I think it has to do with a process that is opened (but I just don't know which one to turn off).
If I try to re-start the computer, when it turns back on it will work fine for about a minute then come right down to a crawl so that is why I think it is a process or something on start-up. This is when it is acting up. If it is working fine and I start it up, all is well.
Take a screen shot of Services Tab (make sure hide microsoft services is checked) and Start up Tab. It may require more than 1 screenshot depending on what you have installed.
Upload and post them here.
If not boot into safe mode and uninstall the last 5 recently installed programs.
If you have any program called "Registry Wizard" "Windows Antivirus" etc etc etc uninstall them.
What Antivirus do you have installed?
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MYK - Supports Arizona to democtratically pass laws for the state of Arizona
Rudy was the only hope in 08
2011 Election: Cons 40% - Nanos 38% Ekos 34%
I just put avg on. I was running with nothing for maybe 16 months. Not the best but it was free and I just wanted to check if there were any viruses.
Thanks for the help, I'll upload the pictures when I get home. It does the same thing when I come out of standby mode, so I have the computer on all the time. Hopefully when I get home it is working.
msconfig tabs will show you what is starting when the computer starts and allows you to not have somethings start like Apple Update, Adobe Updater, Adobe QuickLaunch etc.
It must be something recently installed that is causing the issues. The fact that it happens after logging on suggests its something in the system tray (one of the icons near your clock) that might be causing the issue.
I personally suggest going into safe mode and uninstalling all software that wasnt installed at the beginning starting with what was most recently installed. I realize that might not be realistic if you start removing things that have custom preferences like iTunes etc.
With AVG have you done a deep scan or just a surface (quick) scan. Since it wasnt installed pre-issue then you need to do a full scan of your computer. I dont use AVG myself (microsoft security essentials (windows7) and Avast). Avira is another good one to try.
Have you tried opening Task Manager to see what is running and taking up CPU time and Memory?
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MYK - Supports Arizona to democtratically pass laws for the state of Arizona
Rudy was the only hope in 08
2011 Election: Cons 40% - Nanos 38% Ekos 34%
I had a similar problem, though the slowdowns only lasted a couple of minutes - in my case it turned out to be related to mobileme doing automatic synchronization. Do you have any programs that do any sort of automatic sync? Task manager might help you find the problem, but if the slowdown is that bad you might need to have it already open before the slowdown starts, with the process tab open and sorted by CPU usage (as suggested by MickMcGeough).
Any antivirus you run that tells you that you have registry problems is probably a bad antivirus unless it's actually locating a virus' entry.
Registry cleaners don't do anything.
I'm thinking you may have a TDSS rootkit which can be cleaned but there is no guarantee your computer will ever be safe again unless you format it. Many antivirus' will not pick up a TDSS rootkit.
After all that, and you still think it is a background process, just press CTRL-ALT-DEL and see which process is using up the most CPU cycles or memory.
Those are just my "hit the broadside of the barn" suggestions based on the little information you have.
Sorry for the crappy pictures, but this is what the services looks like, the start up I turned a lot off already and it is the second picture. When I am just chilling like now the Process is 98 for CPU under the "System Idle Process", I haven't had a slow down yet but hopefully that'll open the next time I do. Sadly, I have tried before and it takes ages for the Task MNGR to open.
Last edited by 3 Justin 3; 01-26-2011 at 01:52 PM.
Sorry for the crappy pictures, but this is what the services looks like, the start up I turned a lot off already and it is the second picture. When I am just chilling like now the Process is 98 for CPU under the "System Idle Process", I haven't had a slow down yet but hopefully that'll open the next time I do. Sadly, I have tried before and it takes ages for the Task MNGR to open.
From first screen shot uncheck
Bonjour, Ipod, Java, Windows Media Player (I assume you use this but you can turn them on again)
From the second screen shot uncheck
Jusched and ipod helper
Then reboot and see what happens. Do you have any NAS or External backup solution?
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MYK - Supports Arizona to democtratically pass laws for the state of Arizona
Rudy was the only hope in 08
2011 Election: Cons 40% - Nanos 38% Ekos 34%
Ok, so it just had a "slow down". Essentially nothing can load or anything, but I was able to get Task Manager to load and for processes it just said "System Idle" was using everything (98) and iTunes was using 2 (I was playing music).