Slow running pc - 100% CPU usage

Hi I bought a new laptop 3 months ago but for the last 2 months it has been very slow and struggles to play video from sites such as you tube, and music from iTunes and Spotify really slows down a lot. It supposedly has 4 GB Ram but when I look on task manager it reads physical memory 3293 MB, cached 2555 MB, free 35 MB. In addition when i try to play a video the bottom of the browser page constantly says that it is transfering cached memory from s.ytimg. I have been on a forum for malware and done numerous scans so dont think the problem lies in this area, but my laptop is at time too slow to be usable for simple operations. I have also disabled the DNS host file but this has not helped. Any help would really be appreciated. Thanks! Gareth

Hello!

You can read this topic about slow pc:
http://www.malwareremoval.com/tutorials/runningslowly.php

Hi there Gewens, welcome to the forums.

Now, I have seen this before and it could be some sort of virus/malware on your computer what I want you to do is start your computer in safe mode and run a virus scan and remove any (if any) viruses.

Before you run all of those scanners, please create a System Restore point incase anything happens to your computer in the progress. To do this:
(1.) Click Start.
(2.) Go to all Programs
(3.) Then Accessories.
(4.) Then System Tools.
(5.) Click on System Restore.
(6.) Finally click on create a system restore point.

To run your computer in safe mode do the following:
(1.) Restart/shut down your computer.
(2.) Duing startup keep tapping the F8 key.
(3.) Hit Safe Mode.

In safe mode you should run all your updated virus/malware program scans.

Here is a few scanners to help you, they are very useful:
Windows Defender
Spybot Search & Destroy
AVG Free

Also, delete temporary files by using both:
ATF Cleaner
CCleaner

By using CCleaner you can also clean out your registry. If there are any viruses/malware found please get back to me.

Give OpenDNS a try. Read here for info and howto: http://www.opendns.com/

From the OpenDNS web site:

What is OpenDNS?

OpenDNS is a better DNS, free to all. OpenDNS uses its distributed network of DNS servers to speed up your Internet experience, increase reliability, improve security and make DNS smarter for users all over the world.

Also, flush your existing DNS cache as it may be part of what is causing the slowdown.

• Click on Start then Run, type cmd and press Enter or click Go
• Type ipconfig /flushdns and press Enter
• Type exit and press Enter to close the Command Prompt window

If you suspect a Virus / Malware then that is handled in the Malware Forum , not here.

Hi, thanks for the responses. Ztrucker - i tried to flush the DNS cache but I go the message "requested operation requires elevation"

It appears you're running Vista. go to All Programs, Accessories, right click Command Prompt and click Run as administrator. Now try it.

Hi LDTate - i tried running as administrator but got the message "could not flush the DNS resolver cache:function failed during execution. In addition, im sure this is not a malware problem as ive run scans in safe mode and detected nothing. Thanks again for you help!

Read here, see if it helps: http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/0…n-flushing-dns/

Edit: Just got a PM from Abydos and he doesn't think that is the one he was talking about. Even so, it might be worth taking a look at.

Ztrucker - thanks. I managed to get that to work. However I still have the same problem, cached memory 2619, free memory 38. And the CPU usage jumps around from 6% to 100% even with one internet browser open. Any ideas on how to solve this? Thanks!

Let's take a different approach.

Start Internet Explorer without any Add-ons, see if one of them is causing the problem. The easiest way to do this is.

• Click Start then Run, type iexplore -extoff and press Enter or click on Go.
• Click on Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)

You may have to open a Command Prompt in Administrator mode (I really dislike Vista and UAC!)

See how IE behaves. If better then one of the Add-ons is causing the problem. Use Tools, Manage-Add-ons to disable a few at a time until you find the culprit.

You can also try installing FireFox and see if the problem occurs there as well. That will tell us wether it's a browser specific problem or an more generic Vista problem.

Hi Ztruker I have the same problem when I use Firefox as well. My free memory goes to zero when i try to play a video and the bottom left corner of the browser constantly says transferring data. I tried to type in iexplore into command but it is not recognised as "an internal or external command, operable program or batch file" Thanks

That's very strange. iexplore.exe is in C:\Windows\IE7 or C:\Windows\IE8. C:\Windows should be in your path environment variable. Check it and see what it's set to. It should start with:

C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\system32\WBEM;

To check it, do the following:

• Click on Start then Run, type cmd and press Enter or click Go
• Type path > pathdata.txt
• Type notepad pathdata.txt
• Press Ctrl+a to select all text in the notepad window, then press Ctrl+c to copy it to the clipboard

Post the result in a reply here.

PATH=C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\Acer\Empowering Technology\eDataSecurity\;C:\Program Files\Acer\Empowering Technology\eDataSecurity\x86;C:\Program Files\Acer\Empowering Technology\eDataSecurity\x64;C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem\

Very interesting. I just tried iexplore from a command prompt and it doesn't work for me either, yet when I enter it in the Run box (Start / Run) it works fine, so try it from Run, see if it works. Or … Start / Accessories / System Tools / Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)