The problem is that the laptop became really slow overnight. Everything lags, freezes and it takes alot of time for the OS and for any appilcation to start up. It even lags when moving the pointer.
I have a Dell laptop which is nearly 3 years old. 6 months ago I upgraded my Ram to 2gb.
I have cleaned various viruses that were found using Eset Nod 32 Anti Virus and various other programs guided by a Staff member on this site.
Cleaned up my laptop with all the viruses and malware but still my laptop is very slow and I have no idea why. Help would greatly appreciated as I have got exams coming up in a week.
Hi, I took a quick look at your logs that you posted in the infection removal forum.
3 things jump out at me from them.
1 You have your boot drive (Windows itself and your applications) installed on drive E…….whilst there is nothing wrong with this, it is unconventional…..do you have a special reason for setting it up this way?
2 You have at some time had to peer to peer (P2P) filesharing applications installed on your machine……Inzanity, your trusted malware fighter, recommended that you uninstall them (utorrent etc) It may be that this was not done or that some remnants have been left on your machine……this could mean that it is being used as a server (a function of P2P file sharing) which could account for the slowness you are experiencing, as a great deal of your system resources could be taken up by this process.
3 Your boot drive E: is far to full. Windows has very little room to operate efficiently…on your last log you had only 2 GB or so of free space…..to stand a chance of getting reasonable performance from your machine you need to try and have 25% of your boot disc free. With your current level of free space its probably causing difficulty sometimes in even deframenting your drives….
When you have removed the stuff from your boot drive, necessaary to show 25% free space, I would be inclined to run chkdsk /r
if it finds problems then run it again…
then run the Windows Protected System File checker
sfc /scannow
as you are running on Vista don't forget to use an elevated command prompt.
Regards
paws
Thanks for your reply.
1. Well, I installed the OS on drive E because it has got more space than other two drives.
2. I have uninstalled the p2p software, utorrent, and deleted any files downloaded with it.
3. I have freed over 8gb in drive E now.
I ran chkdsk /r but it was unable to find any problems.
There has been no change in the performance and speed of the laptop since i did deleted all the malwares and did these two things..
Would you recommend i format my laptop and reinstall the OS?
Would you recommend i format my laptop and reinstall the OS?
This involves a little bit of work on your part together with a good back up, so is generally considered as a last resort by some folks….Howevr if you are experienced with Computers its worth considering if you have tried everything else and nothing seems to do any good
Did you run SFC /scannow
Have you tried starting in safe mode and seeing if things are quicker (note if you are operating via a wireless router/gateway and select safe mode with networking then Internet might be available…However your protections incl AV will not be started or working so no downloading emails or surfing…. other than a quick test!
Regards
paws
I will run SFC /scannow and let you know.
I did try starting in safe mode… first of all takes alot of time than usual to start via safe mode after this problem occured.. secondly there's no difference in the performance and speed even after starting in safe mode.
Hi, OK
I'm assuming you have done all the usual things like:
1 Uninstall any no longer used programs…(Add and remove programs, via Control Panel)
2 defragmenting your drives
3 Running SFC /scannow
4 Using MS config to see what is running at Startup and disabling anything unnecessary…..Google for each one and only do (disable) one at a time, if no joy go to Services click on "hide all Microsoft…", disable anything remaining and see if this helps…if it does then enable each item (one at a time until you find the culprit)
5 ensure Java is up to date ( update 17 is the latest) and all old versions are uninstalled.
6 Check you only have one anti virus product running in memory and only one firewall (excluding a hardware firewall)
7 if this produces no results then the 45 mins or so it will take to reinstall Windows + all the time to do the updates, and install your applications may seem worthwhile…….. but make sure your back up is good and reproducible you have all your drivers, installation discs serial numbers etc before you start…….and make sure that you have your Windows on C drive this time unless you have powerful and compelling reasons for having it anywhere else.
8 Finally when all is running fast and sweet with everything 100% correct again then take a disc image, keep a copy safe on removable media and then if sometime in the future you hit a problem that cannot be overcome in a timely or cost effective way by the normal means…you will be able to reimage back to your "perfect" installation in the time it takes to walk the dog!
Regards
and good luck
paws
You can look at the logs there:
may seem worthwhile…….. but make sure your back up is good and reproducible you have all your drivers, installation discs serial numbers etc before you start…….and make sure that you have your Windows on C drive this time unless you have powerful and compelling reasons for having it anywhere else.
8 Finally when all is running fast and sweet with everything 100% correct again then take a disc image, keep a copy safe on removable media and then if sometime in the future you hit a problem that cannot be overcome in a timely or cost effective way by the normal means…you will be able to reimage back to your "perfect" installation in the time it takes to walk the dog!
Regards
and good luck
paws
