Windows running very slow, often freezing up completely

Hi. I was referred to this forum by Jeffce in the Virus, Spyware & Malware Removal Forum. I initially thought I might have a malware problem, but I'm beginning to think it might be a problem with Windows Auto Update. I'm not very tech savvy, so I don't really know. My desktop computer (Windows XP Home Edition) has been running really slow, and will frequently completely freeze up forcing me to do a hard shutdown. I often get a message saying that I'm low on virtual memory. A friend who is slightly more tech knowledgable than me said there could be a problem where Windows Automatic Update gets pointed to the wrong server or something, causing a virtual memory problem, so I tried turning off Auto Updates, and things seemed to be working a bit better. When I then turned Auto Updates back on, things get super sluggish again. I've also had problems with ITunes freezing up, as well as problems with ITunes updates, where it will tell me I need to update, but when it try to download the updates I get a message saying something about an authentication problem and it won't let me download the updates.

Any help would be hugely appreciated. Here is a link to my thread over on the other forum so you can see what Jeffce already tried for me: http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showtopic=122334

Thanks in advance!

Hi ,I'm discussing the issues with Jeff to see if we can resolve the issues. Just bear with us for a short while, and one of us will get back to you ( either in this topic here or your original malware forum topic) Regards paws

Thanks Paws!