Windows 7: Slowing down

Hopefully this is the correct forum for this. Apologies in advance if not.

1. My PC has started to slow down (Dell Laptop Inspiron 1720, 2G RAM, Wini 7 Professional). This is odd because it has been pretty quick until this week and all of a sudden it's sluggish. Any ideas?

2. Ad-Aware refused to start. The splash screen stayed on for a minute or so, then a red x error message appeared saying "Ad-Aware couldn't connect to the service."

Here's my hijack this log (again, sorry if this isn't the right place):

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 1:22:42 PM, on 6/26/2010
Platform: Unknown Windows (WinNT 6.01.3504)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.7600.16385)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Windows\system32\Dwm.exe
C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
C:\Windows\system32\taskhost.exe
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Essentials\msseces.exe
C:\Program Files\Dell\QuickSet\quickset.exe
C:\Program Files\BillP Studios\WinPatrol\WinPatrol.exe
C:\Windows\System32\igfxtray.exe
C:\Windows\System32\hkcmd.exe
C:\Windows\System32\igfxpers.exe
C:\Program Files\DellTPad\Apoint.exe
C:\Windows\system32\igfxsrvc.exe
C:\Program Files\DellTPad\ApMsgFwd.exe
C:\Program Files\DellTPad\HidFind.exe
C:\Program Files\DellTPad\Apntex.exe
C:\Windows\system32\conhost.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugin-container.exe
C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = Bing
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = about:blank
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = MSN.com
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = Bing
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = Bing
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = MSN.com
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
O2 - BHO: IEHlprObj Class - {8CA5ED52-F3FB-4414-A105-2E3491156990} - C:\Program Files\iWin Games\iWinGamesHookIE.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSSE] "c:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Essentials\msseces.exe" -hide -runkey
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickSet] C:\Program Files\Dell\QuickSet\QuickSet.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WinPatrol] C:\Program Files\BillP Studios\WinPatrol\winpatrol.exe -expressboot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IgfxTray] C:\Windows\system32\igfxtray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HotKeysCmds] C:\Windows\system32\hkcmd.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Persistence] C:\Windows\system32\igfxpers.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Apoint] C:\Program Files\DellTPad\Apoint.exe
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Download by Orbit - res://C:\Program Files\Orbitdownloader\orbitmxt.dll/201
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Grab video by Orbit - res://C:\Program Files\Orbitdownloader\orbitmxt.dll/204
O8 - Extra context menu item: Do&wnload selected by Orbit - res://C:\Program Files\Orbitdownloader\orbitmxt.dll/203
O8 - Extra context menu item: Down&load all by Orbit - res://C:\Program Files\Orbitdownloader\orbitmxt.dll/202
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL
O13 - Gopher Prefix:
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://fpdownload2.macromedia.com/ge...sh/swflash.cab

--
End of file - 3755 bytes

Where there any changes, or updates done during that time? were there any changes ?

we need more information

Ken

I did a system restore recently in hopes of clearing up the problem. I also powered down the modem and router, and disconnected-reconnected to my wireless network. Otherwise nothing major that I can think of.