Windows 7: Windows 7 Computer slowed to a crawl for no reason

I have a HP 6310y with 6 gb ram and 1 tb hard drive. New computer with little installed on it. Has been super fast for the month I have had it. All of the sudden, it has slowed to a crawl. It takes 10 minutes to open a folder, program, etc. Most programs opened will either say not responding or load in like 20 mins. Nothing has been installed new since this problem. The light in the front to the tower does not turn off(orange light that tells that the computer is processing something). In the process windows nothing is hogging any memory except system idle process.



Any suggestions?

Provide a screenshot of Task Manager sorted by CPU% (taken when the problem occurs)

My norton 360 trial just expired. Ever since then the computer was really slow. It took me 1 hour to uninstall it. It even ran slow in safe mode. I figured this was the issue b/c I tried to use system restore and it could not fuction b/c of antivirus. So i deleted norton and now it seems a little faster but not much. what else could be the issue? I can't give you a screen shot b/c the task manager

sorry it is going so slow, it is hard to manage

Download the Norton Removal Tool from their website. There is probably junk left behind.

I can't even get passed the Starting windows screen now

I am doing a factory image restore.
Could it possibly be a hard drive issue? Like the HD is slowly fading away even though it is brand new?

Thanks for all the input

Yes it's possible. You can get drive diagnostic app for checking your drive possibly from the HD manufactuor site. Also check to see if DMA has been switched to PIO mode. Right click Computer icon on desktop, device manager, ide controllers, advanced tab. See if DMA is enabled

I'm pretty sure he's using a SATA drive in there.

Test your HD using maker's full CD scan: Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.

Test your memory using Windows Memory Diagnostic test for two passes.

After factory recovery, remove Norton bloatware infection with the free Revo Uninstaller in Advanced mode, then follow up immediately with Norton Removal tool to check for any remaining infection. Install Microsoft Security Essentials in 30 seconds for lightweight, invisible, unintrusive free AV.

Continue using Revo Uninstaller in Advanced mode to clean uninstall any other bloatware programs you don't want.

Do your updates, paying close attention to newer Windows 7 drivers given in Optional Updates.

After it is set up and running as you like, type msconfig in Start Search box and remove all freeloaders from your RAM/CPU by unchecking any programs that don't absolutely have to startup with computer. The only ones I allow are AV and Sidebar (gadgets).

Finally, use state-of-the-art free CCleaner "Run Cleaner" and Registry tab, then free Auslogics Disk and Registry defraggers to keep HD perfectly clean and ordered.

When its all done, get a Windows 7 backup image stored externally so you never have to reinstall again, just reimage using Repair CD in 20 minutes.