Windows 7: OS is running VERY slowly!!!

I am hoping someone can help me out. My boyfriend got a new HP notebook with Windows 7 home 64x. It has been running fine for about a month.

On Saturday he had the laptop on and was browsing his usual websites (nothing new) when suddenly the PC slowed down to a standstill.

It runs terribly slow when opening any apps and then suddenly runs as normal, then its back to being slow (it is more often slow than not) I have run a scan to check for viruses (just a quick one as it take so long!!!) I am trying to download some security pdates but nothing is happening.

I did check the CPU usage and it is normally about 3%, sometimes peaking at 13% when I first open a program.

Does anyone have any advice? I don't want to try things blindly as the system is so slow each thing takes 5x as long as usual.

The first thing that I would do is run an antivirus scan, as you did, and then download and run malwarebytes.

This may turn up negative, but even the common sites like google can cause problems. These "people" that write virus etc are very proficient at what they do.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Click Start, in the Search box type msconfig and press Enter.
Click on Startup at the top, click Disable All and then Apply and OK >>> Restart.

wen you open task manger how many processes are they

Kat... Welcome to SevenForums
Is the laptop plugged in or just using battery? Have you tried to remove battery? Plus you have not said anything about system restore? have you done that? Good luck to you with this problem sister

Welcome to Seven Forums.

WIN key | type Disk Cleanup | Enter key

WIN key is the one with the wavy flag on it.

Download Microsoft Security Essentials.

Disconnect from the Internet

Using CONTROL PANEL | PROGRAMS AND FEATURES
uninstall your present antivirus software.

Install and run Microsoft Security Essentials quick scan.

Reconnect to Internet.

Run Microsoft Security Essentials quick scan.

Download, install and run Malware Bytes quick scan.

After all of this, does the problem still exist?

There are many possible sources of this problem but the anti-virus, anti-malware checks must be performed first.

ANTI-VIRUS
Microsoft Security Essentials
Install MSE --> http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/


1. Download MalwareBytes. Malwarebytes
2. Disconnect from the Internet.
3. Disable your present antivirus software and firewall.
4. Remove your present antivirus software and firewall.
5. Install and run the MalwareBytes Quick Scan (remove any bad guys). 3min 29secs on my laptop.
6. Reconnect to Internet.
7. Update MalwareBytes.
8. Run malwarebytes quick scan again.(remove any bad guys). 3min 38secs on my laptop.
9. Run MalwareBytes full scan. 16min 8secs on my laptop. With large,full disk ~2hours.


Now I advise you to uninstall MalwareBytes and only install again when and if you need it.
Why?, you ask. Leaving MalwareBytes installed slowed my system. AutoRuns showed MalwareBytes processes running even after exiting from MalwareBytes.

Hi All,

Thanks for the welcome to the Forum

I have been off line for a bit due to me changing ISP.

I did come right with my boyfriends\ laptop, but not the way I was hoping! I restored the PC back to factory default, so everything is working again.

I had run a virus scan which came up blank. There were only the minimum processes on startup.

The sad part is that although the problem is fixed I can't say what the problem was! Hopefully though it won't happen again as it was very frustrating (more than 1 hr to download 128K update!!)

Thanks again to all for the help

Very seriously consider buying an external USB drive.

Backup your system to that drive.

Use Windows Backup and Restore.

Now you will be able to restore the laptop to a known good condition without having to go thru all of the update downloads again.

CREATE A SYSTEM IMAGE BACKUP
· START | type Backup your computer | Enter key
· In left-hand pane, select Create a System Image
· select where you want to save the backup | Next
· Select the drives you want to backup | Next
· Start Backup button
· Finish button after completion


RESTORE A SYSTEM IMAGE BACKUP
· Boot from the System Repair CD you created.
· Connect the external drive with the backup image
· NEXT button (change language if desired)
· Restore your computer using a system image
that you created earlier radio button
· NEXT button
· Use the latest available system image radio button
· NEXT button
· Format and repartition disks checkbox
· NEXT button
· FINISH button
· YES button

Also be sure to inform yourself of the uses of System Restore which is NOT the same a restoring from a System Image.

WIN key + F! key combo
type System Restore in the search box at the top of the Help dialog

Choose What is System Restore from the long list of possibilities.


WIN key is the one with the funny looking wavy flag on it.