slowdown during hdd activity

So, I successfully passed 10 tests on each memory module, the harddisks passed the extended western digital utility test, the partitions were cleaned by both kaspersky and mse and I'm still experiencing major slowdowns during installations. I just installed Autocad 2010 and during its installation I barely managed to open a youtube page. And I don't mean it was a really quick install task. :) I'm trying to install the trial version of nod32 and check how my performance will be affected. Oh and Speedfan displays the following temps while my computer is idle (writing this post): GPU: 47C, Temp1: 39C, Temp:38C, Temp3:-128C , Core 0: 49C, Core1: 49C

it's definitely a windows problem. I just tried ubuntu and it worked like a charm while I was watching a 1080p video, installing a somewhat large game and copying from one HDD to another a 50GB collection of data. Also I tried messing around with firefox while this happened. No stuttering, freezing or anything, so I'm starting to think it's not a hardware problem. Anyway, the ubuntu episode was just a test. I'm waiting for further suggestions. And thanks for helping me so far :)

I feel like I'm talking to the wall.

UNINSTALL all AV/anti-spyware/firewall programs except for Microsoft Security Essentials. MSE will setup Windows firewall and also flag for download the monthly update to MS Malicious Software Removal Tool and also the same program will be run immediately and automatically after each monthly update.

With one package, MSE, you get the best of all worlds. More than one AV etc at a time causes many problems, including slow performance.

Now go to the startup tab of MsConfig and disable everything there except for the MS security startup and the Gadget startup if you have gadgets.

Don't worry, you will be able to come back and reenable anything you find that you really need at startup time.

If you are using a synaptics touchpad then you can go ahead and leave that one enabled.

i was in the process of reinstalling mse after I read this article and after I saw what they were talking about AV-Test.org · Tests of Anti-Virus- and Security-Software . Yes, it does surprisingly seem one of the best performance a/v software at the moment, and I'm going to stick with it. Sorry for my conservative point of view on the matter :). And btw, my msconfig is pretty clean except for the java updater , gmail notifier and the driver for my wireless microsoft mouse. Btw, do you have any idea for a similar method of stressing my hardware besides just installing random large applications while messing around in already running ones (what i've been doing to test my performance)

Your question resulted in me reviewing your system specs.

The first thing that stands out is that you only have a total of 2 GB of ram. Considering your usage, then you should install the max ram which that computer/laptop will take.

I have never, I repeat never, stress-tested any hardware. I simply buy quality hardware and hardware more than adequate for the job. I always buy more power supply than I need, I don't try to use the latest super-duper graphics card because they all have problems when initially released. Better to buy last years model with an established reputation. I always keep the temps down. If necessary I use an external fan blowing directly on my laptop/computer to keep temps down. When using the laptop, I run in power saver mode and with a minimally illuminated display to keep temps down as a laptop, when operated outside in a beer garden on a hot Texas evening can get too warm. That's when I shutdown.

I made a HDD test on the O/S HDD in HD tune. This might explain the low performance:

I didn't notice your latest reply. I think I used the wrong term. I was looking for a proper system benchmark software. I always kept the resource monitor while testing to see if I experience slowdowns/freezes and I always had at least 200-300 mb of ram free or on standby, even when I kept opening other apps or mess around with them. I know that virtual memory is a lot slower than RAM. The point is that somehow it seems that heavy hard disk activity slows down everything, even a simple right click on the desktop.

Oh and these are the results after testing the secondary HDD used for storage:


and that's how the first should look like too

Update: I've installed the O/S on the secondary drive and it seemed to work a lot better for a while, but I didn't test the performance properly. So, after I installed a few programs today I tried playing a game and I experienced a lower framerate than usual. I exited the game and ran a hd tune test to get a similar bad result on the hdd that used to work well as storage drive before. I thought it's a O/S problem, but when I ran the test on the other hdd i got a similarly bad result. I tried using a sata pci controller to, but the same problem occurred. This is starting to be too puzzling.