Computer is still slow, tried everything

[usinjin]

I've been using my own custom built computer for about two years. Somehow, It's never been very fast, and now it's slower than ever. It gets hung up over every little thing, it seems like (adding new tabs in Internet Explorer, logging on/off, opening programs, right-clicking, etc). Sometimes programs randomly stop responding for a few seconds, then they come back. Every couple of days EVERYTHING gets really slow. So far I've triedl: error checking, defraging, registry cleaning, temp files cleared, Spyware/virus checking, disabled all unnecessary startups, disabled unnecessary startup services, still no good. Not sure whether it's a hardware or software problem. I'll try anything!

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/23/processfu.jpg/

 

[writhziden]

Have you updated your BIOS? That can sometimes increase/decrease performance, so if you haven't, update it, and if you have, try going back.

Also, you could try what I did yesterday and turn off your computer, unplug the power, and hold down the power button for 30 seconds. This will ensure that all capacitors are drained of electricity and your BIOS will be reset (a more thorough reset than going into the BIOS and resetting it to default settings).

 

[writhziden]

The above suggestion is for hardware related issues. If it is a software issue, you will have to post some images of your startup programs by using print screen, pasting into Paint/Powerpoint (right click to save the image after cropping it using the format tab)/Microsoft office picture manager, and then scrolling down your startup programs to show the rest and following the print screen procedure each time.

Rather than print screen and cropping, you could just use the snipping tool built into Windows 7. Go into the start menu, search programs and files, and type in snipping tool.

Additionally, you may want to install Malwarebytes Malwarebytes : Free anti-malware, anti-virus and spyware removal download to see if your antivirus software is missing anything. What antivirus are you running?

 

[usinjin]

Here's my startups (I also just added a screenshot of my running processes in the first post)

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/2778/startuplr.jpg

For virus/spyware/firewall I use ZoneAlarm Extreme Security with DataLock. Updating BOIS now.

 

[writhziden]

ZoneAlarm has been known to cause some issues with Windows 7 in the past. Have you tried uninstalling it and seeing if your computer runs faster? If there is no noticeable difference, you can always reinstall it.

Edit: Also, could you scroll down your startup programs and processes and snip them to show more of what you have running? Thanks.

 

[writhziden]

I would definitely recommend downloading and installing the free version of Malwarebytes given in the link in my previous post. Run the full scan (it takes 2-3 hours to run on a 500 GB drive if it is not too full).

 

[usinjin]

ZoneAlarm has been known to cause some issues with Windows 7 in the past. Have you tried uninstalling it and seeing if your computer runs faster? If there is no noticeable difference, you can always reinstall it.

Edit: Also, could you scroll down your startup programs and processes and snip them to show more of what you have running? Thanks.

That's actually all of the startup options that are checked. The bottom one says "Bluetooth Software".

Didn't know that about ZA. I may try uninstalling that to see if it makes things faster.

 

[usinjin]

I would definitely recommend downloading and installing the free version of Malwarebytes given in the link in my previous post. Run the full scan (it takes 2-3 hours to run on a 500 GB drive if it is not too full).

Did install Malwarebytes, it did find an infection and took care of that which is good.

 

[writhziden]

Could you post your Malwarebytes log? You will find it in C:\Users\(Your administrator user)\AppData\Roaming\Malwarebytes\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\Logs

Also, did the BIOS update help your problem, make it worse, or stay the same?

 

[usinjin]

So I have a question about BIOS settings. I've heard all different answers on this one, but what SATA setting should I be using if I have a single drive? There's AHCI, IDE, and RAID. Probably not AHCI, but I've heard that the motherboard uses the RAID controller for all SATA drives, so even with a single drive it should be set to RAID. Is this a good idea?

 

[usinjin]

Could you post your Malwarebytes log? You will find it in C:\Users\(Your administrator user)\AppData\Roaming\Malwarebytes\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\Logs

Also, did the BIOS update help your problem, make it worse, or stay the same?

Still waiting for the BIOS download to finish, but here's the Malwarebytes log.

 

[writhziden]

So I have a question about BIOS settings. I've heard all different answers on this one, but what SATA setting should I be using if I have a single drive? There's AHCI, IDE, and RAID. Probably not AHCI, but I've heard that the motherboard uses the RAID controller for all SATA drives, so even with a single drive it should be set to RAID. Is this a good idea?

It sometimes varies with computers. If you can use AHCI, this provides the best performance but may have compatibility issues. RAID is usually only used if you have multiple drives. IDE is the most stable. My answer would be: Whichever gives you the best performance and least compatibility issues.

 

[usinjin]

So I have a question about BIOS settings. I've heard all different answers on this one, but what SATA setting should I be using if I have a single drive? There's AHCI, IDE, and RAID. Probably not AHCI, but I've heard that the motherboard uses the RAID controller for all SATA drives, so even with a single drive it should be set to RAID. Is this a good idea?

It sometimes varies with computers. If you can use AHCI, this provides the best performance but may have compatibility issues. RAID is usually only used if you have multiple drives. IDE is the most stable. My answer would be: Whichever gives you the best performance and least compatibility issues.

DO I need to reinstall windows to switch to AHCI/IDE mode?

 

[writhziden]

So I have a question about BIOS settings. I've heard all different answers on this one, but what SATA setting should I be using if I have a single drive? There's AHCI, IDE, and RAID. Probably not AHCI, but I've heard that the motherboard uses the RAID controller for all SATA drives, so even with a single drive it should be set to RAID. Is this a good idea?

It sometimes varies with computers. If you can use AHCI, this provides the best performance but may have compatibility issues. RAID is usually only used if you have multiple drives. IDE is the most stable. My answer would be: Whichever gives you the best performance and least compatibility issues.

DO I need to reinstall windows to switch to AHCI/IDE mode?

That is a good question, and I'm glad you asked before doing anything. The answer is no, but you will need to make some changes to your system to avoid getting a Blue Screen when booting into Windows. Let me see if I can find something in the forums related to this and post back.

 

[writhziden]

I was unable to find anything in sevenforums related to the RAID AHCI mode, but I did find this on MicrosoftAnswers.

"Changing from RAID to AHCI, you need one more step. Msahci driver requires Atapi.sys miniport to be loaded during boot as well. So you need to change theStart value to 0 for both of the following entries in your registry. You can use regedit.exe utility.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi
Or you can also simply run the below command lines in an elevated window.
REG ADD HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci /v Start /d 0 /f /t REG_DWORD
REG ADD HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi /v Start /d 0 /f /t REG_DWORD"

 

[writhziden]

If you change from RAID to AHCI and your computer will no longer boot, you may have to do a repair install of Windows 7. See http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

Edit: Make sure you have the right Windows 7 DVD for your computer. You need one with service pack 1 integrated if you have service pack 1 installed. If you do not have a DVD with Service Pack 1 available, search google for official windows 7 dvd iso and you can legally download the appropriate iso file.

Before you go changing your hard drive settings, however, may I recommend one more thing to try (if none of my previous suggestions helped). Look at http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-optimize-windows-7-a.html

 

[usinjin]

I was unable to find anything in sevenforums related to the RAID AHCI mode, but I did find this on MicrosoftAnswers.

"Changing from RAID to AHCI, you need one more step. Msahci driver requires Atapi.sys miniport to be loaded during boot as well. So you need to change theStart value to 0 for both of the following entries in your registry. You can use regedit.exe utility.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi
Or you can also simply run the below command lines in an elevated window.
REG ADD HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci /v Start /d 0 /f /t REG_DWORD
REG ADD HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi /v Start /d 0 /f /t REG_DWORD"

Nice. Thanks a million. I think I'm going to try this after the BIOS finishes.

 

[writhziden]

Nice. Thanks a million. I think I'm going to try this after the BIOS finishes.

Make sure you read my above post first. Also, backup your user files to an external drive before changing your hard drive configuration, just in case.

 

[usinjin]

Nice. Thanks a million. I think I'm going to try this after the BIOS finishes.

Make sure you read my above post first. Also, backup your user files to an external drive before changing your hard drive configuration, just in case.

Sure thing. I went ahead and turned on AHCI, computer does seem a little faster.

 

[writhziden]

Sure thing. I went ahead and turned on AHCI, computer does seem a little faster.

Glad to see you received some performance boost. Is Windows stable so far?