Solved Laptop running very slowly with 0% cpu usage

[KrozzHair]

My Acer laptop started to run extremely slowly, taking several minutes to do simple things as opening a folder or Google Chrome D:

I dont think my CPU or my RAM is a problem, since it is using about 0% cpu usage and 30% of my RAM.

I have run several anti-virus scans with both Avast! and Malwarebytes, but neither of them found anything

This problem appeared over night. One day it was doing just fine, and BOOM, the next morning, complete meltdown. i could only boot in safe mode, and it gave me a BSOD 3 times.

It has made a slow recovery of its own since then, and i can run it in normal mode. However it is still too slow to do pretty much anything...
Now, i know this isnt the best of PC´s, but it has never in its 2 year old life screwed me over like it is now...

I have two primary suspects here. one being that the harddrive is half broken, but im not sure how much sense that makes (ps. i have 120gb free). The other one being a process called csrss.exe, wich im suspecting may be a virus. ( csrss.exe Windows process - What is it? )

I hope someone can help me! i need this PC for school work

 

[Northernsoul55]

Hi KrozzHair,

Try downloading and running Advanced windows care, which should help speed up your computer and sort out any registry problems...and its free :
Advanced SystemCare - CNET Download.com


If your getting BSODs its usually either driver or hardware related, firstly make sure all your drivers are uptodate and are correct for your system.

Let me know how you get on,

Cheers

 

[Thorsen]

I would suggest using a bootable CD like Ubuntu to see if it is slow there too. Ubuntu liveCD won't use the HDD so if you still see slowness there that might be it. one sign of a dying HDD is sluggishness so that could be it.

Meet Ubuntu | Ubuntu

csrss.exe is a system file so that should be fine, only when it is located outside of the windows system folders like system32 is it suspect. Client/Server Runtime Subsystem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

but so many virii use this name that it is good to check.

There also might be a different virus that has been spread around recently. it uses 100% cpu, but disappears when you run taskmanager: http://www.sevenforums.com/performa...5-cpu-stuck-100-unless-task-manager-open.html

 

[KrozzHair]

Thanks for the quick responses!
I will look into it tomorrow

 

[KrozzHair]

Sorry for the missing updates, but i have an exam coming up next week, and i have been busy :/

I have updated my sound driver and 6 windows updates. this didnt seem to make a difference, tho.

I installed Advanced SystemCare on my laptop, and one thing i am noticing is, that the Disk usage is very inconsistent (It´s spiking). I dont know if this is normal, or is the result of a damaged HDD. I just ran a full scan/repair cycle, and it didnt find any viruses.

I also noticed, that my laptop seems to speed up quite a bit after staying on for >1 hour. I´m not sure why this is. I know it is not the fastest PC in the world, but its usual startup time is below 4 minutes.

I will hold you updated as often as i can!

 

[Thorsen]

4 minutes startup time is pretty high. I would say you might have a driver issue or something else slowing down the startup.

Also, good luck on the exam!

 

[KrozzHair]

My laptop have made a magical recovery of its own, and now runs completely normal again

Here is a list of the things that i tried:

-Installed windows updates and my sound driver
-Installed and ran Advanced SystemCare
-Ran a bazillion virus scans, no result.
-Waited a lot

Thanks so much for the help guys

(btw my exam went great. got a 12(A on the US scale))

 

[Northernsoul55]

My laptop have made a magical recovery of its own, and now runs completely normal again

Here is a list of the things that i tried:

-Installed windows updates and my sound driver
-Installed and ran Advanced SystemCare
-Ran a bazillion virus scans, no result.
-Waited a lot

Thanks so much for the help guys

(btw my exam went great. got a 12(A on the US scale))

Hey,

great news on both laptop and exam, now uninstall Advanced SystemCare, and your good to go
use this utility:
http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility
cheers

Dave

 

[KrozzHair]

Why should i uninstall Advanced SystemCare and Avast! ?

 

[Northernsoul55]

Why should i uninstall Advanced SystemCare and Avast! ?

Hi KrozzHair,

Advanced System Care in my opinion, "gets you out of jail" a one time fix (not a good one but sometimes desperate measures get results). Best you remove it as it can do more harm than good in the long term.

If your happy with Avast and its running fine then leave it be, up to you, the reason I said uninstall is so you can install Microsoft Essentials:
(Sorry for the confusion)
Microsoft Essentials:
Recommended from a strict BSOD perspective, compatibility & stability compared to other antiviruses/internet security software

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/pc-security/mse.aspx

Hope this helps clear thing up

cheers


Dave