Windows 7 has slowed to a crawl

[makeshiftpat]

Windows 7 has slowed to a crawl. It may work pretty fine for about 10 or 20 minutes and then will slow way down, such as trying to scroll down, it may take 30 seconds for the page to react or to open up another tab that might take 2 or 3 minutes. I can open all my programs, but none run normally anymore.

It first happened while using Firefox and then I tried out IE, but that only worked fine for 20 minutes and then started doing the same as Firefox.

This has been going on for 3 days now. When I first turn on the computer it seems to work alright, but that does not last.

Any help/suggestions would greatly be apprecitated. As of now I don't know if it is maybe a driver or a virus. What can I do to find out more? Thank you for any help received. i will send you rep. Thank you

 

[DeaconFrost]

If you think it is a virus, run a scan with your current AV app, or download the free Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Does the slowdown occur when using any program, or just with a web-browser? When the slowdown occurs, can you open Task Manager to see if any one process or chewing up the CPU time?

 

[soho1]

Did you change anything recently regarding Indexing? Or schedule and backup activities?

Suggestion: run EVENTVWR.EXE and watch to see what is going on at the time of the slow-down. Everything in the event log is timestamped, so you should be able to match your system clock to the start of the problems even if you need to reboot and review the past history.

 

[Kirsch]

I understand you said it runs fine right away, but i would still suggest looking at your startup tab in msconfig and unchecking anything you dont want to load right away when windows starts

Click start > Type msconfig and hit enter > Click the startup tab > UNCHECK anything you do NOT want to start when windows first loads > Click OK > Restart

 

[makeshiftpat]

I understand you said it runs fine right away, but i would still suggest looking at your startup tab in msconfig and unchecking anything you dont want to load right away when windows starts

Click start > Type msconfig and hit enter > Click the startup tab > UNCHECK anything you do NOT want to start when windows first loads > Click OK > Restart

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried that yesterday and it did not help. I also set my computer to focus on performance and not on visual. (I think I used the wrong vocabulary there, but I hope you understand what I mean.)

Thank you

 

[makeshiftpat]

Did you change anything recently regarding Indexing? Or schedule and backup activities?

Suggestion: run EVENTVWR.EXE and watch to see what is going on at the time of the slow-down. Everything in the event log is timestamped, so you should be able to match your system clock to the start of the problems even if you need to reboot and review the past history.

I haven't changed anything. Here are the event ids that I noticed started when the same problem started. I can give you details if needed, but for now I will just give you their numbers:
1001, 4107, 46, 1000, 15, 4103, 2, 500 and 501

 

[makeshiftpat]

If you think it is a virus, run a scan with your current AV app, or download the free Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Does the slowdown occur when using any program, or just with a web-browser? When the slowdown occurs, can you open Task Manager to see if any one process or chewing up the CPU time?

I have run Avira free and malwarebytes anit malware free editions and it has shown no problems. I already had those installed and running at the time this problem occurred and I have ran them since.

I will try to look at the Task Manager. To see what is chewing up time, I just look at the Kb used? or the number under CPU.

 

[Shadowjk]

Does the problem happen in safe mode?

To get into safe mode restart your computer and press F8 repeatedly then select safe mode and report back

Hope This Helps,
Josh

 

[makeshiftpat]

Does the problem happen in safe mode?

To get into safe mode restart your computer and press F8 repeatedly then select safe mode and report back

Hope This Helps,
Josh

Just tried safe mode. Everything runs smoothly in safe mode.

 

[makeshiftpat]

If you think it is a virus, run a scan with your current AV app, or download the free Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Does the slowdown occur when using any program, or just with a web-browser? When the slowdown occurs, can you open Task Manager to see if any one process or chewing up the CPU time?

I have run Avira free and malwarebytes anit malware free editions and it has shown no problems. I already had those installed and running at the time this problem occurred and I have ran them since.

I will try to look at the Task Manager. To see what is chewing up time, I just look at the Kb used? or the number under CPU.

It occurs when using WMP, IE and Firefox. I played Caesar 3 last night for more than an hour and it ran smoothly.

 

[makeshiftpat]

If you think it is a virus, run a scan with your current AV app, or download the free Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Does the slowdown occur when using any program, or just with a web-browser? When the slowdown occurs, can you open Task Manager to see if any one process or chewing up the CPU time?

Under Task Manager System Idle Process is between 60 and 90 cpu. Is that normal?
wmpnetwk.exe is running constantly at 50 CPU and 900,000 K. I do not even have WMP open. Is that anything to look at? Should I end the process.

 

[makeshiftpat]

Hello?

 

[merkat106]

If you think it is a virus, run a scan with your current AV app, or download the free Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Does the slowdown occur when using any program, or just with a web-browser? When the slowdown occurs, can you open Task Manager to see if any one process or chewing up the CPU time?

Under Task Manager System Idle Process is between 60 and 90 cpu. Is that normal?
wmpnetwk.exe is running constantly at 50 CPU and 900,000 K. I do not even have WMP open. Is that anything to look at? Should I end the process.

I would try that.

 

[merkat106]

Disable wmpnetwork (and any other wmp task)in startup. Uninstall and reinstall Firefox and with IE, since it is a part of the os, perhaps update it.

Also, with both browsers, disable all plugins/addons. IE: Tools->manage add-ons Firefox: tools->add-ins->plugins (or use firefox safemode - which is in the start menu)

Also, I would use the following programs to cleanup/defragment the computer: ccleaner & auslogics disk defrag

 

[Internet Badass]

I might be having the same problem as you. Except I only notice it on web browsers, not while playing video games, and speedtest.net says i have a down speed of around 10mbps

 

[makeshiftpat]

Disable wmpnetwork (and any other wmp task)in startup. Uninstall and reinstall Firefox and with IE, since it is a part of the os, perhaps update it.

Also, with both browsers, disable all plugins/addons. IE: Tools->manage add-ons Firefox: tools->add-ins->plugins (or use firefox safemode - which is in the start menu)

Also, I would use the following programs to cleanup/defragment the computer: ccleaner & auslogics disk defrag

Under msconfig, there is no wmpn task in startup shown. I ended process tree of wmpnetwk in the task manager, but it shows back up again.

Uninstalled and reinstalled firefox (I didn't remove my firefox personal data and customization - I hope that doesn't matter)

I assume IE is up to date if it gets updated weekly with the automatic windows updates - let me know if there is a manual update I need to do.

Disabled ALL plug-ins/add-ons

Ran the ccleaner cleaner. Downloaded and ran auslogics disk defrag (2.38% fragmentation down to 0%)

 

[makeshiftpat]

Disable wmpnetwork (and any other wmp task)in startup. Uninstall and reinstall Firefox and with IE, since it is a part of the os, perhaps update it.

Also, with both browsers, disable all plugins/addons. IE: Tools->manage add-ons Firefox: tools->add-ins->plugins (or use firefox safemode - which is in the start menu)

Also, I would use the following programs to cleanup/defragment the computer: ccleaner & auslogics disk defrag

Everything seems to be working fine or at least much better. Thank you for all your help. If it slows down again I will post another message and I hope you are not too busy to respond, if not, you have done plenty already and I thank you.

 

[makeshiftpat]

I might be having the same problem as you. Except I only notice it on web browsers, not while playing video games, and speedtest.net says i have a down speed of around 10mbps

I have not had problems during video games. I suggest you try everything I have tried.

 

[karlsnooks]

If you are still having that problem, then disable your AV program. As far as catching the common existing viruses Avira is excellent, however, Avira has been know to slow a computer down.

A non-interfering, excellent, free AV is Microsoft Security Essentials.
Microsoft Security Essentials Virus, Spyware & Malware Protection

 

[Internet Badass]

I might be having the same problem as you. Except I only notice it on web browsers, not while playing video games, and speedtest.net says i have a down speed of around 10mbps

I have not had problems during video games. I suggest you try everything I have tried.

Im running auslogics now and about to download ccleaner