Laptop NBA 2k11 running slow when it was fine a few days ago

First, my laptop is not my main computer for gaming, but I use it occasionally when my girlfriend needs my desktop and I want to play NBA 2K11. The game began running very sluggishly when playing (menus are fine), and the fps dropped from 40 fps to 15 fps. It was fine when I played on the 13th of November, but it is now unplayable. I have not changed any of the video settings in the game, so I know that is not the issue.

In the time since it worked, I have installed some video capturing software to work with my Hauppauge HD PVR. Arcsoft TotalMedia Extreme, and Hauppauge WinTV, which includes BlastCfg, Scheduler, and TitanTV Remote Scheduler. I have tried doing a clean disk, check disk, and defrag. Clean disk cleaned up 208 files freeing up ~4GB of space. Check disk found no errors. My files were 1% fragmented, but are now at 0%.

One issue I did find is that my driver is one year out of date, and I cannot find a suitable driver through NVIDIA to fix it. The one that is supposed to go with my graphics card says it cannot find suitable hardware when it scans for the graphics card (yes I ran as administrator).

I have also turned off all non Microsoft services and processes associated with the new software as well as adobe, apple, etc. to no avail. I also changed system startup to not launch any unnecessary programs. I will provide the startup and services images as well.

My system specs are provided in the image attachment.

Anyone who can help, I really appreciate it.

DustSailor said:

Do you have an up-to-date antivirus and have you checked for them (viruses)?

Here is a good link that may help get your computer speed up to par, following it will get you a whole bunch of different fixes for speed: Optimize Windows 7

I wouldn't go as far as to disable services, but to clear your startup folder of all programs (unless you use one or two right away) is a good idea. I would only use system configuration for troubleshooting, but it is your call.

In disk cleanup, there are lists that actually make your computer a tad faster (windows files) so I'd only get rid of stuff like offline files, etc.

In control panel, you don't have programs installed that you don't want or aren't aware of do you? (Avoid uninstalling drivers, etc.)

You have all the most recent and correct drivers installed on your computer? What nvidia product do you have that needs a driver? Are your system specs on this website up to date so I can let you know where to go from here?

My antivirus is up to date, and there are no viruses, just the usual cookies that are marked as low risk.

I will look into optimization, thanks.

The services I disabled were for test purposes. I will start them once I have identified my problem. I do not believe any of the remaining startup programs are the problem since they were installed and starting up before I ran into this problem.

In disk cleanup, I do not remove any of the Microsoft related files needed for the system to run, even if they are for rolling back the system in case the system needs those to return to a restore point.

I am aware of all my installed programs, so I do not believe that to be an issue.

My profile system specs are for my desktop computer. My laptop specs are in the image in my original post. The NVIDIA driver I need is for my graphics card. I downloaded and tried to install the appropriate driver from the website, the driver for the G210M, and was given a message stating something to the effect that it was unable to find the appropriate hardware supported by the driver. I received my only graphics driver update through Windows update, so I am not sure what the issue is with that.

I do have the rest of my drivers as up to date as possible. I go to the sites for the company that sells the product to get most updates. My sound, network, and BIOS are all up to date.

For more information: my laptop is a Sony VAIO VPCCW17FX, and I have checked the support for this model on their site. The only graphics driver on there is for the original driver from July 2009.

Thanks for the help.

Update: I have run the optimization in Optimize Windows 7, and I am still having issues with the game.

Alright, here are my task manager shots, as well as where my windows update is at. I ran sfc /scannow earlier today, and it found no corrupt files. I am in the process of running Malwarebytes' full scan. I will update you as to its output when it finishes.

Edit: And I run Vipre Internet Security 2012 for my antivirus.

Edit 2: The computer does not seem to be overheating. It has been a while since I blew the dust out, though. Perhaps that will be my next step.

I would rather get it working as it was. And lowering the graphics only results in 30 fps (and yes, I paused the scan by Malwarebytes). This is lower than the 40 fps I had with the higher settings, so I still think there is something more going on. It may be that the computer is getting too hot due to dust slowing the fans down, but I still wouldn't expect this much of a drop in performance if that were the case. I will still try blowing it out with my can of air when I am finished with the Malwarebytes' scan.

I do have all of the video capture programs stopped, and I have tried ending other processes run purely by my user Mike. Nada. I am also at a loss as to what is going on. I am fairly knowledgable about Windows, and can usually fix any hangups that occur.

Here is my log from Malwarebytes. No infections found.