All I have selected for start up is my security software, yet it's taking over 10 minutes to start up. I thought that if I reduced some of the services, it would speed up the start up. I guess I don't understand how step #3 on the troubleshooting is supposed to work. I know there are services that I don't need. Should I re-enable the services I disabled?
Would a bad sector cause the whole computer to slow down?
The issues you're encountering may very well be due to hardware. As mentioned earlier by others it could be a failing drive. You could spend many hours trying to fix your software and end up realizing it was a waste of time because your drive was bad (and maybe even aggravating the situation).
As you've already got all your data backed up somewhere else it's a good time to test that drive. If the drive is on its way out you want to minimize access to it (to allow for a chance to recover your apps intact).
Just to be sure, I'd confirm your memory was good. Memory affects everything so it's worthwhile to ensure it's good:
RAM - Test with Memtest86+
If the memory checks out okay I'd try to make an image of that drive so that I could restore it to a new drive:
Imaging with free Macrium
If you can successfully create an image you've got a way to be able to restore it to a new drive if need be. That way all of your installed apps are restored with the image, complete with all of the licenses/personalized settings/etc, as well as your data.
Then I would test that hard drive with the diagnostics app from the manufacturer (use the download that runs under DOS from a bootdisk):
Software Utilities
Disabling some of the programs within the Startup tab will give you a faster and cleaner boot, and is meant to help diagnose if a program is causing a problem, however, I mostly suggested it to make sure that every part of Windows was tested and to make your computer slightly easier to work with.
Follow F5ing's great suggestion, memory is a very common problem when applications begin to fail or the operating system slows down.
Wish remembered that earlier
You've been very helpful, Blue Robot.
Can I use the software utility to test the hard drive now?
Blue Robot must've had to go take care of something; he dropped offline about an hour ago.
You can run tests on the hard drive. Just make sure to only run the non-destructive tests that it provides. That way the only harm that can occur will only happen if the drive really is going bad (reducing chances of data recovery -- that's why I mentioned trying to make an image of it first).
Okay, thanks F5ing. I'll run the memtest tonight then the image and then check the hard drive. It's good to know why it's done a certain way.
Sorry I went to collegeand keep us informed, hope everything gets sorted soon!
Memtest went okay. No errors in seven passes. On to imaging.
So, do I download Macrium to the disc that I am imaging to? And does that disc need to start with no other files on it? It currently is being used as my backup.
Last edited by Hairfallingout; 17 Oct 2012 at 15:04.
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