Decently Terrible Performance (Help me?)

Death1223 said:

Update:
I finished scanning using Malwarebytes and no signs of any viruses.

Assorted anti-virus and malware-related software products seem to look for an assorted variety of clues and problems. As I had alluded to earlier, MSE and Malwarebytes are probably the two least intrusive such always-running always-protecting you products out there, at least as compared to more commercial big-name (but terribly intrusive) alternatives.

Anyway, a one-time scan with Malwarebytes is step #3 of this particular 7-step recipe for examining and cleaning out all types of infestation. Seven different software products are used, and although the previously mentioned ESET used to be part of this recipe (as an eighth step) it no longer is mentioned but shouldn't hurt anything to also run it. I'm suggesting you spend the one-time energy running these scan/clean products, just to gain the benefit of all of their different search targets, perspectives and opinions that they each have.

The goal here is really to get an initial "clean bill of health" malware-wise for your BEAST of a system before seeking out other possible causes for your gradual slowdown symptom, since malware infections are very often directly responsible for such issues, and effective removal of same is unbelievably successful in rejuvenating a system. The fact that you aren't running active anti-virus and anti-malware protections is actually a bit concerning, and possibly quite relevant.

So, starting with a freshly taken "system image" backup just in case something unexpected occurs during the scan/clean sequence, I'd recommend running more than just Malwarebytes scan. I'd recommend following all the steps in that "guide to easily cleaning infections" (and adding ESET), which has been very successful in my own experience when asked by friends to explain why their own systems have slowed to a crawl.

Even if this one-time full scan sequence finds nothing, at least you now have certified proof that whatever your issues eventually turn out to be, they're not caused by malware infections.

I've actually tried MSE before, and the active protection got in the way 2 times before I disabled it. It gave false-positives for certain game files I was playing (might I add they were official and nothing illegal. Both were free online MMORPGs), and I kept getting corruption errors while patching until I disabled active protection. I'll go through those seven steps right now and update this post with the results though.

Also thanks for the information, Layback Bear, good knowledge to have about one's system.

Step 1.
Kaspersky TDSSKiller:


Step 2.
RKill:
Done.

Step 3.
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (Free):


Step 4.
HitmanPro:


Step 5.
AdwCleaner:

Done. Deleted some Registry values.

Step 6.
RogueKiller:

Done. Deleted some Suspicious.Path Tasks

Step 7.
EMSISoft Emergency Kit:

The AV detected 8 Suspicious Files, which I deleted.
It also found two "trojans" which I think was a false positive since It's the official EverQuest... and I am pretty sure MotionJoy isn't a virus, let alone a trojan.


I deleted them anyways, and uninstalled EverQuest since I only played it once.


And completely finished. Everything came back fairly clean. Even without active anti-viruses I have decent intellect when it comes to avoiding viruses. I've operated without an active anti-virus for most of my computer's life. Just takes a little common sense to not infect yourself, and I do weekly maintenance which does include RogueKiller(I usually run MalwareBytes then RogueKiller weekly.)


Thanks for your help so far, I really do appreciate it.

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[Bonus] Step 8.
ESET Free Online Scanner:


All of the "threats" it found were programs that would translate games I play. I play Japanese Visual Novels and don't know their language well enough to play them without the help of 3rd party help, so I use the programs which "hook" onto the visual novel and translate it real-time for me. Also this scan took a LONG time, so sorry about that!

Oh, I know why it detected it as a false positive is what I was saying. It hooks onto the program and reads the data. It's definitely not an infected file. I can tell you that much. I did however re-download it cleanly from the official site after the AV deleted it.

Now going about this msconfig thing will be a little difficult considering how many services I have.
I got this from CCleaner which I'm actually able to resize and get it all in one screenshot(It's the same exact start-up as msconfig. I double checked) but there are SO many non-microsoft services that it's a little difficult.

Start-up:


Here's my attempt at the services:
(Thrown together a bunch of screenshots in paint)


Let me know what you think!

Thank you again for this. Much appreciated.

Death1223 said:

Oh, I know why it detected it as a false positive is what I was saying. It hooks onto the program and reads the data. It's definitely not an infected file. I can tell you that much. I did however re-download it cleanly from the official site after the AV deleted it.

You should be able to report a false-positive to the AV vendor so they can fix their definitions if it is a false-positive.

All AVs I've used allow adding files/folders to an exclusion list, so they will not be scanned.