Bizarre Problem in Windows Explorer

[CardinalRed]

I have a very strange issue in Windows 7 which I am hoping you can help with. General symptoms are that the system is just running incredibly slowly at times, and has actually driven me to go for an upgrade. Examples of the kinds of things happening now are:

• When I open my computer, I get a slow moving green bar across the address bar and cannot access any of the drives until it is done
• Apps pinned to the taskbar take ages to open - Kodi the other day took 45 minutes to open
• The system takes upwards of 30 minutes to shut down
• I can't install new items - for instance, trying to install a Java update, the installer took 45 minutes "Computing space requirements" before I cancelled it
• Windows Update won't work - on the shutdown last night (after taking 25 minutes to get to the shutting down screen) I went to bed at 0% installing 1 of 15 updates.... when I got up 9 hours later it was still at 0%
• I can't install Win10 upgrade - it paused at "starting download" for almost 24 hours
• Explorer will crash and then I cannot get it to restart either through Command Lines or the Run menu from Task Manager

There are others too but that's a fair example.

Anyway I was setting up my Install folder for my new PC which will contain all the apps etc I want to install. This meant moving lots of downloads from my Download folder into a USB drive for easy access. That's when I noticed some of the following actions:

• There is no refresh at all - so for example, I click on New Folder and nothing happens. I click it again 20 times in frustration. Then I go back in the folder and there are 21 New folders
• When I rename, same thing happens - have to refresh to see it
• If I press F2, then rename the New Folder, it still shows New Folder on the screen. But if i try to move that folder, it tells me it doesn't exist (same for files)
• If I try to move items into New Folder after I have renamed it (but not refreshed) it CREATES a new New folder and moves the file in

So before I drop a few hundred quid on a new build, is something obvious and fixable going on here?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[alphaniner]

I've seen similar symptoms to your first set when mapped drives and other kinds of networked storage malfunction, and similar symptoms to your second set when a USB device connected at only USB1 speeds.

Problems with your [primary] HDD could also cause these kinds of issues, and if your C: drive is nearly full that could exascerbate things.

 

[torchwood]

Hi CardinalRed,
Sounds to me like the W10 download is backing everything up.
first question do you want to upgrade to W10??, if so shoot over to our W10 sister site and check out the different types of install.

Staying with W7?, we need to go a different route, ie removing the 10 download and stopping the upgrade option.

your choice.

Roy

 

[CardinalRed]

Hi, no I have no real desire to upgrade; just doing it in the hope that it fixed this problem to be honest!

Alphaniner, no issue with space on the C: drive - 323GB free

 

[torchwood]

Hi CR,
whats your oldest restore point?,(check the box bottom left to show additional restore points),
or have an earlier system image?

Roy

 

[CardinalRed]

Hi Torchwood,

I don't use system back ups; my data backups are done weekly but I am guessing that is not relevant here.

 

[torchwood]

Thats always handy.

Right lets start,
Change wu settings to never.
from an elevated command mode run these commands

net stop wuauserv

net stop bits

now to get rid of the pending files
delete the files (updates) in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\>>downloads<< only

you may get an error message, dont worry we'll just reboot to clear them, not yet


Right lets use this prog to stop W10
Download GWX Control Panel - MajorGeeks
once youve set it up

REBOOT


restart the services

net start wuauserv

net start bits

reset WU to your normal settings.

Hopefully that should speed up your comp.

Roy

 

[CardinalRed]

Hi thanks.

I tried that and to no avail.

The first section went well.

On reboot, I noticed that there was no need to restart the services (they both said they were already running) and when I went into WU it was back to install default (recommended). The GWX control panel said all the right things though about Windows 10 update.

But all the same issues are there unfortunately. Including the 15 Windows 7 updates which won't install when shutting down.

 

[torchwood]

Hi CardinalRed,
When was the last time you performed a FULL AV scan, and what have you got?
If you have Malwarebytes, run a scan now, BUT in the dashboard Dissable Update prior to scan option.
Now as your having download problems, i dont know how well this AV scan will work, run a scan using ESET ONLINE, dissable any other AV's you have.

Roy

 

[CardinalRed]

I have Panda Global Protection - Turns out the last scan was much longer than I expected (it's scheduled weekly) and then it became obvious why.... the scan paused at 10% for 2 hours....

 

[CardinalRed]

Update on this (if anybody is still listening)!

I ran a full deep scan in Safe Mode and it found a couple of suspicious files (mostly relating to Android ROMs I've been playing with) but no infections.

The issue is still around in full mode after reboot.

Totally separately, I have been trying to workout the clock speed of my RAM and downloaded Belarc and CPU-Z to do this. Both froze. Belarc at 10% (no status) but CPU-Z at 65% when it was analysing storage. I don't know if this is relevant!

 

[alphaniner]

Your BIOS may report RAM clock speed.

Considering CPU-Z froze analyzing storage, it might be a good idea to test your storage devices. Depending on the manufacturer, you should be able to find a Windows program and/or a bootable diagnostic utility. That said, while many of the symptoms seem storage related, the situation actually doesn't seem bad enough for a diagnostic to register any issues.

Have you looked for clues in the System Logs?