Why did my processor performance drop?

[jwhite1984]

Just yesterday I noticed that my Windows experience index scored my processor at a 2.9 when it has always been way higher than that. It caused me to investigate and download a program called CPUID to see how my processor was actually running, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get it to go higher than 800MHz. As of recent my laptop has been getting extremely hot and sometimes overheating and shutting down (even though I can hear the fan running)... Is it possible that my computer is running so hot that it's attempting to protect itself from overheating by locking my computer to run no higher than 800Mhz?

I have a Gateway NV53 with an AMD Athlon II Duel-Core M300 2.00GHz that is running Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

 

[AddRAM]

It`s quite possible, you should get it cleaned.

 

[quickdraw2011]

Did you try using compressed air to clean the fan intakes?

Should be cleaned monthly.