Windows 7 Suddenly Slow with Low CPU Usage

[Zrode]

Hello,
I recently installed Windows Live Essentials 2012 on my desktop computer, this was 2 days ago. After I had restarted my computer I noticed everything had slowed down drastically. Programs that I before could open in a few seconds took up to an hour to run. At first I thought it was Live Essentials that was causing this so I unistalled all of it's programs. This seemed to solve the problem for a while, but the next day my computer was slow again, just like it was when before.

I checked task manager, and my CPU remains at 0 - 5% as normal. Physical memory is at 21% currently. The LED light showing the disk drive symbol is on constantly. Every few seconds it will flicker and I can hear that disk drive working sound. If I am moving my cursor when this happens it will freeze for a moment.

So far I have tried doing a system restore in safe mode (I got the error saying system restore did not complete successfully when I tried out of safe mode) and defragmenting my disk drive. Neither have made a difference. If anyone could shed some light on what I should do that would be a great help.

 

[whs]

Have a look what's going on with your disk - use Resource Monitor > Disk tab

 

[Zrode]

Ok, I have the resource monitor open, I don't see anything out of the ordinary other than the spikes.

 

[whs]

Hmm, there is indeed not much going on. Maybe you caught it at the wrong time. If your control light flickers all the time, there must be some more disk activity.

If the CPU does nothing and the disk does nothing, it is hard to say what could be slowing your system. Maybe there is a disk problem of some sort. Suggest you run chkdisk C: /r in command prompt. Maybe that yields something.

 

[windude99]

Try running a malware scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
Install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware:
1. Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware from here: Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.70 - FileHippo.com
2. Go through the installer and at the end of the installer, uncheck Enable free trial of Malwarebytes PRO.

Once it is installed, click on perform full scan, and then click on Scan.

 

[Zrode]

Chkdsk just finished, noticed it remove some bad files. So far looks like everything is running as usuall. Hopefully it stays this way.

 

[whs]

That's good to hear.

 

[Zrode]

Looks like I've spoken too soon. My computer has suddenly started running slow again. Should I try running chkdsk again or is there something else I can do?

 

[whs]

It will not hurt to run a second chkdsk. But if this persisit, there may be something wrong with yout disk. Do you have a second physical disk in this sytem.

 

[Zrode]

There is a disk with a factory image used for recovery but that the only other one

 

[whs]

There is a disk with a factory image used for recovery but that the only other one

This is not a physical disk. This is just another partition on the same disk. If that problem persisits, you may look at shopping for a new disk.

Because, if there is no CPU utilization and no significant disk activity, my guess would be that your disk is 'hanging' somewhere. But try to get a second opinion on that.

Did you do the virus scan that was suggested.

 

[Zrode]

Yes I did the virus scan, it turned up nothing. The problem seems to be on and off. Right now my computer is running fine, but an hour ago it was slow. Should I just wait and see for now or could that cause damage to the disk?

 

[whs]

Nah, it won't damage the disk. But since we really don't know the true cause of the problem, I suggest to observe it some more. Maybe you can find a pattern.

It may also be 'hanging' in the internet. So keep that possibility in mind. We do not have much to go by.

Look also into the Event Viewer > Summary of Critical Events whether there is anything noteworthy. You get to the Event Viewer when you press Start > right click on Computer > Manage. Then it is on the top left.