File access very slow...

J

jdebeau

All of a sudden, accessing files on my hard drive or USB flash drive has
slowed down considerably. It takes at least 5 seconds to open even the
simplest Word doc. I ran several programs: anti virus, malware, spybot, reg
cure, disk cleanup, defrag etc... My next step is to reinstall Windows which
I don't want to do. Any suggestions?
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

All of a sudden, accessing files on my hard drive or USB flash drive has
slowed down considerably. It takes at least 5 seconds to open even the
simplest Word doc. I ran several programs: anti virus, malware, spybot, reg
cure, disk cleanup, defrag etc...


Exactly what programs did you run? Tell us their names, not just their
types.


My next step is to reinstall Windows which
I don't want to do. Any suggestions?


There's a good chance you're infected with malware, but there's far
from enough info to be sure.
 
P

peter

My God!!!
a whole 5 seconds...your wasting your whole life waiting for that program to
open!!!

peter
 
O

Olórin

Wouldn't you think a *sudden* slow-down like this worth investigating? I'd
certainly be curious as to the cause, too, and not because of the time it's
"costing" me.
 
J

jdebeau

Hey Ken,

1) MS Disk Cleanup
2) Regtools' Antimalware
3) Regtool Scan & Clean
4) Hijackthis
5) CA Antivirus
6) Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
7) Spybot Search & Destroy
8) MS Disk Defragmenter
9) Removed, cleaned and re-seated all hardware on my motherboard

No virus, malware, spybot detected...
 
J

jdebeau

My files used to snap open in less than 1 second. I was guessing at 5
seconds, so I actually timed it just for you... When I open My Documents and
click a folder, it takes 8 seconds to open. Then I click on a Word doc and
it takes another 18 seconds to open. Try bouncing back and forth between
files when it takes 26 seconds!!! Yes Peter that is a big time waste!!!
 
D

Daave

jdebeau said:
All of a sudden, accessing files on my hard drive or USB flash drive
has slowed down considerably. It takes at least 5 seconds to open
even the simplest Word doc. I ran several programs: anti virus,
malware, spybot, reg cure, disk cleanup, defrag etc... My next step
is to reinstall Windows which I don't want to do. Any suggestions?

Configure a clean boot:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

How long does it take to open files now?

How large is your hard drive and how much free space is on there?

How much RAM do you have installed?

Which flavor of XP and what Service Pack level?
 
J

jdebeau

Daave,

That did it! When I did the clean boot the problem went away, so I went to
the most likely suspect, the CA Antivirus. I uninstalled the CA, and
installed AVG Antivirus, and poof, my computer is back to normal.

Thanks!
 
D

Daave

Nice detective work! Thanks for letting us know.
Daave,

That did it! When I did the clean boot the problem went away, so I
went to the most likely suspect, the CA Antivirus. I uninstalled the
CA, and installed AVG Antivirus, and poof, my computer is back to
normal.

Thanks!
 

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