Windows running VERY slowas of a couple of days ago

[Guest]

My computer was woring properly last week but I went away for the weekend and
when I came back my computer was running very slow. It takes 5-10 seconds to
click on anything (i.e. to click the start button takes a while and then once
I have selected a program to open that can take up to a minute). Service
pack 2 was installed months ago, and I did not have this problem until just
this week so it does not seem to be related to that.

I am running Windows XP Professional.

Here is what I have tried:
Spybot - downloaded recent updates and ran in regular and safe mode.
Adaware- downloaded recent updates and ran in regular and safe mode.
Norton Antivirus - downloaded recent updates and ran in regular and safe mode.

I deleted all of my cookies and temporary internet files. I have not
defragmented the hard drive, but I just did that about 2 months ago so I
don't think it will help much.

Any help is greatly appreciated, I am at a loss for what to try next since I
don't even know if it is a very well hidden virus or an internal system
problem.

 

[Steve Marshall]

Chery,

In two months your HDD could be very fragmented, especially if you have
SystemRestore turned on.

For example, I defrag my main HDD once a week and find that it has
become fragmented up to 15% in just one week. Take an hour and defrag
the HDD where the OS resides.

It is odd though that it would become very slow almost overnight.

D/L Spywareblaster too and run that.

Steve

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and determine which process is occupying
your processor's time when you click. Post that process here and we'll try
to identify it for you.

 

[Guest]

I watched Task manager for a bit and found out it was my SpySweeper that was
holding everything up. I was using the free trial version but it was past
the trial period so I did not have the latest updates. Maybe that caused it
to malfunction b/c it worked OK during the trial period. After I deleted it
off my system everything seems to be running normal.

Thanks