XP (Window MCE 2004) very very slow!

[nandrews]

I have put up with a slow PC for a few weeks (looking at an anti
spyware prog which seeemed to cause the slow down).
Now the PC has become almost immposible to use.
Booting up takes about 20-30 mins!
Opening just a browser window takes about 2 mins!
During nearly all this time the hard disk light is constantly on.

The same applies even booting into safe mode!

I have recently run a chkdsk and defrag (when the PC was just slow). It
would be almost immposible to run those now without it taking days.

Is there a way I can isolate what is causing this.

Note. All the stages of booting up take ages, it's not just once
Windows is running.

Thanks
Nigel

 

[R. McCarty]

Slow even in Safe Mode, I would unplug all your external type
peripherals and disconnect the Ethernet cable from your NIC.
This sounds suspiciously like a Trojan process. Once your get
it booted, run TaskMgr, Processes (TAB) and check the box
"Show Processes from All Users" at the bottom/left corner of
the Taskmgr window. If the following data fields aren't enabled
turn them on by clicking View, Add Columns - check these:
I/O Writes
CPU Time
Threads
Handles
Peak Memory Usage
Try to match the CPU Time with I/O Writes and note the process
name. Also tally up the total number of processes (should be ~25)
and post back that info. It would also help to know what real
time Security software you have running (A/V, Firewall).