System becomes slow, music becomes slow and distorted

[donnuel]

Hello,
I noticed about a month ago that my Hp windows 7 desktop pc kept trying to connect to the internet using explorer, I then scaned the pc using norton and foun noting so perfomed a system restore and the problem stoped.Now when using the computer it sometimes becomes very slow and the mouse lags and if I am playing music at the time, the sound becomes slow and badly distorted high screeching sounds. I have tried system restore, hardware diagnostics and facory reset but the problem is still there. This problem(s) don`t occur all the time, just when i think everything is ok it starts again. I need help please!!!!!!!!

 

[AntiZig]

can you turn on task manager and check which process is using the most CPU when this slow down is happening?

(to get task manager hit Ctrl + Shift + Esc) go to processes tab and sort the column named CPU in descending order so the processes with highest numbers are at the top.

 

[donnuel]

ok i turn on task manager and here are the processes using the most cpu # defered procedure calls and interupt service routines cpu usage is around 0.40 to 1.3% and resource and performance monitor cpu usage around 0.30 to 0.80% cpu is an i7 870 @2.93ghz. Ram is 6gb and the overall cpu usage is about 4%. Last night the system became to slow and i alot of hard faults for the first from explorer.exe and svchost.exe and some other processes that i can't remember. I tried to shut down and it too ages to logout, i restarted the machine and windows was taking so long to boot but i could still access the bios so i tried safe mode but the drivers was taking forever to load so i ran system diagnostics and everything was ok i then ran diagnostics for the ram, found noting wrong the system restarted automatically booted windows like noting is wrong, i check the perfmon and the hard faults where still there, they reduced in number and then stopped. Now am thinking that it might be a virus. What do you think.

 

[AntiZig]

I agree it might be a virus

it could also be HDD or RAM issues.

 

[poofypants]

Yeh, it's a virus. Reinstall windows. Not restore, reinstall. At least that how i do it. This wont wipe out all your data, window 7 puts it in a folder called old. U just have to reinstall all your software. Then u have brand new computer.

I partition my hard drive into 2 sections just for this occasion. 1 for windows, and 1 for everything else. So i can just reinstall with min hassle.

hope this helps.

 

[donnuel]

How can i be sure that it`s a HHD or RAM issue? please be patient with me cos i am not tech savvy. Are there any third party tools that i can use?

 

[donnuel]

Ok. if I reinstall windows and old folder is created will the virus become inactive or can just delete the windows old folder?

 

[MundoDragon]

If it is a virus, I wouldn't trust anything in the 'old' folder, as the culprit is probably hiding in there. Besides, the real way to reinstall is with a clean format, and with a clean format, you cannot have an 'old' folder.

 

[AntiZig]

best way is to back up all your files, wipe the HDD clean during windows installation, then install antivirus, then copy over your old files from backup and scan everything with AV. But I'd recommend to run anti-virus/ anti spyware progs before wiping your whole system to confirm that it's a virus. Chances are it could be a corrupted windows installation that has got nothing to do with viruses.

if you don't have any that you are using right now here's a few free ones that are good

Free anti-virus:
-avast
-AVG
-Microsoft Security Essentials

Free anti-spyware/anti-malware:
-malware bytes
-spybot search & destroy
-super anti-spyware

for ram, basically you want to check that your BIOS settings for ram are exactly what the settings are written on the ram sticks.

HDD I don't have a program in mind that I know will work for sure, but you can try a few of these links:
-HDD diagnostics
-Data Lifeguard Diagnostic by WD
also, running a simple scan disk (check disk) could solve simple problems (My computer > right click your drive > properties > Tools)

 

[MundoDragon]

+1 AntiZig 100% agree