System crashing/freezing

[markopoloman]

Hi guys n girls - long time user of the forum, but never joined! (although thought I had done years ago!!)

I have a home built watercooled PC that is really got to the point of it being thrown out of the window.

It takes forever to sort its self out after boot up - nothing can be used for at least 5 to 10 minutes as it seems to be doing a million things in the background. (in safe mode I can click on Firefox immediately after booting up and it loads up instantly - not in safe mode takes about 10 mins for firefox!).

I also get occasional momentary freezes.

System specs:

OS: Win 7 Ultimate 64bit
Cpu: i7
Ram: 4gb
Mobo: EVGA 3-way SLi
Gpu: 470GTX
Sound: onboard
Case: Thermaltake Kandalf LCS

Also have 4 hard drives connected.
I use Virgin Media's security software and keep it up to date with regular virus scans and also use Adaware.....

Not sure what other info is needed... can anyone throw some ideas as to what to do to try and sort it out?

 

[kiezz]

well i think you should get rid of virgin media security and get avast , avira or avg they all have free security you can get.
do you maintain your hdd's with defragging and keep your registery clean, avg have a handy program called pc tune up http://www.avg.com/ie-en/avg-pctuneup its not free but easy to use and keeps your pc well maintained.
if your not willing to pay then try something like Ccleaner

 

[Flareside]

A place to start is check what all your computer is trying to start when the computer first turns on. click start->Run and type msconfig. Go to the startup tab in the new window and see what all is in the list. You can turn off a number of the programs set to launch at start up like Adobe google updater office. If you have questions about something on the list you can google it or ask here.

Flare

 

[markopoloman]

Virgin Media Security is free for me - and I think they use AVG/Malwarebytes anyway...
I used Glary Utils to stop some startup stuff and clean the reg.
Looking at the startup now: on startup I have...
Steam
service manager
rocketdock
microsoft intellitype
digital home support. (virgin)

in the services tab there seem to be HUNDREDS of programs running!

 

[kiezz]

sorry i should have explained after i googled virgin media security i seen alot of reviews to say its a resource hog , I didn't mention the other security software cause its free but because i think its better and uses less resource

 

[markopoloman]

Ahh, I see!

Is there some way to find out what all these other things running in the background are doing? Really don't fancy doing a re-install...

 

[Flareside]

I normally just open task manager change tothe processes tab and then start googling anything I dont recognize. www.processlibrary.com is a useful place to llok things up but I am sure others on Toms have better sites.

Flare