Hi,

I have been experiencing a major problem with my system, i currently have WindowsXP pro, valid key and everything, no errors during install.

About a week ago, my computer for some unknown reason started just going horribly slow.

Booting up the computer remained normal, but as soon as i get to the windows XP login screen, thats when it just lags and takes atleast 5-10 minutes just to get type a password and actually get into my desktop.

Then it still takes several minutes to load the small amount of icons i have on my desktop. Once logged into the computer, everything goes horribly slow. Takes forever just to click the start menu, and running any program is soo time consuming its like i might as well go cook a steak n come back.

I did the following things, both in normal operation and also in safe mode.

Defraged, wiped my startup with msconfig, removed all unknown services within msconfig. did virus scans. all that jazz...

My computer remained to go slow slow slow. then i tried viewing my Device Manager, to check if there were any hardware conflicts.

to my surprise the device manager was completely empty, and i also noticed half my services were not loading, so i had no internet.

I decided to reformat, so logged into the recovery console for xp and performed
fixboot/ fixmbr, ect, trying what i could. i then tried format c:, but when i clicked YES to start the format,, it would just go back to the command prompt of C:\WINDOWs\...
and would not format.

finally, frustrated, i tried installing XP and i got some whacked out weird Kernal Error, which i cant remember at the moment.
I eventually tried again and again and got windows XP all completely reinstalled .

This sped my computer up a fraction, which allowed me to run more online virus scans and search for ad/spyware.

So here i am, im on the new install of xp, scanning all my files and what not. atleast all my services are loading and everythings working properly i can surf the net atleast.

But its soo incrediably slow its retarded. I have no idea what to do.

I tried google.com searching " free online virus scanners", im currently scanning with Panda Software website.. ill try the trend micro one or whatever right after.

But anyone have any ideas whats going on?

Its a 20 gig HD, about 5 gigs free...
And no new hardware changes.

I did however installed Zone alarm with anti virus, and my computer was working prime, all speedy cause i was blocking over 300 intrusion attacks in like the first 2 hours upon installation. so that surprised me.

Maybe im just over flowing with spyware n s---?

Well i eventually gkept getting this blue screen of death error with my zone alarm. so then i uninstalled it.. but now i cant try reinstlling it, cause i get this whacked out validation error for vsmonapi.dll or whatnot, a critical file for zone alarm.

So i dont know. if any of you pros out there got any advice or whatnot, leave a message ;)

thanks for reading.

-Jayce

confusion101, SWAG, sounds like you've got some sort of nasty, sounds like you've done most of the scans. One other thing I'd rule out prior to tearing hair is a trojan. Be aware that a virus and a trojan are similar, but not the same. Many times, a virus scanner can detect one it can't clean , other times, it gets missed entirely. There’s an online trojan scanner @:
http://www.trojanscan.com/trojanscan
If it turns out that you have one and need to clean, A² can do the job and you can get it free @:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4281.html
among other places. If it turns out that you need to use it, be sure to update prior to running.
HTH.
Ed in Texas.

I think there is some missing information in your post.

You go from formatting and reinstalling WinXP on a 20GB hard drive and then have only 5GB of free space.
WinXP will use ~1.5GB. That is ~13.5GB of something else.

Is it possible that you set your drive up as 2GB and have used 1.5GB of it leaving no space for the OS to work? It would explain the lack of performance.

Regards,
Bryan

Bryco has a good point. Also, you should check Task Manager -> Performance. You can see how much of your CPU and RAM are being used. You may find that one of your processes has gone crazy and has multiplied itself, so you've ran out of memory and you're using a lot of virtual memory and if your HDD is over 2/3 full this can realy slow down your PC. Also, if your processor is close to 100% for longer then 10 seconds you'll know that it's stuck in some process that windows can't kill off automaticaly. You can then start killing off processes and each time check performance for any changes. Start with less important ones and work your way up.You may find wich process is getting stuck. I once discovered that processor was faulty by doign this. It wuold crash when it loaded certain mathematical operation.
Goodluck

tralalala

Sorry, i meant I TRIED to reformat, but it wouldnt work, it would only return me to the C prompt after executing the format c: command. It would ask me if i want to proceed and i would type Y for yes hit enter, and it wouldnt format.

so then i reinstalled Windows.

I got Asquared,, and iv using that for the last day or so and things seem to be fairly sped up a tiny tiny bit, but still lags for the most part.

OK and well at this moment, i have about 19 process's running, i have about half my ram or memory free. and my CPU usuage is way down at like 3 to 9 percent , it fluctuates, but not that high.

One other symptom i forget to share was my XP tool bar, sometimes goes all weird, and it flickers once or twice then changes colors all on its own.

I mean alot of times i log into windows xp and my tool bar.. is all blue.. ( the bottom bar at the bottom of the screen , that has the start menu and the clock and open tasks listed ect. it will just flicker and go from the nice blue tool bar back to a solid grey old looking style tool bar.
for no reason either, it just switches lol

i dont know if thats a symptom of any anything anyone has ever heard of or experiences.
but i hope that helps.

any more ideas??

800MHz w/256MB RAM
You may want to consider changing to Windows Classic views to get better performance out of it.

Right click on Desktop and select Properties. On the Themes and Appearance tabs you can change it to Windows Classic. You can always change it back.

You can also customize the Start Menu to Windows Classic by right clicking on the Task Bar and selecting Properties, Start Menu tab.

HTH
Bryan

If you're experienceing that many problems, in my opinion the best thing to do is blow away what you already have by doing a fresh install of XP using the install CD.

If you have data on the machine that you cannot live without, and you can start/login, get your hands on something to back the data up to. THE DATA... NOT THE APPLICATIONS... If any of the applications are infected, you'll do nothing but take the infection with you.

The easiest thing to use for backup would be a USB/Firewire connected external drive. Ask a friend? If not, do you have a DVD or CD you could burn something to?

Once the data is backed up, or not, place the XP Install CD and boot the machine. You should get a message to hit any key to boot from the CD. Do it.

After that just go through the steps to install, NOT REPAIR, a copy of XP. When you get to the part about selecting a partition, "I" would delete the existing partitions and then define a new one. After that format the drive with NTFS, after that, install XP.

Once the OS is installed, apply all patches. This may take some time because some of the patches require you reboot to complete the patch install. Eventually, you'll get them all on.

After that, update your Office products, if you have them.

After that, install ZoneAlarm and then disable the built in XP software firewall.

After that, install your AV software (I recommend AVG if you want something for free). Then install your AdWare removal tools; I recommend AdAware and SpyBot.

Run full scans of all three of the above products...!

I do not recall if you are connected to the net by cable modem. If so, I strongly encourage you to get your hands on a router with NAT; such as a Linksys or D-Link. You can pick them up on eBay for less than 30.00. Even if you have only one computer, using one of these routers is highly recommended!

There are other things but this should get you going.

I've done this for all clients, friends and family members. As long as they stay away from poisonous sites (porn, hackers, "free" software) they do not get infected.

Good luck.