Long loading times

Alright, well recently I underwent a malware attack. I went over to Malware first, which resulted in this thread:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=1625456

After coming to the conclusion that I was not infected with Malware, they redirected me here as they apparently felt it was a software issue (Regardless of the fact it happened after a malware attack).

So I was hit hard with Malware. Immediately after, I noticed an extremely long loading time when rebooting my PC. Just before it gets to the "Login Screen" it lags for a few moments on a black screen. It then proceeds to load to the point where I can type in my password. I press enter, and it once again goes to a black screen. Normally this whole process took 3-5 seconds. Now, it sits on this black screen for anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes, averaging at about 3. It just sit there completely black with the loading indicator for my mouse. Eventually the taskbar loads and then about a minute later my background and then finally the icons.

Like I said, before this attack it took like 5 seconds. Now it takes up to 5 minutes.

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate, and had no issue with this until the malware issue.

 

Have you checked your startup programs to see what's running when you start the system? Use the msconfig.exe utility to do that, and eliminate any unwanted programs. If the problem continues, then it might be time for a clean install of Windows.

 

Yes, I've checked through MSConfig. Nothing new is running that wasn't running before. I've also got Soluto installed, which has delayed programs - however no changes in it either.

It shouldn't be time for a new install as I forgot to mention that I had just reinstalled Windows ~2 weeks ago.

This wasn't an issue until about a week ago where I underwent a malware attack. No changes have been made other than the addition and then removal of some programs used to remove the malware and check for issues, and the removal of the malware itself.

 

I understand all that you are syaing, but the fact remains that something is lagging your system. Without any direct evidence of programs starting up, the only viable solution is to cleanly install the OS.

 

Understood.

What's the easiest way to back up my data in that case? Last time I attempted to save/transfer the files we were looking at 4 hours as we're talking almost 250GB of stuff here (I haven't had a chance to transfer to my external yet)

 

Time to transfer your data files to your external drive I guess. You can use any of the backup programs in the backup section of MG that sound good to you, or just skip that and just copy the folders over. Either way, I know it's a big job.

If you are going to reinstall, might I suggest that you repartition your drive so that you have 1 smaller partition (50GB) for your OS and programs, and 1 partition (rest of drive) for your data only. That way in the future, if you ever have to blow away the OS, you don't have to worry about moving your data files.