PC has always been slow for no reason

Ok this is my last resort before i sell this piece-of-sh*t PC for whatever price i can get.

First, the specifics of my PC, although they're not really relevant for reasons i'll describe later:
Intel Core2Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 4GB DDR2, GF 8600GT, HD Samsung 500GB 7,200 RPM, etc...

I use Windows Vista Ultimate.



My problem is that the PC always behaves slowly as if it was a really lousy PC (its slower than other PCs we have here in the house that have like 5 times worse hardware).

It's not anything virus related because i've reformatted it countless times (and didn't reinstall/transfer the files that i previously had in the HD) and it always gets slow, with the same symptons, which include:


- Slow start of any software.
- After software is open, it behaves REALLY, IRRITATINGLY slow.
- Often, i have to open the same program (like internet explorer) several times before one of the boots has an acceptable speed (which is still not very good and may get slow again after a while of it opened or if i open "too many" windows -which for this crappy PC means around 5-10 IE windows).
- I used windows XP, then after it was so slow i decided to change to Windows Vista hoping that my PC would magically start running at the speed it should run. It did in the very beginning (a few days), then it went downhill after then and ever since i've reinstalled windows vista twice already.
- My PC runs slow even with ALL FIREWALLS and ANTIVIRUSES and ANTITROJANS/SPYWARES, DISABLED. If i ENABLE any anti virus or firewall, my computer gets so slow it becomes really impossible to use it. Fortunately i'm an experienced PC user so i can avoid virus infections, and only do a virus scan a week or two.
- My PC boots normally and actually in a good speed.


I've called a technician already, and he analyzed the PC, even reformatted the windows because he couldn't believe that it was not software/virus related, but after the PC rebooted he saw that it was still slow.
He then analyzed all the PC's hardware and the dumb*** said that it was the motherboard that had some problem (i can't remember the name now). He then changed some piece there, said the HD was running slower and changed that too. I received PC but was still slow. I'll spare you the confrontation that came later between me and him since it's not important.



So here i am. If you like, i can get a HJT log but i assure you it won't help one bit. I could list a few more symptons but i'm afraid i already wrote too much and i'm going to write further as questions come in. Feel free to ask me to check or do or answer anything you wish.

 

SIW (System Info)
Can you run this link and see what your system is doing , this is just a tool that gives you a snap shot of your system functioning

 

Belarc Advisor
Run this one also, this also gives info on your system, maybe it can detect something and you won't have to spend another 3 hours on the phone with tech support

 

Ok, installed and ran both programs. What's your point? Do you want me to show you some specific information?

 

maybe im wrong but is it possible you need to degrag your computer mate? formatting does usually solve it i admit - but it depends how your setting it up, are you formatting as in blank deleting everything on the hard drive - then installing a fresh copy? etc.

and ill be honest - even how computers are set up have a dramatic effect on your system's performance, no matter what specs, do you ever tweak your computer / tune it to behave in a certain way?

oh, and FYI - vista is terrible, you should be on windows xp. with latest drivers - that spec should run great.

 

They can track the true performance of your system if you have the specs that say you are at certain level but he program you installed is at this level then it may help you track down exactly what is slowing you down. It may be one thing or a combination of things. unless you want to take out one component at a time this is the best way to find that problem.

 

Ok one thing that happened is that while the System Information (SIW.exe) program was open, my computer was much slower (no big news every time i open a program) and i was measuring the CPU usage. Anything i did, like even opening a folder or an IE window, would make the CPU usage jump to like betwen 60-90%!


By the way, one more idiosyncrasy of my f*cked-up PC (and one more sympton which may help you guys know what's going on here), now after the program was opened (and already closed, but it doesn't matter because PC is still slow), everything is running very slow here and i can't even open an IE window properly, it gets all slow and freezy. I'm editing my post here with Google Chrome which is lighter. Now i have to reboot the PC. This is very common, once a boot becomes groggy i have to reboot it. I do this every 30 minutes or so on average, depending on which programs i run.

 

i think you should try the malware guide and post in the malware forum mate - its possible you have some external media, or something - that has allowed spyware / malware to traverse each 'format' because no formatted pc should behave in this way.

 

If you've read my first post more attentively, you would've read that i said that i formatted the PC and didn't transfer the files that were in the HD before format but still had the same slow PC.

It's definitely not malware or virus or anything like that. I'm 110% sure of it. It's hardware.



I completely agree that no formatted PC should behave this way; that's why it's a hardware related problem!

 

Sam, you want help and we are here for you.
To help we need to understand, therefore we need information. Perhaps information you don't think we need.

1) motherboard, CPU, CPU cooler, power supply, RAM model and mfg, etc.
2) OS's you have tried - XP, DOS, Vista etc.
3) tests you have run
4) what you want to run faster - is this a gamer or a email computer
5) hardware you have tried replacing
6) case and fans with what direction they are blowing
7) even an open case picture of your hardware may help

The reasons this kind of info is needed is to find things like a slow hard drive because it is connected with a CDROM on the same cable or a heat related problem. Some problems are just hard to find.

 

But this seems to be incomplete - don't you also need to know what the moon phase was at the time the PC was manufactured?

Point is, all this info is probably not going to help because if this is a defect in a hardware, then it doesn't matter what hardware is in the PC. I don't know most of these you asked and it would be too much of an effort to me while it would help very little.

I explained the symptons, i expected that someone here had already a similar experience and could give me a clue about what's going on. Unfortunately i haven't had the luck of my case being a bit less uncommon. I guess i'll just sell this crap for whatever i can get and buy a new PC.

 

Entered in error - please disregard this! Thank you.