Slow computer, not a malware problem

I have an Acer 5633 laptop, 1.66GHz, and 2.5 RAM, running Windows XP/SP3, Not exact state of the art, but it did work ok for me.
All was well up until about 4 weeks ago, I was watching a mp4 file as I frequently do, and it suddenly slowed up, became unwatchable. Ever since then my CPU runs is running fast. I can just about use email and firefox ok, but anything like Mediaplayer Classic, itunes torrents or virus scanner slows it up massively. Multitasking is now impossible, easy before.

I have gone through READ & RUN ME FIRST.Malware remover guide and THISISU on the Malware Forum has been an absolute star and guided me through a very thorough process but has come to the conclusion that my computer is not infected with malware and I should give the Software Forum a go.
The situation is still that light web browser use is ok, but as soon as I run mediaplayer, itunes utorrent or a scan (all separately) it goes up to 70-80% and slows completely. All windows beeps and audio from itunes and mediaplayer are distorted. Mediaplayer can also be slow and jerky but usually smooth out.Prior to 4 weeks ago I could have multiple applications open and running with no problems.

Note - previously had problems replying to my original post, this may happen again. I am in Thailand and use a wifi link to the internet from a restaurant. Decent Broadband but their server does not like Major Geeks or one of my old email accounts, most other sites fine.
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Hi Thailand , how much is your hdd free space ? You can follow these tips

http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/maintenance/speed.aspx

improving your machine , another thinking of me is downloading this cd from clean pc to check your machice

http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=82163

download this utility

http://www.hdsentinel.com/

Hard Disk Sentinel DOS (FREE) v1.00.5 (ZIP)

in the next boot you have your hdd report !! :wave

 

Hi Falconattack,
First thanks for replying to my post.
My hard drive is 2x 60gb. Both have around 15gb spare capacity but have had less recently - C drive down to about 8gb and D drive down to 3gb - I have transferred some files to an external drive.
I am quite rigorous about clearing out cookies, temp files etc - use CCleaner and have also used Puran Defrag.
I ran the Avira file from a disc downloaded from another computer (that's what took the time) but it did not find anything (cannot find a report), just mentioned an old spyboot (?) exe file and a codex exe file might be suspicious.
I have just run the HD Sentinel file - Trial v3.7, could not get the DOS v1.00.5 to run - I have attached the report.

 

Your hdd seems heathy 99 % i think

There are 1 bad sectors on the disk surface. The contents of these sectors were moved to the spare area.
The drive found 6 bad sectors during its self test.
There are 6 weak sectors found on the disk surface. They may be remapped any time in the later use of the disk.
At this point, warranty replacement of the disk is not yet possible, only if the health drops further.
It is recommended to examine the log of the disk regularly. All new problems found will be logged there.

less free space will be better , you may download this tool

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

burn to cd and check your Ram memory with memtest tool ( 6 hours at least ) , this cd is very useful for anyone !! :wave

 

Have you run Chkdsk lately?

This post will tell you how to set up a chkdsk run at next boot up.
Check Both of the checkboxes. It will take quite a while to run the complete test/fix.

I recommend that you install Startup Control Panel Standalone Version.
A great utility to manage programs that load at Windows startup.
Something may have been added or changed that you are not aware of.

Check your System Restore settings and adjust the amount of disk space it uses downward if necessary.
System Restore default settings for XP are too high, IMHO.

You may also need to adjust your pagefile settings.
You can fix and reset the pagefile by turning it Off, temporarily, reboot, then reset it to ON and reboot again.
It should be set for the System (C) drive.

You can also install PageDefrag which can be set to run at boot time.

There is also a Pagefile Monitor utility that can help with monitoring pagefile use and size.

 

I'm with plodr here.

The only way I know of to get around the 20% free space requirement, is to plug in a USB thumb drive, set it to cache, and use it as virtual memory.

I don't think the speed is much different than the EIDE channel, and it has usually worked for me.

It's KIND OF like ReadyBoost, but you have to set it up manually.

 

The Registry Keys and Values for the System Restore Utility

 

Thought that this may have been a problem, so cleared out alot of old files onto a external HDD, now have C drive with 14gb and D drive with 20gb spare, but this has not helped cure the problem.

 

I have run ChkDsk, left it running over night and when I looked at it, just on at the desktop screen, no logs or messages. Have also adjusted paefile as suggested. No improvement though. Still to try Start Up Control Panel, will do next few days. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

Be sure to also check the System Restore settings, as that could be using too much disk space.

Another tweak:

• Open My Computer
• Right click the C: drive and select Properties
• Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for faster searches"

This does Not affect normal searches for files and folders.