Wierd XP pro problem, I re-installed XP and cleaned the machine of viruses and malware but I'm still having issues

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A

Arkitech

Diamond Member
Apr 13, 2000
8,356
3
76
For some reason XP Pro has been running very slowly (it's so slow that I can't do anything) and for some reason I can't get into add/remove programs. The screen opens and says the applications will populate but they never appear.

So I managed to boot into safe mode w/networking and I ran Antivir, Adaware, Kasperski and Housescan. Not sure what the hell I need to do to fix this. I even used system restore and it worked fine until I rebooted and then it went back to running slow.

Someone please help me :(
 
MrChad

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
13,507
3
81
Is something utilitizing all of the CPU? Was it working before and recently stopped working? If so, what changed in that time?
 
A

Arkitech

Diamond Member
Apr 13, 2000
8,356
3
76
I can't pinpoint what changed to cause the system to slow down the way it does. The best I've been able to do is to scan the system and get rid of any viruses or malware, but so far it has'nt fixed the problem.
 
A

Arkitech

Diamond Member
Apr 13, 2000
8,356
3
76
Originally posted by: Heen05
defrag? run CCleaner? cleanup system files? run Ewido? Just some ideas.
Click to expand...

I've ran CCleaner and I cleaned out temp directories but maybe I should give Ewido a chance.

What's kind of freak is that when I boot in Windows normally I can eventually get to the desktop and I can pull up taksmanager with no problem but when I try to run and programs or use the start menu those functions lock up or slow but taskmanager still works ok. wierd
 
A

Arkitech

Diamond Member
Apr 13, 2000
8,356
3
76
Are there any tools that analyse startup apps and processes? Also what I can use to kill or prevent those processes from starting up the next time?
 
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brainwrinkle

Member
Jul 26, 2005
82
0
0
I had this same problem about 2 weeks ago. I had McAffee virus scan installed, but its subscription was almost up so I downloaded AntiVir 7 and installed it. Long story short, my two Anti-virus programs didn't like each other (I hadn't uninstalled McAffee yet). I don't know if this is the same as your problem, but safe mode worked for me because it didn't load the Anti-virus programs.
 
A

Arkitech

Diamond Member
Apr 13, 2000
8,356
3
76
Originally posted by: Heen05
msconfig
Click to expand...

thanks for the tip, I disabled a lot of stuff on startup (realplayer, winamp, etc..) but I'm still having same issue. I think I'll just try to reinstall over windows, maybe that will fix the issue
 
MrChad

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
13,507
3
81
Originally posted by: Arkitech
Originally posted by: Heen05
defrag? run CCleaner? cleanup system files? run Ewido? Just some ideas.
Click to expand...

I've ran CCleaner and I cleaned out temp directories but maybe I should give Ewido a chance.

What's kind of freak is that when I boot in Windows normally I can eventually get to the desktop and I can pull up taksmanager with no problem but when I try to run and programs or use the start menu those functions lock up or slow but taskmanager still works ok. wierd
Click to expand...

Is your hard drive running in PIO mode?
 
A

Arkitech

Diamond Member
Apr 13, 2000
8,356
3
76
Originally posted by: MrChad
Originally posted by: Arkitech
Originally posted by: Heen05
defrag? run CCleaner? cleanup system files? run Ewido? Just some ideas.
Click to expand...

I've ran CCleaner and I cleaned out temp directories but maybe I should give Ewido a chance.

What's kind of freak is that when I boot in Windows normally I can eventually get to the desktop and I can pull up taksmanager with no problem but when I try to run and programs or use the start menu those functions lock up or slow but taskmanager still works ok. wierd
Click to expand...

Is your hard drive running in PIO mode?
Click to expand...


how do I check to find out? I tried pulling up the property pages under hardware devices but I did'nt see an option for PIO mode.
 
A

Arkitech

Diamond Member
Apr 13, 2000
8,356
3
76
Well I re-installed XP and it's still running slow, I'm also pretty sure that it's virus free.

The only thing that I can think of that might be the problem is that I found an article that mentioned something about displaced files might slow down the system. But I have no way of knowing which files would cause that problem. I think once I get my system back and running again, I'm going to setup a Ghost backup system.
 
MrChad

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
13,507
3
81
Originally posted by: Arkitech
how do I check to find out? I tried pulling up the property pages under hardware devices but I did'nt see an option for PIO mode.
Click to expand...

If you have IDE drives, in Device Manager, right click on your Primary IDE Controller and go to Advanced Settings. Check the transfer modes. They should be "Ultra DMA" or some variation thereof.
 
sandorski

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,100
5,640
126
Not sure about a good Free Anti-Spyware program, but try Microsoft's. It's likely Spyware causing these issues. Do you have a Firewall of some type?

Try installing Avast! Home and when it asks you if you want to do a Bootscan, say Yes. Let it do the scan, tell it to delete each time it finds something. Depending how bad things are that could take a few hours.

Do a Error Check on your Hard Drives, it could be a dying Hard Drive. A Crapxtor recently did some similar things to me recently. :|

If none of that works, you might want to Backup important stuff, Format, and re-install Windows. Repartitioning your Drives just to change things up more might also be an idea, though a Complete Format(not Quick) should Nuke anything.
 
biostud

biostud

Lifer
Feb 27, 2003
18,241
4,755
136
Several reports on Antivir 7.0 borking the computer into snail speed and hanging of applications, I've tried it myself. Get another Antivirus program.
 
C

CVSiN

Diamond Member
Jul 19, 2004
9,301
0
0
Originally posted by: Arkitech
For some reason XP Pro has been running very slowly (it's so slow that I can't do anything) and for some reason I can't get into add/remove programs. The screen opens and says the applications will populate but they never appear.

So I managed to boot into safe mode w/networking and I ran Antivir, Adaware, Kasperski and Housescan. Not sure what the hell I need to do to fix this. I even used system restore and it worked fine until I rebooted and then it went back to running slow.

Someone please help me :(
Click to expand...

sounds like a drive is either severly fragmented... or is dieing...
seen it both..

it doesnt sound like you did a reformat before reinstalling.. you just put it right back over the top of the old install didnt you?

 
I

Insane3D

Elite Member
May 24, 2000
19,446
0
0
Did you actually reinstall windows....or just one of those repair/fix installations. It's hardly every worth the time trying to clean up an infection like that...it's so much simpler to just do a fresh install.
 
B

Bashbelly

Member
Dec 12, 2005
111
0
0
If you have reinstalled a fresh install of xp on that drive and still runs sluggish/slow/non responsive, it really sounds like your hard drive is starting to take a dump. Seen this happen a few times, sure sign that the drive is going to hard drive heaven soon.
 
J

jbritt1234

Senior member
Aug 20, 2002
406
0
0
Sounds like a hardare problem to me. Try running a HD Diag tool like "Drive Fitness Test" from IBM and and memory test prog like memtest86.

A great disk with these utils is available here for free - http://ultimatebootcd.com/
 
A

Arkitech

Diamond Member
Apr 13, 2000
8,356
3
76
Originally posted by: biostud
Several reports on Antivir 7.0 borking the computer into snail speed and hanging of applications, I've tried it myself. Get another Antivirus program.
Click to expand...

I think antivir was the culprit, I removed it this morning and so far XP appears to be running at normal speed. It's kinda odd though, I have antivir running on another machine and that one seems to work fine.
 
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