What's wrong with my computer?

Question

Ok so my computer was working totally fine just the other day. Then yesterday morning I got on it and it's taking a really long time to open programs like firefox and stuff. But then once it finally opens it's fast from there and I can surf the web just fine. It takes a long time to open pretty much any program though, not just the web browser. So then I tried to run a virus scan to see if maybe I had a virus or something, but after 30 minutes it had only scanned THREE files! Normally it's almost completely done scanning my whole computer by then. So that's slow as well. What could be wrong?

Answer 1

Hit contol + alt + delete to see what your cpu usage is. If it is near 100%, you need to find the program that is using the the larget amount of memory. Post that program on here, under a new question so that we can tell if it is a legitimate program.

Answer 2

Do you also have an anti-spyware program. Spyware is a common problem when a machine slows down. Preferably download a good anti-spyware /virus program like AVG free form http://free.grisoft.com, update it and then start in safe mode and scan from there.

Answer 3

Yes, check your CPU usage as there is probably a program using a collosal amount of RAM, which would, and is, causing your computer to load incredibly slow. Once you've found out what it is, then you can do something about it.  

Answer 4

my gut says a harddrive issue. have you moved it recently? SATA drives are notorious for having the connectors pop out during movement.

Answer 5

All of the above answers are good. I recommend taking the advice of most people who replied. I recommend installing Ad-aware and spybot as far as getting rid of spyware and adware. When's the last time you defragmented your hard drive? You might need to defragment it. When's the last time you cleaned the insides of the computer? You might need to clean it too.

Answer 6

sound like your web caush is fully of what i like to call iej virus . that why your computer is take so long to load firefox.  it also sound like your way over do for a defrag .   first get rid of th iej virus .   a free program called ccleaner will help to do that has well has any other virus you have.    

you can get ccleaner at www.ccleaner.com   .  

iej virus -  are very very very common virus these day they stand for Internet exact junk virus . and only have one purpose to slow down and eventionly crash your internet browser and the the computer it self.  foruchionly there easy treated able and very slow at working use take weak before any significant damage is done.   i recommend ccleaner for it very powerful web caesh scanner . has well for it very easy to use interface and able to clean or type of the virus that may be on the PC. i also recommend scan your PC once a weak minimum expertly for heave internet users .   these virus can be loaded in your system for any were on the web and or just about every where.   good luck .