System Slowing Down. Any Suggestions.

Windows XP, SP2. I have a system that has been running fine for a few years.
It has a 3 GHz processor and 4 GB of memory. Recently everything is running
much slower. Programs open up very slowly, some Excel workbooks with macros
run interminably long. Internet browsing is slow.

The LAN is fine, as I can go to another system and it runs the same
processes and browses the net quickly. I have scanned for spyware and
viruses and removed spyware and found no viruses. What can cause a system to
bog down like this? Any suggestions on how I can restore the system to its
former vigor? Thanks for the help.
--
Dr. Doug Pruiett
Good News Jail & Prison Ministry
www.goodnewsjail.org

ChaplainDoug
Fri May 09 07:15:02 PDT 2008

When I am running an Excel workbook (which runs macro code that opens and
scans other workbooks), I find the following when monitoring system
performance:

CPU usage never goes above 4%
Network usage never goes above 0.02% (on a 1 GB network)
PF Usage never goes above 853 MB
Physical Memory available never goes below 2620124

It looks like the resources are fine. So what would cause a SLOW system
(the Excel process that used to take 40 seconds to complete now takes over 5
minutes).
--
Dr. Doug Pruiett
Good News Jail & Prison Ministry
www.goodnewsjail.org


"Chaplain Doug" wrote:

> Windows XP, SP2. I have a system that has been running fine for a few years.
> It has a 3 GHz processor and 4 GB of memory. Recently everything is running
> much slower. Programs open up very slowly, some Excel workbooks with macros
> run interminably long. Internet browsing is slow.
>
> The LAN is fine, as I can go to another system and it runs the same
> processes and browses the net quickly. I have scanned for spyware and
> viruses and removed spyware and found no viruses. What can cause a system to
> bog down like this? Any suggestions on how I can restore the system to its
> former vigor? Thanks for the help.
> --
> Dr. Doug Pruiett
> Good News Jail & Prison Ministry
> www.goodnewsjail.org

HeyBub
Fri May 09 07:26:53 PDT 2008

Chaplain Doug wrote:
> When I am running an Excel workbook (which runs macro code that opens
> and scans other workbooks), I find the following when monitoring
> system performance:
>
> CPU usage never goes above 4%
> Network usage never goes above 0.02% (on a 1 GB network)
> PF Usage never goes above 853 MB
> Physical Memory available never goes below 2620124
>
> It looks like the resources are fine. So what would cause a SLOW
> system (the Excel process that used to take 40 seconds to complete
> now takes over 5 minutes).
>
>> Windows XP, SP2. I have a system that has been running fine for a
>> few years. It has a 3 GHz processor and 4 GB of memory. Recently
>> everything is running much slower. Programs open up very slowly,
>> some Excel workbooks with macros run interminably long. Internet
>> browsing is slow.
>>
>> The LAN is fine, as I can go to another system and it runs the same
>> processes and browses the net quickly. I have scanned for spyware
>> and viruses and removed spyware and found no viruses. What can
>> cause a system to bog down like this? Any suggestions on how I can
>> restore the system to its former vigor? Thanks for the help.
>> --

The list of possibilities is almost endless.

It could be that the mother ship has directed your computer to send 250,000
emails advertising headless nails or some other innovative product.

You should first scour you system for malware.

ChaplainDoug
Fri May 09 07:39:02 PDT 2008

I have done a complete scan with Symantec Antivirus and with Ad-Aware. The
Symantec found nothing. the Ada-Aware found quite a few non-critical items
which have now been removed. The system is still slow.

What else could I use to find MalWare?
--
Dr. Doug Pruiett
Good News Jail & Prison Ministry
www.goodnewsjail.org


"HeyBub" wrote:

> Chaplain Doug wrote:
> > When I am running an Excel workbook (which runs macro code that opens
> > and scans other workbooks), I find the following when monitoring
> > system performance:
> >
> > CPU usage never goes above 4%
> > Network usage never goes above 0.02% (on a 1 GB network)
> > PF Usage never goes above 853 MB
> > Physical Memory available never goes below 2620124
> >
> > It looks like the resources are fine. So what would cause a SLOW
> > system (the Excel process that used to take 40 seconds to complete
> > now takes over 5 minutes).
> >
> >> Windows XP, SP2. I have a system that has been running fine for a
> >> few years. It has a 3 GHz processor and 4 GB of memory. Recently
> >> everything is running much slower. Programs open up very slowly,
> >> some Excel workbooks with macros run interminably long. Internet
> >> browsing is slow.
> >>
> >> The LAN is fine, as I can go to another system and it runs the same
> >> processes and browses the net quickly. I have scanned for spyware
> >> and viruses and removed spyware and found no viruses. What can
> >> cause a system to bog down like this? Any suggestions on how I can
> >> restore the system to its former vigor? Thanks for the help.
> >> --
>
> The list of possibilities is almost endless.
>
> It could be that the mother ship has directed your computer to send 250,000
> emails advertising headless nails or some other innovative product.
>
> You should first scour you system for malware.
>
>
>

Frank
Fri May 09 09:05:16 PDT 2008

"Chaplain Doug" <ChaplainDoug@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BB2BE952-6220-4D52-9920-6D2B6730C139@microsoft.com...
>I have done a complete scan with Symantec Antivirus and with Ad-Aware. The
> Symantec found nothing. the Ada-Aware found quite a few non-critical
> items
> which have now been removed. The system is still slow.

That's not a thorough check for malware.

Do a thorough check for malware, following all of the steps at one of these
Web pages.
Help with malware:
All MS-MVP Sites.
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/darnit.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315

So How Did I Get Infected Anyway?
For quite a few people it's by installing programs like Messenger Plus,
whose ads for malware don't identify the malware as such and try to convince
you that you owe it to the author. See also:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971
Don't ever do a "default" install of anything. Always choose Custom and see
what else is being carried along. Don't install any extras you're not sure
of.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
Reply in Newsgroup, not by email.