major slow down

This Lenovo laptap is only 6 months old and it has slowed to a crawl like in a semi-crash. I wonder if there is a virus somewhere but it has windows firewall, security essentials and spyware, all working. I’ve got Win7 with plenty of hard drive space. I’m not sure about the ram but I am running Ready Boost with an 8gb flash drive. It has nearly filled it up.

The worst problem is I can’t reply to emails in hotmail. It is extremely just to open and read but when I try to reply it sits and spins and then disconnects with this message:

We can't connect to Windows Live Hotmail right now. Please make sure that you're connected to the Internet and try again

 This happens nearly every time I go into ‘reply’ and at other times as well. I try to post something on the help site but it just spins and never allows it. So it seems hopeless. I’m thinking if I uninstall and install maybe that will help.

My other email, gmail, works but it is slow too and error messages are showing up also.

I went thru the start up programs and unchecked about half of them.

I recall a few months ago picked up a virus somewhere and there was a program here I could run a virus check. Is that still available. Thanks for any input, this is the worst I’ve experienced. Really frustrating.

Sounds like a spyware problem. I would download and run Malwarebytes. If the problem continues, follow up with SuperAntiSpyware. Both are superior anti-malware programs that will help you nip this.
 
The other possibility is a RAM problem. You can test it by downloading and running our favorite RAM tester: memtest86

OpenDNS will provide a slightly faster Internet connection, but it will not resolve the problem chopin is having. He needs to first resolve the problem before even considering OpenDNS.

Thanks again for you invaluable assistance. I ran malwarebytes and it found nothing. Superantispyware found over 550 tracking cookies which have to slow things down a lot. I killed every one of them. I thought the microsoft stuff was taking care of those. I will run this program every week or so.

I also finally was able to get into the ms help section for mail. i clicked on 'repair' windows live and it came back saying it fixed something. The computer has improved considerably now altho I got another mail disconnect with that same error message.

I will do the other test on memory and the ad aware ja suggested later today. I use this thing for work and when it goes into chronic crash mode I get hyper. I was on the verge of uninstalling and reinstallling hotmail which probably would not have worked. Thanks again!

I'd also put on CCleaner it's a handy tool to help keep the system cleaned up.

I second Pat's recommendation for CCleaner. I would hate computing without such a valuable tool.

It's extremely unlikely that the tracking cookies had any effect on your computer. Trust me, I hate them too and constantly get rid of them. To that end, CCleaner is a valuable tool in safeguarding the "good" cookies (such as poasters.com ) and cleaning out the rest. Regardless, tracking cookies won't slow your computer down and are for the most part completely harmless.

Unfortunately, some malware cleaners prey on people's fears to show what a great job they're doing. By wiping out 500 "bad" cookies, the consumer is given a false sense of security. I don't agree with SuperAntiSpyware (and others who play that game), but it is otherwise a superior product.

Having said all that, I hate tracking cookies. I also visit Adobe Flash Manager on a regular basis to wipe out all of my flash-based cookies. It's an online tool provided by Adobe to delete flash cookies off your system.

I got in last night and the thing was in slow down again. The email came up but took forever to open a message. Replying, it just sat there, spinning. Web sites the same thing. So I just turned it off, too much to deal with. I'm here at 3 am and it is almost normal in speed. Email works fine. Would this be the computer or just net traffic? Baffles me.

That sounds like the problem could be your ISP. You can check your connection here: www.speedtest.net.

Are you on broadband or dial up? Do you have a second computer to test your Internet connection? Or can you connect your computer to somebody else's ISP?

I forgot to suggest resetting your modem and router. Simply unplug the power from both and wait a full minute before reconnecting them. Sometimes this simple fix resolves all sorts of Internet problems for the user.

Whatever it was has disappeared for now. It's completely back to normal at the moment. And it appears nothing was changed except removing the 500+ ad trackers and the repair button on live windows (and that had no immediate effect). I'm not getting the error message I listed above when in hotmail. It now is zipping along.

I dl and ran ad aware and it detected nothing. I ran ccleaner and it identified a list of things to delete but I haven't done that yet (see below).

I do have a router, medialink. I turned it and the modem off and off, several times. I got a long ethernet cable and connected it to the router and the computer to see if a wireless connection was the problem. Had no effect.

I never use IE, seems to be slower than mozalla.

May never know what it was like some phantom in the dark. Whatever it was it was one of the worst experiences ever bec I use the computer, and esp email, a lot for work and I was rignt in the middle of something. Anyway, I have a lot of nice tools now to run. Thanks again for your assistance.

from ccleaner:
ANALYSIS COMPLETE - (26.165 secs)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.92 MB to be removed. (Approximate size)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Details of files to be deleted (Note: No files have been deleted yet)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet Explorer - Temporary Internet Files   4 KB   2 files
Internet Explorer - History   16 KB   1 files
Internet Explorer - Index.dat files   400 KB   2 files
Windows Explorer - Recent Documents   17 KB   5 files
System - Empty Recycle Bin   27 KB   1 files
System - Temporary Files   2 KB   3 files
System - Windows Log Files   377 KB   3 files
Firefox/Mozilla - Internet Cache   0 KB   0 files
Firefox/Mozilla - Session   82 KB   2 files
Applications - Office 2003   10 KB   9 files
Applications - Office 2010   10 KB   9 files
Multimedia - Adobe Flash Player   1 KB   6 files
Windows - MS Search   1,024 KB   1 files
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\PFU1XL5O\desktopservice[1].asmx   1 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\VTBPZ2WL\{0D3C4F0D-1C11-47BC-AD1C-BAB98712DBFB}[1].sas  4 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History\Low\History.IE5\index.dat   16 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\PrivacIE\Low\index.dat   144 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\IETldCache\Low\index.dat   256 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\Downloads.lnk   1 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\email attachment.lnk   4 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\Legal.lnk   3 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\Singleton dui.lnk   5 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\singleton email 9.1.11.lnk   7 KB
Empty Recycle Bin (1 files)    27 KB
C:\Windows\TEMP\chrome_installer.log   0 KB
C:\Windows\TEMP\CR_88F81.tmp\SETUP_PATCH.PACKED.7Z   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Local\Temp\chrome_installer.log   0 KB
C:\windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log   120 KB
C:\windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Roaming\PeerNetworking\1531fe91177f41a3a6e476b99ced6c462646287f.HomeGroupClassifier\1e96b009b832e75e821d1b7e9be1ac22\grouping\edb000CA.log   256 KB
C:\windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp\MpCmdRun.log   2 KB
Firefox/Mozilla cache cleaning was skipped.   
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ozvi7ke4.default\sessionstore.js   51 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ozvi7ke4.default\sessionstore.bak   32 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\computer slow down problem.LNK   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\Computers & Electronics.LNK   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\Discovery LoT.LNK   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\email attachment.LNK   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\index.dat   1 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\Legal.LNK   1 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\Singleton dui.LNK   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\singleton email 9.1.11.LNK   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\Temp.LNK   1 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\computer slow down problem.LNK   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\Computers & Electronics.LNK   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\Discovery LoT.LNK   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\email attachment.LNK   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\index.dat   1 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\Legal.LNK   1 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\Singleton dui.LNK   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\singleton email 9.1.11.LNK   2 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Recent\Temp.LNK   1 KB
Removed Cookie: s.ytimg.com   0 KB
Removed Cookie: www.pof.com   0 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys\#s.ytimg.com\settings.sol   1 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\GQREB29W\www.pof.com\IM-12426134.sol   1 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects\GQREB29W\www.pof.com\Notification-12426134.sol   1 KB
C:\Users\Chopin\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys\#www.pof.com\settings.sol   1 KB
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\MSS00372.log   1,024 KB

That's certainly good news.

FYI, I always accept the CCleaner recommendations and delete everything it finds. Make sure you clean out the Registry, too. I also go into the advance settings and turn off all warnings, as it gets old. I've been using CCleaner for several years and I use it daily to keep all of my computers under control.

I recommend you go into the CCleaner settings and move your "good" cookies over to the white list. This way CCleaner knows what cookies you want to keep as it wipes out all the rest. It works perfectly. For what it's worth, in 15+ years of using Windows on countless systems I have never once backed up the registry, and not once has it been an issue.

I second your notion for Firefox over IE. I only use Firefox at home and I despise having to use IE at work.

I will do that. Thanks.