PC extremely slow and high CPU usage

MyDefrag has just completed - this took several days on my 160gb HD!

I still see my usage spike to 100% even when I open a webpage. Is that normal?

Other applications seem to open faster. Is it possible I have too many anti-virus / anti-spam apps running at the same time? I have Zone Alarm and Spybot active.
 
I still see my usage spike to 100% even when I open a webpage. Is that normal?
Click to expand...
Does it stay at 100% for long time? If not then it's normal.

Other applications seem to open faster. Is it possible I have too many anti-virus / anti-spam apps running at the same time? I have Zone Alarm and Spybot active.
Click to expand...
ZoneAlarm and Spybot shouldn't interfere with each others.
 
I've been testing the PC to check performance...

It does seem a little faster and although it spikes to 100% utilization, it only stays there for a few seconds. I would not expect such a spike when I am only running Internet Explorer but it does come back down.

I still have issues when booting -- it occassionally boots to only the wallpaper (no icons or programs). I don't have a large photo or anything for my wallpaper.

I also note that the icons on my desktop sometimes have to rebuild even after I close down a single session of Explorer.

Could there be something in the registry that is causing an issue? If I don't have a virus or malware issue, and my hd is now defragged and I have 4gb RAM... could it be that I'm just in need of an upgraded PC? Could be - but it's odd that my current PC was running ok until just a few weeks ago and I didn't really change/add anything.

Or is it worth re-imaging my current computer?

I can also run the other defrag options on MyDefrag, although I'm assuming since the initial run took several days that (1) my hd was seriously defragged and (2) the program has cleaned up my hd to a large extent.

I'm just not sure where my issue is if no virus or malware.
 
Hi,

Run a disk check by following "How to run Chkdsk from My Computer or from Windows Explorer" instructions here (check both checkboxes mentioned).
 
The utility completed but did not seem to find any issues. Overall, performance is about the same and it's taking about 30 seconds for me to launch internet explorer. Other computers on my home network are much faster (5-10 seconds) and I haven't otherwise had issues with my internet.

If we don't see any issues with anything in the registry and no viruses/malware, I would consider reinstalling (or uninstalling) any programs.

Or... am I better of just reformatting my entire PC and reinstalling all of my programs? I have all of my data already backed up. I would consider a new PC but my current setup has a 2.8Ghz processor, 4gb RAM, and 160gb HD (most media is stored on an external hd). I do not believe it's the hardware limitations of the computer that are my issue.

Any other thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks again for all your assistance.
 
I have run all of the scripts on MyDefrag and my computer seems to be running much faster now. I will continue to do some clean up but I suspect my issue was an overly defragged hd and the standard Windows refrag program wasn't fixing anything.

I will reformat if needed, but I am trying to avoid doing that unless needed.

Thanks again for your help and suggestions. If there are other clean-up apps that you would recommend, please let me know. The MyDefrag app has been helpful.
 
Since this issue appears to be resolved ... this Topic has been closed. Glad I could help. :)

Note:If it has been three days or more since your last post, and the helper assisting you posted a response to that post to which you did not reply, your topic will not be reopened. At that point, if you still require help, please start a new topic and include a fresh DDS log and a link to your previous thread.

If it has been less than three days since your last response and you need the thread re-opened, please send me or other MOD a private message (pm). A valid, working link to the closed topic is required.
 
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