# Windows Running Incredibly Slow All of a Sudden



## Buddhism101 (Jan 20, 2010)

Hey Guys,

My computer has all of a sudden started running very slowly, and I'm on a relatively fast system. It has been working fine for a while now, and all of a sudden it's doing everything at 1/50th of the speed it used to. I'm looking at the task manager now and it's saying it's using 15-20% of the CPU and 1.25 of my 4 gigs of ram consistently. This is much higher than normal and I'm not sure what's wrong with it. The programs using the most Ram / CPU at the moment are svchost.exe and internet explorer, both of which are using about 100 megs of ram and almost no cpu. Random items on this list are spiking CPU usage (explorer.exe, audiodg.exe). I'm on Windows 7 Professional and not really sure what to do here. Again everything is working (except for firefox for some reason) it's just going really slowly. Any ideas on what to do immediately? I'm debating reformating because I haven't since Windows 7 came out - but I'd rather find another solution. I'm thinking maybe a memory leak, but not sure how to track one? Any help is appreciated, thanks 

*Note - ran chkdsk through DOS and am now running it as chkdsk /r/f at a friend's advice


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## vladimirb (Mar 31, 2008)

Hello and Welcome to TSF!!!

Well, 1,25GB for today's modern operating systems like Vista or Windows 7 is not odd at all I must admit... 
I am running Windows 7 Ultimate and it takes up to 1,1GB right now...
Also, since you have 4GB, it cannot be lack of RAM because system has enough on the side...

Tell me do you have Anti-Virus software??? Did you scan your system???
It might be infected...

Since when system started to be slow??? Did you install or perhaps uninstall some software???

Keep us posted...


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## Buddhism101 (Jan 20, 2010)

It just started today, didn't install anything prior to it starting. My games seem to be running smoothly like usual, but it's just the small things like moving windows around in explorer, and looking at websites that my computer starts freezing. Maybe an OS fault and not a hardware or driver fault? Not sure. :\ gonna try to repair install from the disc tonight. Thanks for the response.


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## vladimirb (Mar 31, 2008)

Hello again!

Could be possible virus infection... That is why you should scan your system with AV software...

Try system repair also and let us know about the progress...


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## Buddhism101 (Jan 20, 2010)

Ok - so I was just browsing my computer tonight when i got a BSOD. It restarted and told me that Windows couldn't start up and to put my system disk in. Then it wanted me to reinstall windows. So I said ok w/e i'll just reformat. Now i'm looking at "Where do you want to install Windows?" Which is fine except there are NO drives in this window. This is bad I think. What's going on here?

*EDIT* Ok mega confused now. I checked my SATA connections to the HD and they all looked ok (replugged them all) turned it back on and it started up. WHAT THE !!!! Could a bad SATA cable be the cause of all this? When I pulled it from the HD it just slid out without me having to push the little lever thingy. Maybe it's a bad connection because of that? Could that even possibly be it?  wish i were a bit more knowledgeable with the mechanics behind the tech lol.


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## vladimirb (Mar 31, 2008)

Yes, bad SATA cable could be the problem. They did really lame thing when they have made SATA cables... I don't like them at all... They should have made it more solid at the end...

Go and buy a new SATA cable [check if you can buy some quality one]...

Also, you should check your HDD for possible bad sectors just in case HDD is somehow bad...

Check what make/model is HDD, visit manufacturer's Web Site,
download diagnostic tools and scan your HDD for possible bad sectors...

Keep us posted...


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