Intermittent System Slowdown

[SomePsycho]

I've got a:

Vista Home Premium 64
Intel Core2 Quad 2.4ghz
3gb ram
Nvidia GeForce 8600GT

I have an intermittent slowing issue. Sometimes on system startup, the computer will be running very slowly, as though there is a huge drain on system resources- taking 10 seconds plus to open IE, for example- but when I open the task manager and take a look, I'm never using more than 10% CPU (its usually more like 4%) and physical memory is usually around 30-50% used.

This problem can persist through a reboot (where the system will appear to hang on the "Shutting down..." screen for up to 10 minutes), but through a restart or two I can usually get it to go away.

Any possible fixes out there? Thanks in advance!

 

[Axon]

Do a sfc /scannow in CMD, and if that doesn't find any problems, see if there is a virus or spyware, because your problem isn't right.

Could also be a hardware failure or overheat.

 

[roy69]

Is there alot of HD activity when the system slows down?

 

[blaxthos]

• Are you showing processes from all users in task manager?
• Do you have an antivirus product (esp ones that does a boot scan)?
• What sort of processor and how much ram do you have? Is your computer swapping a lot?

/b

 

[SomePsycho]

Do a sfc /scannow in CMD, and if that doesn't find any problems, see if there is a virus or spyware, because your problem isn't right.

Could also be a hardware failure or overheat.

Didn't see anything with the scannow. I scan weekly or more frequently with AVG and Ad-Aware, so I really doubt that it'd be one of those issues. Overheating is possible, I suppose, but on a fresh boot? I didn't think of the hardware failure, but wouldn't that be a little more... serious and persistent?

Is there alot of HD activity when the system slows down?

I'll have to check next time it happens. If thats what it is, the HD light is on almost continually, whats the fix?

• Are you showing processes from all users in task manager?
• Do you have an antivirus product (esp ones that does a boot scan)?
• What sort of processor and how much ram do you have? Is your computer swapping a lot?

/b

-Yes, I'm running this box as admin.
-AVG, and yes, AFAIK, it boot scans
-Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4ghz, 3gb, and not that I'm aware of.

 

[roy69]

Check your error logs, also your performance logs.
Check your hard drive for errors.
Boot into safe mode and run memory diagnostics.
Ensure all updates have been installed properley.
Turn off 3rd party software to see if that solves the problem (even virus checkers for diagnostic reasons).

 

[johngalt]

And see if your Indexing service isn't going crazy trying to index / reindex HDs because of massive amounts of data movement....