Computer Running Slowwwww

So my computer just recently decided to start cutting back on it's speed, you know - as all normal computers do.

The last thing I remember doing is downloading YouTube audio from listentoyoutube.com, seems like a legitimate site. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know.

I can't tell you how many times I've virus scanned and it has come up clean. I've also ran disk clean up, defragment, and CCleaner.

I think my next alternative is to just reinstall Vista (Honestly, these speeds are just unbearable). HOWEVER, having bought this laptop on craigslist - I don't have a Vista CD. I'm stuck on what to do next.

 

One of your safest bets and which seems to work a lot of the time is to run a System Restore.

When running your System Restore I would advise the following before starting:
1. Restart your Computer.
2. Tap F8 at the beginning to get a screen pop up.
3. Select safe mode (with no network).
4. Go to start, and do a search for "System Restore."
5. Select a date where your computer was running faster.
6. System Restore will take it from there.

If it doesn't help, try deleting a lot of junk you have. You should allow at least 50% free space. Your computer should run a lot faster if you do this.

 

Scan your Memory. Use program "HiJackThis"

 

You can try a system restore like suggested but that should be your last option. Before restoring your computer try going through and deleting any programs that might be hogging space up. Also since you using a laptop a lot of times people just put it on sleep mode and never shut it off which can lead to major slow down. Try turning your computer off and just leave it off for a goo 10 hours or so. Another possibility would be that your fan is working over time which slows down your computer. To fix this you need to open your computer out and clean out all the dust accumulated inside your fan and you should be fine.

 

First thing I'd do is try a system restore. Restore it back to a least a week or two before downloading anything from a site you may be unsure about.

If that doesn't work, you should consider just getting rid of windows completely and installing Ubuntu or Fedora. It's 100% legally free and it runs a lot faster than windows (especially Vista).

 

..this or even linux.

 

Ubuntu and Fedora are Linux. They are different distributions of the Linux OS.

 

Have you tried a restore? It looks to me like you have a virus, which tbh can slip through any detection software. Restores often work perfectly, although some viruses can be dragged along with you. Also, some viruses are "dormant", and you can simply just restore back to a previous point while it was still dormant.


I also recommend looking at these forums: http://www.pchelpforum.com/. They assisted me in cleaning up my PC from viruses... although I have one of the top-ranked virus protection softwares, they had me scan using about 6 different programs, and I found a small handful of crap that was slowing it down.