pc having some troubles

[The Stranger]

hey,

ive been having a weird issue with my pc for about 1.5 month now, it is having weird freezes where it just seems to become really slow for a moment. i can still move my mouse and i dont get any error messages, it is more like a huge lagspike of about 5 to 20 sec. it happens every now and then, randomly, although it seems to be more frequent when i just start up my pc. its also making alot of noise, not any weird noise, but just noise it never used to make. it sounds like my previous pc did at the end of its days but that pc was like 10 years old :S this one is 3 or 4 years old and should be in good shape still.

at first i thought it mightve been some sort of virus, and if it is its one advanced virus because i let like a dozen rootscanners etc loose on the pc and they found nothing.

does anyone have a clue maybe? i cant really find anything on the internet. im considering doing a reboot but that takes time which i rather not spend on that so i wont do it untill its my last choice :S

any help is appreciated. tx!

[Xiahou]

Try a reboot.

Also, check your even logs and see if there are any odd errors in it.

Lastly, have you tried scanning it with SuperAntiSpyware yet?

[TinCow]

What OS are you using? What kind of install is the OS (i.e., pre-loaded onto PC, custom install, etc.)? When was the last time it was formatted?

[The Stranger]

i have windows 7 home edition 64bit. i dont think i ever reformatted it.

[The Stranger]

Try a reboot.

Also, check your even logs and see if there are any odd errors in it.

Lastly, have you tried scanning it with SuperAntiSpyware yet?

what kind of logs should i check?

i used the antispyware, all it found were some tracking cookies, nothing serious :S

[Xiahou]

Go to your start button and type 'eventvwr.msc'. Then expand Windows Logs and look under System Logs, then Application Logs. Look for "Error" events marked with a red X.

Depending what they are, some can be safely ignored. Others can point to more serious problems. Take a look and see what you can see.

Also, what browser do you use?

[The Stranger]

i use chrome.

i see 1 mistake from a week back in system, source service control manager.

EventData

param1 ScRegSetValueExW
param2 FailureActions
param3 %%5

i ran a deeper scan and it found something called Heur.Agent/Gen-WhiteBox, supposed to be located in core-temp.exe though im not sure its really a virus.

[TinCow]

Google indicates that error may be related to AVG, specifically issues with updating the program. That would make sense for seemingly random large lag spikes. Are you running AVG? Do you let it update automatically?

Regardless, it sounds to me like you've got some background program causing the problem. When you start to experience issues, open task manager and check which processes are eating up the most CPU and memory.

[Xiahou]

If anyone is still using AVG on Windows7, I would advise them to uninstall it and install Microsoft Security Essentials.

[The Stranger]

that culd indeed be it. im running avg. and the problem started at the beginning of 2013 when the new avg 2013 updated. thanx! ill let u know tomorrow if that fixes it!

[The Stranger]

sadly it seems like that was not the problem :S

could it be an hardware issue? because my pc is making more noise than it used to.

[TinCow]

It could be, but that's not my top suspect. Noise generally means one of two things. First, your fans are getting old and rattling more. Second, your HDD is really busy. The HDD noise can theoretically be a sign of a hardware problem, but generally HDD issues are going to manifest themselves far more dramatically than what you're seeing; you'll start BSODing and stuff will simply stop working. An usually noisy HDD more often is just the result of software making it go crazy trying to load things, which is a software problem.

As I said, you should try and figure out whether a specific program or process is causing these situations. You can do that by checking the task manager process info while it is occurring.

[The Stranger]

its not the fan, its the HDD, like its thinking really hard :P

not sure what it is :S ill just have to use the pc for a day and see how it does. thanks for all the help! ill let u know how it goes.

[Husar]

If anyone is still using AVG on Windows7, I would advise them to uninstall it and install Microsoft Security Essentials.

I wouldn't.
(hint: sort by least protection on top...)

[The Stranger]

ok im switching to avast, see if that helps.

ok can say for sure now that uninstalling AVG didnt make the problem go away. sadly.

[Xiahou]

I wouldn't.
(hint: sort by least protection on top...)

I like MSE because it's lightweight and unobtrusive. It's real-time protection is that great, but all free AV programs are in the 70% range for stopping viruses. MSE is on the low end of the pack, but the spread isn't that wide.

Avast! is also a very good choice. I dislike AVG because of how bloated it has become.

ok can say for sure now that uninstalling AVG didnt make the problem go away. sadly.

What I'd try next is playing around with Process Explorer. It's a little advanced, but very informative if you can get the hang of it....

[HopAlongBunny]

This thread spurred me to deal with my own computer issues. Loading would be slow/jerky at times and surfing was (sometimes) a chore.

Avast! found isearch.exe trojan and moved it to vault. Everything works much smoother now.

[The Stranger]

so the sounds from my hdd are getting worse :S time to get a new one? or is there anything i can do? (the freezes are related to this too, its not any software causing trouble or a virus)

[TinCow]

If your next step is HDD replacement, you might want to try a sector scan from safe mode first. It can take a long time on large HDDs and I doubt your problem is from a corrupted sector, but it's possible.

[The Stranger]

im not going to replace it. just whipe it clean.

2 of my ram chips died. i think my pc is aging =_=

[Xiahou]

If your next step is HDD replacement, you might want to try a sector scan from safe mode first. It can take a long time on large HDDs and I doubt your problem is from a corrupted sector, but it's possible.

It's also worth checking your SMART data- it's alot quicker than a full scan and it can be just as telling. I like to use SpeedFan because it gives you results in a meaningful format when you click the "In depth analysis" button.

[anddrivall]

I think there could be some hardware issue or some plugin troubles.You need to check both of these.