[Captain Katiakicz]

I posted this around 1:00 AM central time... to not sound confusing to other members, "today" didn't mean today(thursday), since by 1 it would be considered that, but by 'today' or 'this morning' in this post I meant yesterday(wednesday). I just stayed up late yesterday... Just posting this so there isn't confusion.

Here's the OTL logs, and some information. It's a lot but it's detailed, so hopefully it will help someone better understand the problem.

Also, I'm not sure if the problem is malware, but I suspect if I posted it in the Windows XP forum I'd be directed here so..


So recently I received a laptop from my cousin, since he was giving them away. Well, the laptop has been running smoothly up until this morning. It’s extremely slow, always freezing… the bad thing is, due to how slow it is I can’t even access system restore, much less get online and download anti-virus/spyware programs, or use the ones already have installed onto it, which are Symantec, Windows Washer, and Ad-Aware. (I tried using Windows Washer, and it opened but froze up, so I doubt it’ll work)

I tried system restore in safe mode, didn’t work. I tried to use Windows Washer in safe mode, but even though task manager said Washer is running, it’s nowhere to be found. I got a 6000 error with Ad-aware, and Symantec won’t work either. I tried moving some programs onto a jump drive then onto the laptop, but that wouldn’t work. I tried moving the installation for AVG onto the drive and then onto the laptop, installed it there, and it wouldn’t work – maybe because it’s the free version.
Used disk defragmenter, disabled start up items in system configuration utility, neither helped.

While the normal boot-up is extremely slow, I can’t do anything during safe mode, so I don’t know what to do.

When I first started the computer up the day I received it, it was like brand new so I’m sure it was restored to factory settings before I received it a few days ago. I wish I knew what happened between yesterday, when everything was great, until when I turned it on today.

I have 48.8 free out of 55.8 GB
1.99 GB of RAM
Dell D620, Windows XP
Service Pack 3

So I don’t think the problem of slowing down has to deal with lack of free space.

Some noticeable things:
- There seems to be a kind of delay with the startup. When I’ve tried to click things, or even when I left the computer alone, the ‘startup sound’ for Windows begins some minutes later than it usually does.
- A few times there was a disk check NTFS maybe 3 different times I’d turn the computer back on. This seems significant but because I’m not ultra computer suavvy… I don’t know what to do. Especially since there seems to be nothing I can do during safe mode… I should note this didn’t happen the first time I booted my computer up this morning, and it didn’t happen each and every time, just a few times.
- I used regedit a few times. First when I wanted to switch the IE7 menu bar back to the top by making a new DWORD value, and then when trying to alter the registered name by renaming the registered owner. I know the IE7 bar change didn’t do anything, but I renamed the registered user name before I went to bed last night so I don’t know if that has anything to do with my computer’s behavior today.

The computer is so slow, once I click on the start button, then try to go to system restore... I reach programs, and it stops there for minutes on end so it takes me forever to get to accessories, and when I get there it takes forever for me to reach system tools, if I ever get to that point - by that time, or even before then, it freezes or is just extremely slow in general, so it seems impossible that I can ever get anywhere and I just give up altogether and do a forced shut down by holding the power key down.

When I click things on my desktop, nothing opens - the hourglass sometimes shows up, and goes away if the computer hasn't frozen by then. When it freezes, which is always the outcome of all of my 'sessions' and thus I'm never able to do anything, I always have to force shut down. When the hourglass goes away, still nothing opens. Sometimes the start button works when I click it, sometimes it won't work at all, but even when it does it will freeze somewhere on the menu on whatever the mouse highlights, making it impossible to do anything. Such as earlier - I right clicked on the task bar to go to task manager and 'Toolbars' is highlighted ; it froze.

There's also no internet in safe mode with networking...

This is really depressing. If someone could just help me, I'd appreciate it. If anyone needs anymore information also, just tell me.

I'm sorry if I kind of went in circles, but I'm just trying to pinpoint everything wrong so one can understand and help me the best they can.

Attached Files

•  OTL.Txt   344.76KB   120 downloads
•  Extras.Txt   28.31KB   401 downloads

Edited by Captain Katiakicz, 18 June 2009 - 12:06 PM.