Why is it that computers run slow?? It can take 5 or maybe 10 seconds sometimes for an application to start on my PC.

How can I speed it all up?

Hi there Master J Welcome to PCHF.

To start with I would like you to do this:

First disable system restore to prevent re-infection.
(you can turn it back on when youre pc is clean).

How to disable system restore:
WinXP.
Click the Start button.
Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
On the System Restore tab, check Turn off System Restore or Turn off System Restore on all drives.

WinME.
Click Start > Settings > Control Panel.
Double-click the System icon.
If the System icon is not visible, click View all Control Panel options to display it.
On the Performance tab, click File System.
On the Troubleshooting tab check Disable System Restore.
Click OK. Click Yes, when you are prompted to restart Windows.


Then please delete your temporary files by deleting all files and folders that are in those folders:
(do not delete the temp folder itself)
(if there are "files in use" then empty these folders in safemode(hit f8 when booting up)

empty the C:\windows\prefetch folder ,
empty the C:\windows\temp folder ,
empty the C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp folder ,
empty the C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files folder EXCEPT the content.ie5 folder (may be hidden).
(replace administrator with youre user name)

And close all instances of IE and OE ,then go to: Control Panel / Internet Options / General tab.
Click the "Delete Files" button.
When prompted place a check in: "Delete all offline content", click OK. This removes the junk files such as downloaded files, zero byte files created by Outlook Express and many other hidden files that reside in your cache.

Do a virus scan here. Or select one here.
Also run Stinger - Trojan Remover.
If you get report of files that can?t be cleaned/deleted please write down the filenames and locations and post that in your reply.

Then please do this since it?s better to use automated tools to get rid of the bad stuff use these programs first before doing the final cleaning with HJT.

Spybot: Search And Destroy:

1.Download the new version (1.4) of 'Spybot: Search And Destroy'.
2. Install it according to the instructions in 'How To Setup Spybot SD'.
3. Next, 'Search for Updates' as the definitions are not likely to be up-to-date.
4. Close ALL windows except Spybot SD.
5. Click the "Check for Problems" button.
6. Click 'Fix Selected Problems' and fix only the RED items.
7. REBOOT to finish removing what Spybot SD found and clear memory.

Ad-Aware SE by Lavasoft:

1. Download 'Ad-Aware SE'.
2. Install according to the instructions in "How To Setup Ad-Aware SE"
3. Next, 'Check for Updates' by clicking on the 'world globe' second from the right at the top of your d-Aware SE window.
4. Install the updates.
5. Close ALL windows except Ad-Aware SE.
6. Click on 'Start' and choose 'full scan' for a full scan.
7. Quarantine anything that it finds and SAVE the log file.
8.REBOOT to finish removing what Ad-Aware SE found and clear memory.

Then please post an HJT log as a reply to this topic.

what system specs are you running there master J?