A virus or Vista? Tech support no help.

All of a sudden my computer has started going really slow and not opening programs for a few minutes after I click on them. The cursor lags when I try to place it over anything and then I get an hourglass when I click to open.

I spent 2 hours with online technical support (the first rep suddenly disconnected after 30 minutes) and after they changed a bunch of things on my computer, all they could tell me was that I should do PC restore now. First person said it was hardware or software incompatibility. The second said that the blue screen I once got made Vista not function anymore. (And then proceeded to tell me that I should run my antivirus program after I told them that I can't open any programs!)

Is it probably a virus? If it is, will my external harddrive become infected if I transfer stuff onto it (I've already done this, but haven't checked the HD since)? Should I do PC restore like the rep said or just use the discs that came with the computer?

Please help so I don't have to contact Dell support again. Thanks.

 

It would be a big help if you put your laptop's specifications in your signature. Click the User CP link.


Your slowdown could be caused by a lot of things. When did the slowdown first start? I am assuming you are typing from a different computer now?

 

Try installing another small OS (DSL, Puppy) and see if the slow down occurs there, too. If it does, then it is a hardware problem.

 

Added my computer info to my signature.

The slow down first started 2 weeks ago, but I was too busy to fix it so I didn't turn it on again after that day. I just quickly saved some files to an external hard drive convinced it was a virus (and then realized it might infect that). I am on another computer now, but the broken one is able to connect to the internet if I plug it in (that is, after waiting 3 minutes for a browser to open).

 

I thought that Vista was virus-proof

 

I don't see my signature.. But here are my computer specs: Dell Inspiron 1420 / Vista Home Premium / Intel 7250 / 3 GB / 320GB 5400 HD /

 

Have you done a full chkdsk with surface scan? I've seen systems behave similarly when the HD was failing. The system bogs down and churns as it tries over and over to read data from bad sectors.

It probably isn't your problem, but I'd do a full surface scan anyway just to rule it out.

 

Just got off the phone with yet another rep who I spent an hour talking to. She uninstalled AVG antivirus and now my computer seems to be running normally. I have a hard time believing that was the problem since I've used it for a long time (and on other computers) and it made my computer unusable. So 3 1/2 hours talking with Dell support and I'm still going to do PC restore. I'm not convinced that I don't have a virus.

I still have some files to back up. I'm going to try burning them to a DVD (couldn't do it before), but if it doesn't work, would it be a bad idea to use my external hard drive if I have a virus?

Thanks.

 

Could've been AVG was scanning your hard disk and slowed it down. If you installed a software lately that could also be the cause of slowing. Delete or do a system restore.

 

Try going to safe mode if you can, also try running diagnostics on the HDD only, also there is a USB version of Windows XP, you can try that. If you are able to log in to Safe Mode disable all the startup items.