Windows 8 Computer Running Slow: Possible Undetected Virus?

Brunette · Jan 30, 2016

Hi everyone,

Today my computer started working very slowly and I couldn't open Malwarebytes anymore. When I, later today, tried to get it out of sleep mode, it shut itself off. When I tried to reboot, it shut itself off again. The second time it worked though, and everything seemed normal again. I could open Malwarebytes and ran a scan, but the scan came up empty: no malware found.

My browser is still quite slow though, so could I have a virus after all? An "undetected" one?

Any help is welcome!

kemical · Jan 31, 2016

Try using the McAfee removal tool found on this page:
How To Completely Remove Norton Or McAfee From Your Computer

You could always try reinstalling Chrome too.

kemical · Jan 30, 2016

Hi Brunette and welcome to the forum!
Do you have any toolbars or the like running on the browser?

Brunette · Jan 30, 2016

kemical said:
Hi Brunette and welcome to the forum!
Do you have any toolbars or the like running on the browser?

Hi Kemical,

Thank you! No unusual toolbars, just slower performance and the fact that my computer shut itself off a couple of times, without any reason.

kemical · Jan 30, 2016

Well you can do a check for malware by running Eset's free online scanner:
Free Virus Scan | ESET Online Scanner | ESET

What about the browser itself, is it fully updated? Also depending on which browser it is check what plug-ins you have running with it, if any.

Do you run any kind of maintenance like Ccleaner?
Link Removed
Don't use the registry part tho', Windows doesn't need the registry cleaning and it usually causes more problems than fix.

Brunette · Jan 30, 2016

Thank you again! So merely using malwarebytes and avast is not sufficient? I do not use any maintenance...

kemical · Jan 30, 2016

Brunette said:
So merely using malwarebytes and avast is not sufficient?

Oh yes that's fine, I just mentioned it if you wanted to check with something different. Try running Ccleaner as well as cleaning up your add and remove programs. What i mean by that is have a look though and anything you don't use anymore uninstall. It will give you more space and speed up the machine too.

Brunette · Jan 30, 2016

kemical said:
Well you can do a check for malware by running Eset's free online scanner:
Free Virus Scan | ESET Online Scanner | ESET

What about the browser itself, is it fully updated? Also depending on which browser it is check what plug-ins you have running with it, if any.

Do you run any kind of maintenance like Ccleaner?
Link Removed
Don't use the registry part tho', Windows doesn't need the registry cleaning and it usually causes more problems than fix.

kemical said:
Oh yes that's fine, I just mentioned it if you wanted to check with something different. Try running Ccleaner as well as cleaning up your add and remove programs. What i mean by that is have a look though and anything you don't use anymore uninstall. It will give you more space and speed up the machine too.

Thank you so much for the information!
One more thing I just remembered, it may be useful to say that I do use McAfee's safe search function, and sometimes this function has been turned off. When I turn it back on, my default search engine has been changed from Google to Yahoo. Is this something to worry about?

kemical · Jan 30, 2016

Hang on.. so you have Malwarebytes, Avast and McAfee? If this is the case then too many anti virus apps will slow the machine down. Malwarebytes coupled with either Avast or McAfee is fine but not all three.

As for the Yahoo search engine appearing is it anything to do with McAfee? Maybe it's that that's changing it over (the search engine that is)?

Brunette · Jan 31, 2016

kemical said:
Hang on.. so you have Malwarebytes, Avast and McAfee? If this is the case then too many anti virus apps will slow the machine down. Malwarebytes coupled with either Avast or McAfee is fine but not all three.

As for the Yahoo search engine appearing is it anything to do with McAfee? Maybe it's that that's changing it over (the search engine that is)?

Right, thank you! Iwill remove McAfee then.
Yes the Yahoo search engine definitely has something to do with McAfee, when "safe search" is enabled, McAfee changes my search engine to Yahoo...

kemical · Jan 31, 2016

See how you go once McAfee is removed, hopefully things will improve..

Brunette · Jan 31, 2016

I

kemical said:
See how you go once McAfee is removed, hopefully things will improve..

I'm sorry to bother you again, but since uninstalling McAfee Google Chrome does not start anymore...

kemical · Jan 31, 2016

Try using the McAfee removal tool found on this page:
How To Completely Remove Norton Or McAfee From Your Computer

You could always try reinstalling Chrome too.

Brunette · Jan 31, 2016

Thanks for all your help! I did use the McAfee removal tool. After a few reboots and one cold reboot, Chrome started working again, so let's hope it stays that way... :s

kemical · Jan 31, 2016

Thank you for updating.. I hope your issues are solved but if you should get any problems please post back.

BrunoMacPC · Feb 2, 2016

Hi everyone,

Sometimes PC's are slow because there is no space on the disk or there is a virus, but possibly could be you Disk's Health

Try to download "CrystalDiskInfo" and analyze your disk's health

I can't give you the link cause i'm new here so just type in google

If the disk is OK, try all the programs they said (CCLEANER, ADWCLEANER)

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