Windows 7 Sudden onset of super slow computer

[AZekus]

Hello. I need help from someone who knows what I need to do....

My Compaq CQ60-615DX Notebook has just all of a sudden started running really slow for the past week. It all started last tuesday when I tried to log off and it had to install 22 updates. After the updates I uploaded some Zumba DVD's to my hard drive and then a DVD burning program. I thought the slowness was due to the Zumba and DVD burning software so I deleted the Zumba stuff from my hard drive and uninstalled and deleted the burning software. It was still running super slow. Then I did a full malware and virus scan and the malware found a couple things that it asked me to put in quarantine, so I did. After that it still wasn't working right so I did a system restore to before the time when it installed all 22 updates. It is working a little better but I can still tell something is not right.
Basically what is happening is it takes a long time to respond to commands. Like I will click to open a new page for web browsing and it takes a full minute to open it up (or longer). Basically whatever I click on it takes a long time to respond. This is not normal for my computer. And sometimes it will work fine for a couple minutes, then just start randomly being slow again. I thought maybe it was my internet connection but my husband is on his laptop not having any problems and he was sitting right beside me.
What else can I do besides a defrag cuz I am about to try that now? I have also emptied my trash can, deleted tons of stuff from my download folder, cleaned up my hard drive by deleting cookies and whatnat. I am not a computer savy person so anything explained in plain english instead of tech talk would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

 

[Saltgrass]

The simplest way to check for activity is to open Task Manager and see if something is using the CPU time and slowing down your system. You can click the top of the CPU column and select the highest usage to show on top. Make sure you click on Show Processes from all users.

If you see something using the time beside the Idle process, make note of it.

If you do not see anything, you can use msconfig.exe to not start certain items when you boot your computer. If you find the one causing the problem then you will know. Doing a cold boot (shutting all the way down then restarting) will sometimes clear out your system so it may run better.

If you don't see anything using msconfig.exe, you might try using the Performance Monitor. It will make reports of your system and may show the culprit. The help file will show you how to run the reports, but a System Diagnostic might be the correct one.

Something is probably running on your system and causing the delays. You have another computer, so comparing them might be helpful.

To use Performance Monitor, type the following in the Search box on the Start menu:

perfmon /report

This will generate a report you can look through for any warnings or system items that look funny. This does not work on all versions of Windows 7, but you can still use the performance monitor to check your system.

Do you happen to remember what the name of the quarantined items were?

 

[AZekus]

Okay, Thanks. I did the Task manager thing and it showed wmpnetwk.exe was at the top of the CPU list and second was systemIdleP... whatever those are, I have no idea.
I already did the msconfig thing a long time ago but double checked it yesterday. It's fine, I only have the necessary things going on that.

The performance report is the same as it was months ago before the problem started: processor 4.4, RAM 5.2, graphics 3.6, gaming graphics 3.3, primary hard disk 5.9

The quarantined items were something like zangu which was something I have never seen or heard of.

Update on function of laptop: I tried to do the defrag yesterday and it got to 91% analyzed and stopped. I even left my laptop on overnight when I went to bed just in case if was being slow but it still was at 91 % when I woke up. So I can't even get it defraged.
It's weird because I noticed when I turn on the computer it works perfect for about 10 minutes then it will freeze up for about two minutes where it doesn't respond to the commands I give it. Then will just start working again with no problems. But it does this sporadically while I am using it and it's slower going from one web page to the next which it was never that slow before.

yesterday I tried to find one of those HDD analyzer things to check for problems on the hard drive but was unsuccessful. It was downloaded as a file that needed to be extracted, so I did but after that I couldnt figure out how to use the program. Plus a pop up came up saying I needed winrar, which I don't have and I am scared to download any thing from the internet onto my computer anymore because of how finicky it's acting.

 

[Saltgrass]

How much of the CPU is the Windows Media Player Network Sharing (wmpnetwk.exe) taking? Mine shows 0 if it is not running.

It doesn't look like we are looking at the same performance report, see attachment.

There is a chance you have not completely removed the virus. Have you run a checker lately. I like to run Malwarebytes on occassion in addition to my normal anti-virus. They have a free version you can download and run.

Most folks use Chkdsk to look at their drives. If you run it using this Microsoft reference, I would just start with chkdsk without any parameters. After that, if it completes, use the /f switch (chkdsk /f). You can start chkdsk by opening an Administrative Command Prompt (Command Prompt Run as Administrator).

 

[Saltgrass]

I also found this site. It appears to be very non-techie...

It is a sub-page of this Microsoft site