My laptop is too slow.. any solutions??

Hi kweenee, and welcome to the forum.

See the following wiki for a list of links to tutorials/checklists to perform that are helpful in trouble-shooting  your problem:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/virus-spyware/w/spyware_virus/computer-and-browser-slowness-malware.aspx

It is helpful to include info such as the make/model of your computer, operating system and service pack used (XP sp3, Vista Home, Windows 7 etc), browser used, amount of RAM, size of hardrive and unused free space left, security programs/suites you might use.

Other than generalized slowness, is your computer exhibiting any strange behaviour, alerts , pop-ups, programs that won't start, or re-directs to unwanted websites, which might indicate the presence of malware?

Here's the details that might be helpful to solve my pc problem:

ACER Aspire 4736Z, windows XP, Firefox, 250 GB HDD with 207.1 GB free space, Avira Antivirus

There are no pop-ups or any strange behaviors whatsoever..

Please help!

Hi, and sorry for the delayed reply - I work late.

Ok, it seems you have enough free space on your hard drive, and at least 3 or 4 MB of RAM. Good.

Assuming you have:
- kept your anti-virus updated daily for new definitions,
- kept your XP (and it should be SP3) patched and updated by Windows, and
- Windows software firewall enabled (check in Control Panel>Security Center),
- run an anti-virus scan that detects nothing,

... there are several things to try to optimize your system's performance, before resorting to looking for infections as a cause.

1) Minimize the programs that load at start-up.

- These are all the programs that constantly run in the background, and eat up your CPU's performance, slowing your system  All you really need to load at start-up are security programs related to your anti-virus, firewall, and any anti-malware programs you want to be running in real-time so as to provide constant protection. In practice, this should amount to only a handfull, maybe 10 or less at most. All other programs can  and should be loaded manually, as and when needed.
- To determine what programs load at start-up, click on Start, then Run ... , and in the Open box type msconfig, then click on OK, then on the Startup tab in the System Configuration Utility that opens.
- This will display everything that loads at startup. For the moment, just report back the total number of programs loading, and a general description of them (the Startup names will suffice). If excessive, we can tell you how to disable them from running at startup.

2) Go to PC Pitstop, and run their full diagnostic tests:
http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/
Make any changes suggested, except for any that involve downloading new, or especially paid-for software.

3) Clean out the trash: run Disk Cleanup:
- Click on Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Cleanup>OK>
- In the Window that opens, make sure all the boxes are selected, click OK>yes>

Reboot, and tell me how things are going.

There is lots more to try. Particularly with how to cut down the programs that start at loadup (if necessary).

If you have any questions about any of this, don't hesitate to ask.

1. We do not handle diagnostic logs such as those produced by HijackThis on this forum. Logs are read on the Malware Removal Forum  by trained Security Analysts. You will find the list of trained helpers as well as preferred HijackThis download instructions here: Please Read This Before Posting On the Malware Removal Forum

2. Joe53 is a respected regular contributor on this forum. His recommendations are completely safe.

Hi Kweenee:

Gmanson is controversial and going against protocols here....HJT and other logs should only be posted on the Malware Removal forum...and only trained analysts should be responding to the user posts there. In addition, there is no evidence that he has any kind of training, experience, or qualifications to be advising people about malware removal, either here or on the Malware Removal forum, where I see he has inserted comments into several threads. That forum is for people with problems working exclusively with one person who has been trained in the use of the various programs and tools like Combofix, which can be very damaging to your computer if used wrong.

We went through this before with him a few years ago and it looks like deja vu all over again. I hope the forum moderator discusses this with Bugbatter and the other analysts and acts accordingly before other posters take his "advice" and start running into trouble. In the meantime...be advised!