Computer bogging down

[dime1622]

Within the last couple days, i've had a problem with my computer's performance. After a restart, it works just fine. However, after about 30 minutes (completely random, can be anywhere from 20 mins to 2 hours), the HDD light will come on and stay on and I can hear the disk in constant operation. The system slows down considerably. I run McAfee, Ewido (with shield), Ad Aware, and SpyBot, and yet none of these programs see anything wrong with my system. With the Task Manager open, looking at the performance tab, just moving around between windows causes huge spikes over 70%. I turned off the page file, restarted, deleted the old page file, started a new page file, and restarted, and nothing has changed. I ran registry mechanic and also used a startup program to check for hidden processes. I can't find out what is going on, and yet my HDD light is still on solid. Is there anything else I may be able to do in order to figure out what is going on, or is it time for a reformat?

[sknyer]

try spylean a very little standalone program but very useful which can remove all most all adwares and spywares. I suggest you to use AVG antivirus download and have a full scan, for computer slowing down, check for any scheduled programs like backup, verify, v.scan etc avoid auto updation of any program even windows. Click for updation manually regularly.

[Rabbitrunner51]

Possible hardrive malfuntion?? sounds like it to me... corrupted files in windows or registry can do this also... if your HD light is on and its not supposed to be.. I would look into that HW piece first..
Find a utility to check your hardrive.. and also do chkdsk in the run menu selection.

If you need any tools i always check MajorGeeks.com.. they usually have most anythiing out there listed for checking porblems like yours..

[leprechaun_40]

Sounds like adware or spyware, possibly even a trojan. Run some scan software in safe mode and see if that helps. Trend micro has a great online scanner, just boot to safemode with network support and run it. Might want to download some anti spyware software as well and run it. I personally use Spybot and AdAware. Seems to keep the junk out.