PC running incredibly slow and explorer.exe always using 100% CPU

Since 2 days, my PC has been ruinning incredibly slow, I mean like nearly 1 minute to maximize a window, 30 sec+ to open the start menu. I rebooted and it worked fine for another few hours and started again.

I noticed explorer.exe is always using 98-100% cpu in task manager.

Could this be a virus? My updated AVG AV doesn't find anything, but none of the AVs I've had have ever found any viruses even when I had some, so I don't trust any AV at all since they only detect known viruses.

Could it be something else?

Thanks

Sounds like spyware to me....

Run an online scan first for viruses just in case AVG is stuffed and then run spybot... chances are it'll find something.

Give it the full treatment:

Spybot Search & Destroy: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/
Adaware SE: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
MS AntiSpyware: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/secu...e/default.mspx
Trend Micro Online Scan: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
Panda Online Scan: http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/

Ran them all so far except spybot and panda and nothing found as I suspected.

I don't think it's a virus or spyware, it seems to be triggered by something, perhaps when I read a CD but I haven't done enough testing to be sure. It's always explorer.exe that suddenly starts using 100% cpu time for no apparent reason.

There have been cases of this for a while, Windows updated completely? Any new apps installed?

just for the heck of it you might want to run a Check Disk with the repair switch on.

start
run
"cmd"
ok
at the promt type "chkdsk /R" then hit enter. It will ask you if you want to perform this task at next boot. Answer yes and reboot your computer.

Does a pretty good job of finding corrupt files or other problems.

Whenever I have a computer giving me fits it is one of the first things I do just as a precaution.

Don't forget the /R

open task manager and check to see what service is using all your cpu. Ignore system idle process.

he mentioned it:

Quote:

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I noticed explorer.exe is always using 98-100% cpu in task manager.

---

Run HijackThis, just to see whats really happenning.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bftchevy

just for the heck of it you might want to run a Check Disk with the repair switch on.

start
run
"cmd"
ok
at the promt type "chkdsk /R" then hit enter. It will ask you if you want to perform this task at next boot. Answer yes and reboot your computer.

Does a pretty good job of finding corrupt files or other problems.

Whenever I have a computer giving me fits it is one of the first things I do just as a precaution.

Don't forget the /R

---

This results in:

The type of the file system is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Damned Angel

open task manager and check to see what service is using all your cpu. Ignore system idle process.

---

As I said, it is explorer.exe using 100% cpu, for now the problem hasn't returned, it seems as though it's something that triggers this, I haven't yet found what it is that is triggering this.

What is HijackThis and where can I get it?

Thanks

HijackThis: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

What it is: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ClickHere2Surf.com

This results in:

The type of the file system is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)

---

You need to push "Y".
Running CHKDSK /R is a good 1st step (start from the lowest layer and work your way up).
CHKDSK /R will check both the disk surface and your data. If it finds anything wrong, it will do its best to recover data and mark bad spots off so Windows won't use it anymore.

I think this would be the first place to start:

-- Delete all temp files (c:\windows\temp\*.tmp, or on XP C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp)

-- Delete temporary internet files (c:\windows\temporary internet files\*.*, or on XP C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files)

-- If you use I.E., click on Tools, Internet Options, Delete Files, select "delete all off-line content", click OK

-- Click on Start, Programs, Accessories, Systems Tools, Disk Cleanup

-- Download AdAware, check for updates, run it and remove whatever it finds

-- Periodically empty the browser cache and the java plug-in cache

-- Download Diskeeper and defrag

-- Download, update and turn on SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard (or your spyware removal tool of choice).