[shakespierre]

Hi guys, first time posting on any site but im realllly stuck - ive searced lots to no avail. My problem is my computer (HP Pavilion Intel 2.8ghz, 2gb ram, 200gb internal) runs very slow from startup (50 lines of bars! then a black screen for 1 min and to top it off about 5 mins to load the little icons at bottom of screen (not many). OK this is what ive done so far, got rid of malware via several programs, cleaned registry so its 100% ok, got rid of my paid for virus program and installed avg - whoops, deleted lots of apps so theres minimal background apps running etc etc. I reakon now its hardware related and think its something to do with my external e-sata 250gb hardrive thats about 3 months old, ive recently put all my documents and files like my music and movies onto this drive from my c drive to try and make machine go faster but its slowed it down immensly, Ive also noted when booting, the ex drive flashes lots and after a period it starts humming and then things start happening. Its set up as a master slave in bios. Its realllyyy annoying so hope someone out there can help! Also boot order is correct and ext sata isnt included in my bootup.

[Spencer2004]

well it cant be the external drive because there isnt any windows/boot files on it. but anyway try booting without using your external drive and see what happens

[shakespierre]

Thanks for your reply - yep your right - still takes ages to boot when the drives off - do you have any ideas on what it might be - my thoughts are it was malware but ive used about 5 free programs to get rid of everything on mt system - im wondering if i need to go get nortons from the shop? Ive also deleted the old java files etc but nothing i do seems to solve it????

[Spencer2004]

oh i thought u had one. avg free is a good basic antivirus, install it, update it over this internet and do a full system scan inculding the external sata

http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Vir...dlpid=10760089

[philthomas]

Whatever you do, dont use Norton .... it is a resource hog and bloatware and doesn't do a very good job at detection, despite all the advertising hype.