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Tiras25Flag for United States of America

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Computer super slow - help!

I have this Optiplex 990 super slow.  CPU percent shows 0 to 1%.  Memory only 2GB in use.  16GB total.

Yet, the system is really sluggish.  Open anything takes time.  Even windows explorer or notepad.  

Only few warnings in App Event viewer.  No red errors shown.

Windows (3872) Windows: A request to read from the file "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Windows.edb" at offset 32047104 (0x0000000001e90000) for 32768 (0x00008000) bytes succeeded, but took an abnormally long time (126 seconds) to be serviced by the OS. In addition, 140 other I/O requests to this file have also taken an abnormally long time to be serviced since the last message regarding this problem was posted 128 seconds ago. This problem is likely due to faulty hardware. Please contact your hardware vendor for further assistance diagnosing the problem.

Windows (3872) Windows: A request to read from the file "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\Windows.edb" at offset 7766016 (0x0000000000768000) for 32768 (0x00008000) bytes succeeded, but took an abnormally long time (183 seconds) to be serviced by the OS. This problem is likely due to faulty hardware. Please contact your hardware vendor for further assistance diagnosing the problem.
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Neil Russell
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try to look at the smart values of the HDD, check if the CPU is not throttled as its too hot.

Also run a malware scan from a anti malware boot cd.

Does sluggishness also appears when booting from a CD? (e.g. a live linux)?
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Well, luckily users don't store anything on the local HDD.  Only network share.    
You certain about it?  Any tools I can verify that and scan?

I have not tried to boot from CD though.
Run malware scan... it could take a very long time.  Too slow overall.
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True.  If I won't solve by EOD I will replace the desktop.  

So maybe boot into the safe mode and scan?  Any other way?
no need for safe mode, just do properties on disk and tools and scan. it will require a reboot and then scan during boot.
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So far its going through the stage 3 of 5.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)...
11 percent completed.  (105942 of 290304 file SDs/SIDs processed)

Its going really slow here.   Its moving but very very slow.  I wonder if anyone know how slow should it be here..
As situation unfolds and as other also suggested, it really sounds like harddisk failure. A quick view of the smart values might already confirm this.
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Andreas, how do you view smart values?
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run hdd health http://panterasoft.com/hdd-health/  it is free and sits in the system tray
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Put the SSD drive into it instead of HDD. You will notice the difference.
You might use smartmontools for example. they are comand line based and opensource (GPL).

http://sourceforge.net/projects/smartmontools/

they even can integrate in the right click menu of windows explorer if you choose upon installation.

Small slink no frills.
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Update scan is still going Stage 4 since yesterday.  Interestingly enough it doesn't show any errors, just super slow.  I ran same check disk on similar desktop took 20-30min.
sometimes hdds are defective in a way that transfer rates are super slow but all blocks still could be read/written too. but this condition usually will not last too long, vrey soon it might fail with some click/clack noises, usually after  a powercycle as it cant load/find the firmware anymore on the HDD. (most hdds also store most of the firmware on the disk too.)
So as per my first post, BACK UP AND Swap that disk! QUICK!
The scan could possible have made the situation worse.
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Nothing to backup.  Users don't save anything locally.
 I'm prepping another desktop for that user.   Strange thing no errors.   Just super slow.
Nothing unusual when a computer is involved! :D
As I said, the error you were getting is indicative of a hard disk failure and nothing else normally. A scan that runs slow as that is only down to one cause, the disk.
Computers don't always behave as we would expect them to.
SSD drive will give you max speed.
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Just ordered a replacement from Dell.    Thank you all.
Neilsr, only a salesman sees salesmen in others. As the drive is going to be replaced in any case my suggestion was to use SSD as a replacement. Especially when they are cheap enough nowadays.
And making diagnosis - what exact facts did you make think which exact problem was with the drive? I see here pretty general assumptions and suggestions. There is no question from you aimed to set diagnosis, just a statement - drive is bad. I hope you are not a physician or surgery practician.
If the drive is finally replaced and the PC is still slow (or it is not slow because the Windows is reinstalled) you never know what was there. You even do not show interest in model of the drive its size and date of issue.