I'm having a tough time with my laptop lately. It's running really slow, and while apps like Opera work fine once they're open, everything else, like accessing the sound mixer or even logging in from the lock screen, takes ages. I recently downloaded some files from a site I trust, so I'm hesitant to blame that, but something weird happened: a random tmp file appeared in my downloads and then vanished. After that, my laptop started glitching out for about 20 seconds, and since then, everything has been painfully slow. I tried deleting the files I downloaded, but it wouldn't let me empty the recycle bin, though I managed to do it via disk cleaner. I ran a security scan with Windows Defender, but nothing came up. I just reinstalled Windows a couple of weeks ago and set everything up, so I really don't want to do that again. Does anyone have any thoughts on what could be going on? I haven't installed anything other than HWinfo, which I was downloading when the problems started but thought a virus could be the culprit since I can't find any other explanation.
3 Answers
This might be a bit out there, but are you in the U.S.? There have been some serious magnetic storms lately that could mess with electronics. If that's not the case, a fresh reinstall of Windows could be your best option.
It sounds like you might have malware. I'd recommend running a system file check and a full malware scan. If that doesn't do the trick, reinstalling Windows might be the fastest solution, unfortunately.
You mentioned downloading from a trusted site, but it's worth checking if there were any sketchy downloads, like fake buttons. Also, when you open Task Manager, does the activity slow down? If so, it could be malware. Defensive measures like checking Windows Defender settings might help, too. If things look suspicious, restoring or reinstalling could save you a lot of hassle.
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