Programs and file explorer have very slow response times

[carrierPigeon]

I feel like I have tried everything and I now have 2 computers that are far from fully functional, which are my 2 main computers. Not long ago, I reinstalled the entire operating system on these computers (before this problem started). I will focus on one computer in this post.

Here are the details (mostly symptoms):
1- when I open a link to a folder in file explorer, the computer is often very slow to open it. It's painfully slow, sometimes it takes 10 seconds or more.
2- when I open a web browser, that's also slow. Sometimes takes 10-15 seconds. The web browser will also freeze for several seconds when I am trying to do something, such as type in a web address.
3- When I am in file explorer, sometimes the computer is slow to load the appropriate icons for the files. For example, the red logo for adobe documents. It simply has a white square instead of the logo. Eventually, the icons will load, one by one.
4- Microsoft office is slow. I was looking in a windows error log and I notice that there is some kind of error description that it's generating. This problem with Microsoft Office has only started more recently so I am lead to believe that it's a separate problem.
5- computer runs hot during stress testing. I replaced the thermal paste, which helped only slightly. I have a new CPU cooler, which might fit this computer but I wasn't planning to install that unless there is strong reason to think that's necessary.
6- Computer sometimes wont boot with HDD (which is a second drive).

Here is what I have done so far:
1- tested ram with some kind of software program, that was writing and reading data from the ram. I don't remember the name of the program but it's a popular one, probably the one that most of you would recommend.
2- ran the stress test on the CPU but the temperatures got too high so I stopped after a few minutes.
3- Ran some sort of Seagate tools on the SSD. Likely wasn't a very good test because there basically are no good tests for SSDs. Also, not eager to delete what's on the drive.
4- Removed the video card, used on board video
5- tried with only 1 of the 2 ram sticks (both combinations)
6- swapped out power supply

I booted in safe mode and the problems did not occur. However, the browsers would crash completely. Perhaps that crashing is normal in safe mode. One crash was in Edge when I did a search for 2 nonsensical words, that are not words in any language. The other time was when I was on a ridiculous websites that has tons of stuff it's trying to run while asking you to sign up for it's newsletter. I think you know the type, ones that are useless because they are trying to run 5+ ads on your screen.

Suspicion (but what do I know):
the SSD is about 2.5 years old. A friend told me that SSDs only last about 2 years.

Here are some ideas that I have:
-update the UEFI Bios. I am not sure how to tell whether that's necessary.
-clone the SSD and try another SSD. This is difficult for me to do without buying another SSD,

 

[spine]

2- ran the stress test on the CPU but the temperatures got too high so I stopped after a few minutes.

So what makes you think you don't need to install that new CPU cooler?

Sounds like your CPU is overheating and throttling. Wouldn't surprise me if you also have some malware that's chewing up all the CPU time as well.

 

[jiminator]

what I would do is get a new hard drive, install windows on it and use the old one for backup. you probably have malware and it can be insidious to get rid of. my wifes laptop had similar issues. nothing I did worked but backing up the data and scrubbing the drive solved the problem.

 

[viper_0307]

Do you have System Restore enabled? The last time, I had a slow Windows 7 I noticed a drive appeared as Missing in Windows File Explorer. I deleted System Restore data, turned it off, and re-enabled System Restore, it's been back to normal since.

 

[carrierPigeon]

I forgot to mention that I am using Windows 10.

what I would do is get a new hard drive, install windows on it and use the old one for backup. you probably have malware and it can be insidious to get rid of. my wifes laptop had similar issues. nothing I did worked but backing up the data and scrubbing the drive solved the problem.

Thanks. That could be it. On my previous install, which was very short lived, I was running an administrator account with "full" rights (it's an elevated administrator account, not the default one when Windows first installs) and I did a little bit of web browsing on that account because I was too lazy to log off and log back into the regular account. Shortly thereafter, I seemed to have some malware so I reformatted. What do you think about me performing a repair upgrade, which is the process of installing Windows 10 over the existing Windows 10 installation. Based on your theory, I suppose that wouldn't be good enough since the malware is really heavily embedded somewhere. It's so painful to reinstall Windows and reconfigure all programs. I do have some system images for backup but based on our theory now they are probably no good and kind of old anyway.

I also have another drive, an HDD, which has sometimes been connected to the computer (many times the computer wont boot with it connected so it's more often disconnected). Do you think I should not connect that drive at all after the reinstall?

 

[carrierPigeon]

So what makes you think you don't need to install that new CPU cooler?

Sounds like your CPU is overheating and throttling. Wouldn't surprise me if you also have some malware that's chewing up all the CPU time as well.

When I am not running the stress test, the temperatures might not be that bad.
Just now, I haven't done much on my computer so far since booting and I see that the the temperatures are

core 1: 28 degrees,
core 2: 28,
CPU package: 30,
Maxes reached:
37
42
42, respectively

the CPU loads have been at maximums of
CPU total: 44%
CPU Core 1: 50%
CPU Core 2: 47%

I suppose I could install the CPU cooler. Assuming that it will fit, it's nice that I had that just lying around. I bought it when it was on a good sale; nice to have backup parts so that you don't have to wait through the dreaded shipping turn times when you really need it. If only I had an extra SSD