Computer

[Scud]

I'm guessing it's a laptop. You might have a spyware problem or a virus, but it might just need more RAM (random access memory). It's cheap. If you plan on keeping the computer rather than buying an expensive new one, it's the best thing you can do.

What happens is your computer starts up and loads what it needs into RAM, which is temporary memory, a chip, and really fast. Then when you do something, like open a browser, the browser first looks to save stuff to RAM and if there isn't enough, reverts to "virtual" memory, which is just a temporary spot on your hard drive. Hard drives are slow, comparatively, and you'll notice everything slowing down as soon as this happens. Gets painful as you try to do more things, like open a document while still having the browser open. The longer your computer stays on, the worse it gets.

Easiest way to see how much RAM you have and how much you can use is to go here: http://www.crucial.com and run the system scanner tool from their site. If you have under 512 mb, that's most likely your problem. You can install it yourself, it's easy. Unfortunately, the older the computer the more expensive RAM can be, but not always.

If it turns out you have over a gig of RAM already, then my suspicion would be spyware. Do you have anti-virus software and/or antispyware software on it? I can recommend free ones if you don't.

Let me know if I can help.

Dave