Painfully slow Sony Vaio

Free software is great but some sites are awful for bundling PUPs. I found loads of issues after using CNET which always comes up as a front runner when I am looking for a download. Avoid it like the plague. The download links on this forum are checked so it's a good place to look for the program you want. I'm surprised that SAS and Malwarebytes haven't worked for you but there is another called Hitman Pro that is often mentioned on forums as good for zapping malware. Keep bashing away until you clean all adware and check regularly to stay free of it.
 
I did notice that about CNET. I was surprised, because it seems trustworty. But now I won't download anything from that site!

It's funny, I had forgotten all about Hitman Pro and yesterday I was cleaning out my download folder and saw it there. I still haven't run the Malwarebytes scan. The computer was still quite slow today, especially when opening MS Word and Excel. I use the computer so much that I hate scanning, because it takes so much time. I should run them overnight but I forget to.

Thanks!
 
The answer to really boosting laptop performance is to upgrade by replacing the hard drive with an SSD unit but I'd leave that until you have eliminated the problems that you have at present. I have an SSD drive in my Vaio and it really flies now. I can't see any Sony stuff that would slow my computer down. It's basically a Vaio Control Panel which is needed.
 
What is an SSD unit? Is it expensive?

The Vaio stuff definitely slows my computer down. I don't think it's functioning properly and I don't think it ever did.
 
Question for JOBeard - You had me do that thing where I opened up Notepad and typed something into it. What was the purpose of that? Did my results reveal anything? Thanks.
 
Problems are getting worse, not better. My laptop just shut down for no apparent reason. I was on Facebook with several other tabs open. And bam, it closed down. There was a flash of a blue screen with white lettering (please tell me that is not the "blue screen of death" that is mentioned here). But I couldn't see what it said before it shut down.

I don't remember whether or not I had to press the button to restart it. It might have restarted on its own. There was that screen that asks you if you want to start in safe mode but I chose to start it normally.

Any advice on what to do now? I need the laptop for the work I do.

I will run Malwarebytes asap. Should have already. Any advice is appreciated.
 
In the command prompt, run CLEANMGR for your login and allow it to remove files.
run it again and click clean system files
 
Perhaps you could post which preinstalled Sony programs you think are causing problems. If things haven't improved after the steps you have taken this may be a hardware problem.
 
Thanks, JOBeard and bazz2004. I tried to run Malwarebytes but ran into a couple of problems. It has an associated program called Chameleon, which I used. That program is supposed to prevent malware from blocking Malwarebytes, but I still couldn't run it.

The first time I ran it, I got the following error message:

MoveFile failed: code 183

I tried again and got this message:

Qt5Core.dll missing from computer.

As for the Vaio problems, VaioGate is one program that will just pop up randomly, but all it does is black out the top of the screen so that it's difficult to navigate from one program to another or one tab within my browser to another.

In a few minutes, I will run CLEANMGR. Thanks for that advice!

Janet
 
Uninstalling VaioGate does look to be the best option. It is clearly not working as it was intended and has been described as bloatware.
 
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Thanks, good to know! Because it just popped up a minute ago and blocked the top of the screen. Meanwhile, I can't get Malwarebytes to run and I am installing Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, but the installation doesn't seem to be budging.

Apparently, I'm missing a file called Qt5core.dll and that is keeping Malwarebytes from running. Whew! This is confusing! I did run CLEANMGR and that got rid of over 800 MB.
 
Jobeard, with your link I was able to run Malwarebytes. It was slow as molasses, but I ran it overnight. It found 8 PUPs, nothing too malicious.

I also uninstalled VaioGate. I'm not having problems today.
 
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Almost none of it actually works (but does slow things down). But I have a bigger problem. Which makes me think it's time to throw in the towel and either take this laptop to a repair shop or buy a new one.

This morning, Windows Startup Repair showed up when I tried to start the laptop. This has been happening frequently (about 3 times over the course of a week), but it hadn't showed up for a week or so. Windows Startup Repair takes a long time. I didn't time it, but it may have taken a half hour give or take 15 minutes. More likely over a half hour than under. In the past it has taken at least that long.

It finally started up, thankfully. So I opened Chrome, which opened my gmail. I started to reply to a message and bam, in the middle of me typing, I got a light blue screen with white letters on it, but it only appeared for a fraction of a second, and then the computer just shut down. Thankfully, I was able to start it normally a few minutes ago.

Would you say that at this point it's time to back everything up and buy a new laptop? Is it worth taking it to someone who does repairs and paying for repairs? People are telling me I could get a decent laptop for $200, so paying $100 to repair this one seems silly, given how difficult it has been since I bought it.

I'm getting the feeling there's little else I can do on my own.
 
As you've run scans with Malwarebytes I doubt there is a problem of infection. Perhaps uninstall the Sony software that you don't use.

I've never used a repair shop and would want a very convincing recommendation of how good it was first. Which model of Vaio do you have, what is the version of Windows and what is the age of the laptop? Also, has it had a lot of use or been repaired?

Are you using it on mains or battery?
 
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Under model, it just says Sony Vaio. I'm using Windows 7. I wish I could remember when I bought this, but I don't remember. It's probably over 5 years old.

I keep it plugged in almost all of the time.
 
Successive events before throwing in the towel.
  1. Disable Viao System Services
  2. Using the EVENTVWR.MSC to determine what failed & why
  3. Using System Restore to roll back to an earlier point in time
  4. Using the System Recovery to go back to the system day-1, original condition (ie loose all data and user installed programs)
On point (3) can you determine when these issued started? If so and it is somewhat recent, this might be a first choice.

Proceeding on (2)
get a command prompt and enter EVENTVWR.MSC
open the System Tab, scroll to find ERROR events. dbl-click on one
click the little document icon near the bottom.
open Notepad and then PASTE into it (we'll collection a few)
close this event, scroll to the next error and repeat
after 2-3 errors, past the content of the Notepad as your follow-up reply​

On (1) let's determine what Vaio services are active
get a command prompt and enter
tasklist | findstr /I "vaio" >myVaio.log
notepad myVaio.log
copy the contents and paste as another follow-up​
 
It didn't work. It's saying "ignored" and "bad command line."

How do I get that straight line after "tasklist"?

This is how I'm typing it:

tasklist|findstr/l"vaio">myVaio.log

Is that wrong?

And do I then type:

notepad myVaio.log

I'm nervous about restoring to an earlier time and losing all my data. I've had trouble understanding how to use my backup drive. I bought an external back up drive, but I have trouble figuring out whether or not the files are really on there and whether or not I'll be able to get them back on the computer or on another computer if I need to.

Some of the files are pretty important but I suppose I could put the most important on a flash drive if I really had to (besides backing up on the external hard drive).

Thanks for your help.

Janet
 
"tasklist | findstr /l "vaio" >myVaio.log"
notice the spaces. the vertical stroke is <shift>\

Some of the files are pretty important but I suppose I could put the most important on a flash drive if I really had to (besides backing up on the external hard drive).
Click to expand...
comment (4) is the only destructive approach - - 1-3 are perfectly safe for all your files :)
 
Thanks. Turns out I was getting the vertical stroke right. But it's still not working.

Is the character after the slash a lower case letter "l"? Or is it another vertical stroke?

When I typed it with a vertical stroke instead, I did get this:

"vaio" is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

When I typed it with a lower case letter "l" I didn't get anything at all.

With the other attempts, I got:

FINDSTR: /a ignored
FINDSTR: Bad command line
 
Between tasklist and findstr is <shift>\
between findstr and "vaio" is slash I
 
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