(Not Responding) messages, computer freezes and runs slow.

[Chassa]

Hello! I'm having serious issues with my computer. It takes a long time to load upon starting, takes a long time to get to my destination, when it gets on the page it freezes and a message appears saying, (Not Responding).

A windows message then pops up saying, "You've chosen to end a program that's not responding. If you end now, you'll lose all unsaved work." I can either chose "End now or cancel". If I cancel, the page doesn't unfreeze.

I know it can be either a software conflict or malware, but I don't know which one. I've already recently ran a performance booster on it, and that really didn't do much that I can see. I've defragged too. I ran a registry cleaner on it. I cleared the caches. It hasn't changed a thing.

There's one other user on my computer who's downloaded some various programs. I know he doesn't check on the software before downloading. HELP!!

I was going to choose a free software to tell me if I have software issues or hardware issues, but I don't know which ones are the best and less harmful for my computer. Also, I haven't tried a malware removal either. I'm afraid to download anything and ONLY trust Techspot to tell me which ones to download.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.
Chassa

 

[Archean]

Please follow these 8-steps and post resulting logs in Virus and Malware Removal forum. Also do tell them what is your system specs / operating system (what service packs you may have installed etc.).