Strange performance problem

[GCHartley]

That's true, maybe that's why the restore didn't fix it.

[GCHartley]

As it appears your GPU is functioning correctly, and given that the problem surfaced before you updated the drivers it's looking more and more as if you have a different hardware or configuration problem. A bit of a long shot this, but if you open Control Panel, go to System you'll get a window which shows your Windows Experience Index (WEP)--click the blue text next to the number and note down the various sub-scores and then re-run the assessment. If that brings up a score that's significantly different in any of the categories it will narrow the search down a bit.

This was my first result:

Apparently the last time I took the test was 4/12/2011

George

[GCHartley]

Hit 'Retake the test' and the results were exactly the same.

[GCHartley]

The only change that's happened, as far as you're aware, was the Windows Update...if you go to Windows Update in Control Panel and click on 'View Update History' in the left hand pane it'll show exactly which update has been applied. Post the KB number and we can see if there are any reported issues arising from it; not all Windows Updates are reversable, so that may explain why a System Restore failed to cure the problem.

I checked through the update history, and the one that happened immediately before the computer went wrong was irreversible.
I noticed in the list that there are some updates I haven't installed, and one of them was related to my graphics processor. I'm wondering if I install those it might fix the problem.

George

[pjt1974]

There was a Windows update that came into my mother LapTop about a week ago that caused all sorts of slow down. I think is included the upgrade to Internet Explorer 10. I know it may not sound like a problem to Railworks but I found the newer Internet Explorers seem to run quite a bit in the backround even when they are not running.

Maybe work checking Windows Update in your control panel and seeing what it has updated over the past 2-3 weeks.
I uninstalled Internet Explorer back to version 8 on my Mum's laptop and that seemed to do the trick. The only reason i could find was that Internet Explorer 10 didn't have enough rescource on the Laptop.

Maybe worth a try if you haven't already.

[GCHartley]

I haven't installed the Internet Explorer 10 update, I checked.

For some reason now whenever I try to access my Downloads folder, Windows Explorer crashes. There's an awful lot of stuff in there, some of which I want but a lot of it I don't.
EDIT - when I try to access ANY folder, the entire system crashes
What on earth is going on??

Also, I just installed an update to my NVIDIA graphics card, so I'm going to try and see if it works. EDIT- it didn't work.

George

[gptech]

I checked through the update history, and the one that happened immediately before the computer went wrong was irreversible.

and it was???..... with the KB number we could maybe shed some more light on things.

I noticed in the list that there are some updates I haven't installed, and one of them was related to my graphics processor. I'm wondering if I install those it might fix the problem

I wouldn't advise doing anything on the basis of 'maybe', certainly not without knowing exactly what the updates will affect. As it worked fine before without these updates, there's no reason to believe that installing them would improve your situation---unless of course the graphics update comes with something along the lines of "Install this if you experience problems after installing KBxxxxx....."

[gptech]

I haven't installed the Internet Explorer 10 update, I checked.

For some reason now whenever I try to access my Downloads folder, Windows Explorer crashes. There's an awful lot of stuff in there, some of which I want but a lot of it I don't.
EDIT - when I try to access ANY folder, the entire system crashes
What on earth is going on??

Also, I just installed an update to my NVIDIA graphics card, so I'm going to try and see if it works. EDIT- it didn't work.

George

As we seem to be moving into the realms of 'long shots'....

Create a new user account, it doesn't matter what you call it as it's only there for the purposes of testing, make it a member of the Administrators group to prevent issues with UAC, and see if you can navigate about successfully.
If this is something you've never done before, http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18 ... reate.html will guide you through it.

[GCHartley]

Ok, basically I installed the update :

Definition Update for Microsoft Security Essentials - KB2310138 (Definition 1.151.1516.0)

Installation date: ‎03/‎06/‎2013 20:07

Installation status: Successful

Update type: Optional

Install this update to revise the definition files that are used to detect viruses, spyware, and other potentially unwanted software. Once you have installed this item, it cannot be removed.

That was the day my computer went kaput.

[GCHartley]

Ok, basically even with a new account, Windows Explorer still goes kaput whenever I try to access any folders on my other account, such as Program Files...

[gptech]

There are a few issues reported in various forums/bulletin boards regarding bother after installing KB2310138, but none that cover your issue. However, un-installing MSE may be worthwhile as this will remove the files contained in the update. As it's supposedly only a definition update it's worrying that there are so many folk having bother after it.

Windows Explorer still goes kaput whenever I try to access any folders

Open Control Panel, then Administrative Tools, Event Viewer. See if there are any clues given in the Windows Logs section. Do you get any error messages when trying to open a folder?

[GCHartley]

Yes. When opening a folder I get an error saying 'Windows Explorer is not responding' yet under the error window I can still access the window and it seems to be functioning perfectly normally.

[gptech]

Yes. When opening a folder I get an error saying 'Windows Explorer is not responding' yet under the error window I can still access the window and it seems to be functioning perfectly normally.

Windows Explorers version of 'Something bad has happened' then....tells us next to nothing.
Can you boot in to 'Safe Mode' and try things?, that would eliminate any non-essential drivers as being the culprit (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/wind ... -safe-mode)

[GCHartley]

I tried loading it in Safe Mode but the same problem happened. I'm starting to think that the large amount of memory used up in my C: drive is affecting it. I remember reading that common SBHH errors are often caused by your computer not having enough memory space, and I had been experiencing very common SBHH errors for no apparent reason since around January time. Maybe a clear out will be the answer, as the problem obviously isn't the driver.

George

[mckenziejames04]

I tried loading it in Safe Mode but the same problem happened. I'm starting to think that the large amount of memory used up in my C: drive is affecting it. I remember reading that common SBHH errors are often caused by your computer not having enough memory space, and I had been experiencing very common SBHH errors for no apparent reason since around January time. Maybe a clear out will be the answer, as the problem obviously isn't the driver.

George

Good idea. You also might want to look to delete temporary files as well via the Disk cleanup. You may never know how much space you could save by just using that. I once cleared out 7GB with it on my old computer.