Member Avatar for GriffIT34

I have a PC im working on with an extremely slow boot time, it gets past windows logo, but when the desktop loads we're seeing times of 3-6 minutes....WOW. task manager shows a very high pf usages and the processes....... are .......well...... over 220, most of which are LDdrives.exe, which i beleive to be legit. Other pc's who don't have this problem also have this process but only one instance. After a couple of minutes the process level drops to 34 or so. Any Idea's? This is a pc with NO anti-virus. which is how i found all this out when failing to install.

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A focused diagnostic run will often tell whether those repeated processes are a misconfigured app or active malware, and can save a reinstall. raised the symptom and correctly noted a fresh install is a valid endgame — but try the checks below first so the cause is known and important data can be preserved.

  • Use a process inspector (Sysinternals Process Explorer or equivalent) to view each instance’s full image path, command line, parent process and digital signature. Multiple identical instances launched by a trusted parent from a signed system folder often mean a benign multi-process design; instances coming from user temp folders, different locations, or with different parents are suspicious.
  • Check auto-start locations with Autoruns. Look for duplicate Run/Service/Scheduled Task entries and disable (export a snapshot first) rather than deleting immediately so you can roll back.
  • Scan from outside the running Windows image. Create a rescue USB/CD from a known-good machine and run a full offline antivirus/rootkit scan so stealthy components that hide at boot can be detected.
  • Gather evidence before mass changes: note the full file path, file size and a hash for any suspicious executable, then submit or check that hash with online scanners if available.

If those steps don’t clear it or you prefer to rebuild, image the drive first (Clonezilla, Macrium Reflect, etc.), export mail/keys/bookmarks, then do a clean install. After recovery, enable updates and a current real-time AV, keep startup items minimal, and restore only user data — avoid reintroducing executables from the infected system.

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Member Avatar for dcc

A couple of things to try, defrag the hdd, download AVG, Spybot S&D, Adaware, and see if you have any infections. How much free space do you have on the hdd?

I would also help if you include the specs for this computer, make, model, amount of RAM...

Member Avatar for GriffIT34

I gave most of those a try, and even though ad-aware, spybot, and winclam removed somethings i still couldn't install the software i needed to. Only so much time can pass before you cut your losses and re-burn the machine

Member Avatar for dcc

There is a lot to be said for wiping the drive and doing a reinstall, and it's not that much of a problem if you have everything organized. Then you get to enjoy that quickness that only a new install provides. I would only suggest that you wipe the drive rather than a low level format, this will overwrite your problems.

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