Before I just take my computer into the "shop", I'm hoping someone here has a suggestion or idea what might be going on.

A couple of weeks ago (if even that long) what I thought was a virus on my computer was causing me all sorts of problems. After struggling to get Norton and Malwarebytes to find and deal with a virus, (which Malwarebytes did), all was working fine until yesterday.

Whatever caused all my problems with the computer slowing to a snail's pace if not downright freezing last time is happening again. I click on something and wait 5-10 minutes for it to load, if it loads at all. I have run Norton AND Malwarebytes (which froze part-way through the scan) and both came back with a clean bill of health.
I click on AOL, it looks like it will load and then I get the same message: AOL (or whoever) is not responding.

I have to manually shut down and when I reboot everything is fine for a short period of time, and then back to freezing.

Any more ideas for me?? Or is it time to make a trip to the computer doctor?

Have you done a good cleaning of your computer with something like CCleaner? You might also try running your Malwarebytes and Norton in Safe Mode.

I just finished working on a laptop that was barely running last week. I removed over 800 pieces of adware and nine toolbars. There were no viruses or anything like that. CCleaner got rid of almost 9 GB of accumulated temporary files and junk and a couple hundred registry errors.

After all that, the computer ran like new. Go through your add/remove programs and be ruthless about getting rid of anything that even SMELLS like a toolbar.

If you do a thorough cleaning and it doesn't help, then your problem may be hardware related and a trip to the shop would be in order. I assume your computer has enough RAM and a decent processor.

I did use CCleaner not too long ago; there wasn't that much to clean up.

I Did use both Norton and Malwarebytes in safe mode. Malwarebytes froze even in safe mode.

I don't surf around on the Internet much and I'm pretty darn careful of sites that try to install a toolbar. I'm thinking I should be especially looking at any programs installed around the time I started having my problems, no? Most of what is new is BigFish games.

My computer has 6GMB Ram and I have a Intel Core i5 CPU; 750 @2.67 GHz. Running Win 7 Home Premium.

You might check task manager to see how many processes you have running and what CPU and memory usage is.

I've got 35 processes "running", using next to no CPU usage.
My CPU usage is between 0-4% CPU usage. Memory usage is just under 2GB.

There is no reason your computer should be running like that with those kinds of components. If scans are freezing in Safe Mode, I would say it's time to take it in for a thorough checkup.

Maybe someone else will have some suggestions, but if you've already done all the basics, I think it needs more that you can do with software.

2 last things to try:
1).Go to tool gear in IE,(upper right),and click on "Manage add-ons",click on "toolbars" on the left.Disable any toolbars on the right.
2).Go to start button and type "Restore" in search.Restore to a point before last download.

Another thing to check, is your hard drive light constantly on?

Just a long shot-my computer kept freezing for no reason but just needed a good clear out with the 'air duster' especially around the graphics card and power unit. May just be a over-heating issue.

Good idea, Geo. Not all toolbars which are add-ons show up in add/remove programs. Toolbars are the bane of my life when working on computers.

1-Hard Drive light blinking

2-Only toolbar found was a Dell toolbar; it has now been disabled.

3-Upsydaisy, I plan on giving the CPU a good "blowing out" before giving up and heading to the computer shop.

Here's something weird:
It appears I have less of a problem when I'm on the computer in the evening.
Heat doesn't seem to make a difference, since it's been pretty comfortable here these days and it seems first thing in the morning is the worst time.

I'm heading out to breathe the nice ocean air for a couple of days; I'll deal with this when I get back.

I will keep you all posted (if I can)and let you know what happens.

Thanks for all your help.

After a tense few days, I am happy to report that all is well with my computer.

The problems I was having were caused by a dying hard drive. I took my machine to the "doctor" and after a bit of testing, he determined that the hard drive was the culprit and would have to be replaced.
That was good news/not so good news, but I was happy that we at least could move forward now in fixing the computer.
I was not totally lax in backing up my computer, but I think it could have been a month since I did it.

Here's the REALLY good news: since the drive hadn't totally failed, he was able to retrieve EVERYTHING that was on the old hard drive!!

So, I've spent time reinstalling my Norton and Malwarebytes and trying to get the machine back to how I like it(font size, wallpaper, etc) but I'm feeling a whole lot better today! (I can't believe how much I missed my computer; you forget how dependent we are on this piece of electronics!)

Thanks for everyone's help in trying to solve my problem!

Great to hear your good news, Mary !!

Yay!

Great news Mary....wonderful that he was able to retrieve all of your information!