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@Anonymous wrote:

My computer is going at snailpace again. Everything was fine and it ran much faster. Then I get an Avast message that my PC is running slow and they can get it sorted for a price of course. From that moment on my computer started running slow again. Coincidence?

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Harriet, don't know if this is of any help, but I had the same problem a few weeks ago. Ridiculously slow and cumbersome to use. Pages would freeze, and I'd have to log out and back in again, and it would take an age to open a link. It even took a good two/three minutes to log off. No amount of cleaning/virus/spyware scans made any difference. It was driving me potty, and came very near on several occasions, to my launching it through the window.

A mate runs a PC repair shop and I took it to him. He blamed the hard drive. He said after a time they wear out (on older models - mine is about 5 years old) and so the system becomes sluggish. He showed me the HD and there was a 'half-moon' needle on it, and it was this to blame apparently. He suggested replacing it with a solid state HD. No needle on this. This cost £130 (cheaper than buying a new one, and which would also have meant having to put up with the awful Windows 8), but I can honestly say that now, if it goes any faster, it would be in danger of getting a ticket for speeding.

Memo to Harriet and Willums.

Ditch AVAST, and install AVG instead. The only pop-ups I get are when a scan has begun and/or finished. And it's automatically updated with each scan.