Computer running slow; Check Disk and Avast! report no error

[jmt356]

I noticed my computer was working very slowly lately, so I ran a Check Disk (formerly Scan Disk). I did not realize my computer was unplug while it was running, so partway into the operation, it ran out of power and shut down. Thankfully, when I turned it on, the computer was still running (I was worried that shutting down in the middle of a Check Disk would cause some fatal error. Though the computer is working, it is still surprisingly slow, being that it runs an Intel® Core™ i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30 GHz and 4.00 GB RAM. It is running slower than when I first bought it.

The Check Disk shows 0 bad file records processed, 26 unused index entries, no failures and no reparse.

I also ran a full scan, and Avast reported no threat found.

Does anyone know what can be causing the slowness?

[StuartR]

Can you look at the processes tab in Task Manager, sorted by CPU utilization, and see if anything is using significant CPU?

[Leif]

Are you connected to a network?

Anything starting at startup that is unnecessary? I find too many programs, such as Adobe, insist on pre-loading their software in an attempt to give you a 'better experience'. (See this thread for how to check.)

[Argus]

You mentioned a couple of things, but not the OS; is it Windows 7?

Do you see any errors in the System log in Event Viewer?

The problem with using the Task Manager troubleshooting similar things is that if one doesn't know what it is running during normal operation it would be difficult to pinpoint it, unless it really stands out with high CPU usage etc.

I once had a problem when an IDE drive moved to some slow PIO mode, instead of UDMA-5; that was certainly noticeable; slow drive and general high CPU usage (no malware, no bad sectors, no software hogging the CPU etc.); and there were some errors in the System log (though not identifying it as a drive mode issue, rather what followed with the slow drive).