T410 almost didn't start up and then performs sluggishly

So, today I got back from work, turned on my laptop and it just stayed at the Windows loading screen GUI forever so I turned it off manually. Then I started it again and it went to the Lenovo screen and it said because Windows couldn't start that it was going to repair some stuff. I let it do its thing and then it rebooted. It still stayed on the Windows loading screen forever so I rebooted manually and after 10 or so seconds it went to the login screen. After I logged in, the laptop just felt so slow in loading different applications (Google Chrome, Antivirus, Advanced SystemCare) and performing tasks. I was afraid that I had a virus or spyware so I performed those tasks. It was fine. After a while though it went back to normal functioning. In addition, the green cylinder icon (that's next to the Wifi icon near the bottom of the T410 screen) remains lit for the majority of the time and I'm wondering if this has anything to do with it. Is it my hard drive? What's wrong and what can I do about it?

 

How many processes are you running on Windows? Open the Task Manager and at the bottom it gives your an indicator. It may be running too much things which makes your system feels sluggish.

 

Sounds like it may be a hard drive going bad. When drive access is that slow it typically means the drive is retrying to access data constantly.

I would make a backup ASAP and check the Windows event log.

Ironically Windows logs drive faults in the Event Log but doesn't bother telling people.

Viewing the drive SMART data may also tell you something.

 

I have had similar problems on several computers, on one computer that i was going to reinstall the OS on I went to some sites that had lots of bad ads, like ads, and adultfrined finder, i clicked everything and downloaded all their software and installed everything I was asked to, in a very short amount of time, my computer was infested with god knows what, had a lot of viruses and spyware, I actually managed to remove it all, but the computer eventually died one week later. And it was very slow up to that point.

Kernel failure or something similar. After reinstallation everything worked just fine.

I have had similar experiences when the thermal paste dried out on the cpu, but that took 5 years!!

Also "system restore" is your friend, restore it back in time.

You can get a windows OS to last very long if you clean the registry, I use RegistryFix but its payware, should be similar products available free (but not CC-cleaner since I don´t think it does the same thing at all).

I suggest "system restore" then reinstall the OS, then after that look at the hardware, maybe the hdd is giving up. The green icon is bluetooth right??

 

My T61 does this ALL the time.
99% of the time I always put my computer to "sleep", I hardly ever shut it down. When I do shut it down, it takes FOREVER to start back up.
On average, I takes at LEAST 10 minutes if not a little longer from hitting the "power" button, to seeing (and actually using) my windows home screen.

I just let it do it's thing, grab a coffee, and when I come back it's almost ready to go. Once it's finished starting up though, she runs great.

I've never figured out what's causing my computer to start so slow though.