Computer suddenly running slow, especially IE

Not sure where to post this, as I'm not sure if it's a software or hardware problem, or what.

Over the last week my computer has gotten noticably slower, especially internet browsing with IE - pages that used to load instantly take 5 - 10 seconds. FF is a little faster, but still slower than I remember. General navigation around Windows explorer is slow and opening MS Word 2003 takes about 15 seconds.

Spy-Bot and AVG both report no problems. I don't know whether to suspect software problems like a virus, or hardware problems (like something overheating?).

What would you do next to try and figure out what's going on?

Mac

 

Try clearing out temporary internet files, cookies, and all those junks.....and it would be better if you just use only a light-weight anti-virus you already have....using Firefox would be preferable in terms of speed (imo)....check out on the running processes too or whether you have installed something recently....upgrade RAM if possible because it would really help

 

Chen,

I've pretty much covered all those bases you mentioned - I run CCleaner every week or two, the Process list is slightly tweaked (36 processes at startup - XP SP2), and the machine has 4gb ram.

I haven't made any changes to the system recently, I've just been using it for day to day tasks, which is why I have to wonder if this sudden slow down is due to something out of the ordinary like a virus or hardware malfunction.

Mac

 

. remove or stop AVG, and see if your browser can perform any better
. if yes, uninstall and reinstall AVG with the option of link scanner disabled

cheers ...