I would reference BoSZ's post above. Particularly the Sasser link. The symptoms sound just right for that worm.

XP is not a bad OS at all IMHO. 2000 is better, but I think that XP is definitely M$'s 2nd best. And I've found that XP will eventually slow down, but not in just a couple of days, and not to the degree you're talking. When mine slows down (which really takes months), I just defrag the paging file. clears it right up.

Basically I tihnk you have 3 problems.

There are:

Spyware
Hard Disk Issue(Fragmentation probably?)
Hardware conflict

As it is reknown, spyware causes your computer to operate at a sluggish rate. You would probably have to get a spyware remover such as Ad-Ware(dun get tricked by the name, its an anti spyware program).

You may experice hard disk fragmentation if you use your hard disk alot, like installing games, transferring files and such. however, you mentioned that its a new com, so I don't know if this info will help you.

Lastly, if your computer was self-assembled, it could be a cause of hardware conflicts, especially if you buy generic computer parts. To solve this problem, you sohuld take out each piece of hardware and slowly eliminate the problem(bad hardware). you might also want to try updating your drivers before doing that.

Best of luck
Shackman

I think you should do two things:

1. Run a registry cleaner like jv16 powertools. It is shareware, but you can utilize the 30 day trial period.

2. Defragment your C:/ drive twice, after cleaning the registry.

This should help...

Googlue!

Well, I've followed most of the advice here, and thankyou all for your generous offerings of support.

Microsoft's info about the blaster worm didn't really apply to me very well, although when I searched the symptoms on google it DID come up with the blaster worm, and gave me information about the variant I had.

Apparently, this particular version is set to "self destruct" on Janurary 1st, 2004. Obviously its past that date, but my system clock was wrong. correct the system clock, virus deletes itself. That must be the easiest virus to delete ever...

So you all helped, in a roundabout way. Thankyou all, again.

Until next time....

-Vacant

Well, I've followed most of the advice here, and thankyou all for your generous offerings of support.

Microsoft's info about the blaster worm didn't really apply to me very well, although when I searched the symptoms on google it DID come up with the blaster worm, and gave me information about the variant I had.

Apparently, this particular version is set to "self destruct" on Janurary 1st, 2004. Obviously its past that date, but my system clock was wrong. correct the system clock, virus deletes itself. That must be the easiest virus to delete ever...

So you all helped, in a roundabout way. Thankyou all, again.

Until next time....

-Vacant

EDIT: don't you just hate double posts? Sorry!

This post has been edited by Vacant: Oct 9 2004, 06:50 PM