PC is slow

[Porthos]

I recommend these:

Hijack This - Looks at all background processes, helps to ID viruses and other crap. Can post logfile on some forums and get advice on processes. Free

CCleaner - My personal fav for cleaning "crap" and registry. My first run freed over 8 gigs of HD space! Free.

Also run MSconfig and shutdown crap you don't want to run when windows starts.

[Boreas]

^^^Agreed

Also, check if between that period of time that u were on any sites that might give a virus. think of a website maybe you visited like the day b4 it went crapped on you, and either A. dont visit it anymore or B. run a sweep right after you are done with your session. a good idea is what i do (if u leave ur comp on during the night) set your sweep to start at 4 AM every day, so its done b4 u wake up, but theres is a small chance that ur gonna be up till then :)

[TheLeper]

Did you get Vista?

vista shuts down alot faster than xp

with the shutdown issue itll be a service that isnt shutting down properly, if you press the on button without holding it in windows executes a forced shutdown any processes that hang are killed before their full timeout thus you get a propper shutdown without the extended wait

[THEONEANDONLY]

did u make a copy of the HDD and after reformattin put it back on?
Cus if ur HDD is 2 big or there is 2 much crap on it itll slow the system right down :)