Strange goings on

[Den]

On Friday my desktop starting running slow with lots of disk activity and some programs either would not open or were very slow.

On Saturday this carried on the same and then when I tried to send a email from outlook 2007 it said that the file outlook1.pst was corrupt. I tried to repair it and failed including running the microsoft repair tool in safe mode.

In the end I restored the outlook file to Thursdays setting and although I lost some emails it worked fine. I then ran the Norton antivirus on a full scan and did not come up with any problems but Norton System Tools came up with about 40 faults which it cleared and now the computer runs at it's normal speed again.

Any thoughts on what could have caused it?      

[Simon]

A Windows Update, perhaps? 

[Technical Ben]

On boot up are there any warnings of a S.M.A.R.T. failure? Could be Hard Drive problems. Or just a bug in outlook...

[Gary]

Have you run chkdsk, Den? make sure that both automatically fix file system errors and scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors are ticked, the first is by default, it can take ages but its worth it if you suspect drive issues. Also use another anti-malware scanner, remember no one AV programe can find everything. 

[zappaDPJ]

It sounds like there's been a sector failure on your hard drive Den.

That's also symptomatic of one of the latest malware infections which Norton's won't pick up. I don't think that's your problem but to be sure I'd connect to Microsoft Update and check your update history. If you see any recent failures then it's possible that your registry and Windows services have been tampered with.

If everything is ok there run chkdisk (as Gary says).

[talos]

Och ! man yeer doomed, doomed I tell ye
                                                                                   Mine does that frequently, I recon there's a mouse in there with a hammer
Try this linkThis  usually works for me

[Gary]

I would download the free version or Prevx, Den. Prevx is much better than most AV's it will not get rid of bad things but will remove adware, but it will tell you if you have anything nasty its only about 756kb with a clean uninstall, if you do have nasties then I would purchase it, great cloud based behavioural scanner. http://www.prevx.com/

[Den]

Tried to run chkdsk and windows explorer froze, turned computer off and chkdsk ran on start up, corrected, deleted and repaired a number of files and restarted as normal. Will try it today and will report back. 

[zappaDPJ]

Sounds like bad sectors.

[Steve]

Time for full backup and worry about how long the hdd will last

[Rik]

Two copies at least.

[Gary]

Maybe three

[cavillas]

I would go for 5 copies plus two backups saved somewhere away from the house.

[Rik]

That would be reasonably secure, Alf. I do actually store a weekly backup off site, just to be safe.

[cavillas]

Sorry, i tend towards belt, belt, braces, belt, braces, belt and big metal box.  Once bitten twice shy.

[Rik]

I know how you feel, data is money.

[Gary]

I know how you feel, data is money.

If bytes were id be very rich

[Rik]

 

Bytes can bite if you haven't backed up.

[Gary]

Bytes can bite if you haven't backed up.

as has been said, been there done that, back up, back up I say.

[Rik]

Sounds like a policeman at a demo.

[Gary]

Sounds like a policeman at a demo.

Last Demo I went ever went on was the anti poll tax march in London, the police were having a few problems that day.

[Rik]

You were on the end of the scaffold pole were you?

[Gary]

You were on the end of the scaffold pole were you?

Shhhh