My PC suddenly became unrealistically slow

[Arctagon]

Was it this you wanted a picture of?

http://i.imgur.com/2YO42ad.jpg

[Evildeffy]

Was it this you wanted a picture of?

http://i.imgur.com/2YO42ad.jpg

It was indeed.
Your hard drive is physically fine, at least sector wise.

If your temps are in control of your CPU etc. (which you said haven't surpassed 46°C) than I can only think of 2 things realistically for now based on remote thinking.

1: Do you hear the hard drive powering up and down a lot during the slow downs? (I don't mean the whirring I mean actually hearing it power up and down often denoted by a lot of hard clicks and not the "rattling" of a normal HDD operation status)
2: Windows is bugged up by either a malfunctioning update or malware or fill in reason A, B, C or D here.

I suggest listening to the HDD first... if it doesn't power down and up the entire time than it's likely that a format would solve all your issues.

[Arctagon]

1: Do you hear the hard drive powering up and down a lot during the slow downs? (I don't mean the whirring I mean actually hearing it power up and down often denoted by a lot of hard clicks and not the "rattling" of a normal HDD operation status)

I can't recall hearing anything out of the ordinary.

After I deactivated fast startup a little while ago, the computer has been acting much better. It's more or less like it was before, but it seems to me that it turns slower again when it's been on for a few hours.

[Gouca]

How is your RAM usage looking?

OP: Did you ever reply to this? Couldn't find anything. WD's Caviar Blue is a great line in terms of reliability and performance. Unless you actually found a problem with your HDD, I'd take another quick look at the RAM. Do you by any chance have a RAM disk enabled?

[Arctagon]

I did a couple of posts after.

RAM usage is currently at 45% with Firefox and VLC taking the most of the apps I'm currently running.

It's at 44% now.

[f0rb1d]

There's just not enough information. Post your startup log, % space free on drive. The time taken to troubleshoot, you may want to replace the hd and load from scratch.

[Evildeffy]

I did a couple of posts after.

It's at 44% now.

Well the points I made still stand.
If there are no noises coming from the HDD and you've done the rest of it as stated than the slowdown is likely software related.

Hence why I said to reinstall Windows and see if it continues to occur.
You could, if you want to, make an image of the HDD before you reinstall so you can always revert or just use it as a back-up.

Your only move really is to try and start fresh.

- - - Updated - - -

There's just not enough information. Post your startup log, % space free on drive. The time taken to troubleshoot, you may want to replace the hd and load from scratch.

There's plenty of information in all the posts prior.. your suggestion is a shot in the dark and shouldn't ever be suggested without a basis.
The only possibly valuable thing you posted was only the startup log and most of the time that is even useless unless the process is a bitcoin miner or something that clearly doesn't hide itself in the computer startup list.. bad piece of malware if it is.

[f0rb1d]

There's plenty of information in all the posts prior.. your suggestion is a shot in the dark and shouldn't ever be suggested without a basis.
The only possibly valuable thing you posted was only the startup log and most of the time that is even useless unless the process is a bitcoin miner or something that clearly doesn't hide itself in the computer startup list.. bad piece of malware if it is.

I agree it would be bad to say that in the first few days of a post, it's been 17 days. Previous posts try to troubleshoot ram, hd sectors, hd hardware, and heat.

Initial post was 1/10/2016. Today is 1/27/2016. The problem hasn't been solved. Image and backup or just unplug and get another HD. If you rather troubleshoot and fix. Look towards your performance monitor, event viewer, startup, scheduler.

Also, windows 10 doesn't necessarily turn off for all users. Perhaps the restarts were the quickboots and the long one was due to the system being completely shutdown.

[Gouca]

Are you sure that the OS shuts down rather than sleeps? Try disabling hibernation. Start elevated command prompt (right click, start as administrator) and type "powercfg -h off" without the quotes.

[Evildeffy]

I agree it would be bad to say that in the first few days of a post, it's been 17 days. Previous posts try to troubleshoot ram, hd sectors, hd hardware, and heat.

The OP takes his time, not everyone has time to directly reply and do anything immediately.
The first posts were to conclude if there were hardware issues, which none can be detected on the surface of things.

Initial post was 1/10/2016. Today is 1/27/2016. The problem hasn't been solved. Image and backup or just unplug and get another HD. If you rather troubleshoot and fix. Look towards your performance monitor, event viewer, startup, scheduler.

This is the point I made, considering the drive (at least the platters) is fine and no clicking sounds etc. are heard chances are the HDD is perfectly fine and it's a software issue... but you kinda make the suggestion to replace the HDD .. THAT'S the thing you really shouldn't be recommending after a diagnostic session.
The only thing is that you can look at the Performance Monitor when it's being shit slow yes.. when it slows down over a short amount of time 99% of it will not be found in startup or event viewer, only POSSIBLY scheduler if you have a malware bit that's more intelligent for starting up later to have it being noticed less by the user.. the rest really won't give you any answer.

Also, windows 10 doesn't necessarily turn off for all users. Perhaps the restarts were the quickboots and the long one was due to the system being completely shutdown.

Unless the OP selected a different shut down method, which he didn't state, I am going to assume he did use shut down as that option is still called the same and does turn off for all the W10 PCs I've built so far.

Considering the fact he knew to word a command prompt exactly as it's called in Linux environments (which Hiren's BootCD is based off) as a Terminal..
(Which an earlier person clearly demonstrated he did not know ... )
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he's using Shut Down and not Sleep or Hibernate mode.

[f0rb1d]

-Op takes his time. My apologies, I'm used to a turn-around within 1-3 days depending on the "damage." I'll avoid future statements.

-performance monitor: when it slows down, compare the peaks to see if its cpu, memory, hd. Delve into to track the culprit.
-event viewer: view history. Look at the logs before the problem occurred and compare to the current ones. An update could have messed with something.
-task scheduler: something that was installed previous to win10 and conflicts with win10 might have a service that starts on a schedule, like the 20th of every month.
-startup: would tell us what AV software he's using. Trend didn't have a 100% compatible av to windows 10 till 2 months after. Something could be fishy. There were other issues of defender conflicting with the AV of some devs.
-false syllogism: A false premise is an incorrect proposition that forms the basis of an argument or syllogism. Since the premise (proposition, or assumption) is not correct, the conclusion drawn may be in error. However, the logical validity of an argument is a function of its internal consistency, not the truth value of its premises. example: you know about drum breaks? then you must know about CVT.
-Knowing the term terminal doesn't always mean you are well versed in computers. They could have learned it 15 years ago and not kept u much. If they came from win7, they wouldn't be aware of the annoyance feature that was added to 8 and carried to 10.

Furthermore, I'm not your enemy Evildeffy. It's a troubleshooting forum. Are we required to explain why we ask for certain bits of information? Just because your in your opinion something might seem useless, due to you never using that method, doesn't make it so.

Have a nice day!

[Evildeffy]

-Op takes his time. My apologies, I'm used to a turn-around within 1-3 days depending on the "damage." I'll avoid future statements.

Future statements are fine but do look at the reply times of when and how.
I know it's normal to get people back and working ASAP without hitches but on a forum some timelines will not be the same as you'd like it due to various reasons.
OP is probably at work and posting it in his free time.. truth be told I had some nights where I couldn't care about things after coming from work due to being tired beyond recognition.
Your input is appreciated from the people you're trying to help, don't get me wrong but attention does need to be paid at paces.

-performance monitor: when it slows down, compare the peaks to see if its cpu, memory, hd. Delve into to track the culprit.

Good suggestion, keep going.

-event viewer: view history. Look at the logs before the problem occurred and compare to the current ones. An update could have messed with something.

Normally a good thing.. but a bad update nor responsiveness loss is not something you'll find in the logs.
That's why its hard to diagnose stuff remotely and the other half of the time logs show completely irrelevant warnings or "critical" errors.

-task scheduler: something that was installed previous to win10 and conflicts with win10 might have a service that starts on a schedule, like the 20th of every month.

Again good one (as stated before), keep going.

-startup: would tell us what AV software he's using. Trend didn't have a 100% compatible av to windows 10 till 2 months after. Something could be fishy. There were other issues of defender conflicting with the AV of some devs.

True enough, have had this happen with Symantec Endpoint Protection .. although that would BSoD.

-false syllogism: A false premise is an incorrect proposition that forms the basis of an argument or syllogism. Since the premise (proposition, or assumption) is not correct, the conclusion drawn may be in error. However, the logical validity of an argument is a function of its internal consistency, not the truth value of its premises. example: you know about drum breaks? then you must know about CVT.

Relevancy?

-Knowing the term terminal doesn't always mean you are well versed in computers. They could have learned it 15 years ago and not kept u much. If they came from win7, they wouldn't be aware of the annoyance feature that was added to 8 and carried to 10.

No it doesn't however as this very thread demonstrated a certain someone who's supposed to be versed in computers didn't know what a Terminal was.
The point was that considering the OP knew the terminology he possessed the necessary brain cells to explain things to him in a normal manner and not treat his like a dumbass.. the point wasn't made towards you but towards the other person in this thread as to which I brought it up to you to see why I gave the example.

Furthermore, I'm not your enemy Evildeffy. It's a troubleshooting forum. Are we required to explain why we ask for certain bits of information? Just because your in your opinion something might seem useless, due to you never using that method, doesn't make it so.

Have a nice day!

I'm not treating you as such.. in fact I'm giving you info and even commend you for things.
I'm just a person who doesn't sugarcoat things.. believe me if I had any ill will towards you you'd be aware of it.
Just ask Kagthul or something.

[Arctagon]

I do indeed select the option to shut down my computer when I want it to shut down. I seldom use sleep or hibernation. But Windows 10 has this fancy feature called fast startup, which is enabled by default and doesn't completely turn off the computer when selecting shut down like it used to do. I disabled fast startup, and the computer instantly started to run smoother from the next boot up.

I don't consider myself well-versed in computers, but I know most of the basics.

[Deleted]

Since you're using Windows 10, there is always the nuclear option: reinstall Windows 10 from a blank slate and see if that fixes it. Windows 10 at least has an easy way to do that.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Since you're using Windows 10, there is always the nuclear option: reinstall Windows 10 from a blank slate and see if that fixes it. Windows 10 at least has an easy way to do that.

When I used the "Reset Windows" button it made the installation unable to login, and after three attempts unable to boot.

[Nakotsu]

try going into safe mode and moving around if its still slow in safe mode it could be the HD or it could be the OS try formatting and reinstalling.

[Arctagon]

It runs smoothly in safe mode.