ISSUES WITH LAPTOP NEED ADVISE

[LuckyGirl9334]

My laptop worked great until TSA sent it through their X-Ray machine. I don;t know whats going on but
it won't load right. gets hung up. internet doesn't load right. pages totally bog down. I've used 2 different malware
programs and nothing is found. put a lot of data on a removeable drive to free up memory. Still severe issues.

Anybody got any ideas on what to do to fix it? TIA

 

[Gogol]

My laptop worked great until TSA sent it through their X-Ray machine. I don;t know whats going on but
it won't load right. gets hung up. internet doesn't load right. pages totally bog down. I've used 2 different malware
programs and nothing is found. put a lot of data on a removeable drive to free up memory. Still severe issues.

Anybody got any ideas on what to do to fix it? TIA

Ok this has happened to me before, and it was a windows laptop. I had to change the ssd to get it work again (and yes.. couldn’t recover my data). Not sure about your case though.

 

[LuckyGirl9334]

Hey you should take in consideration the following things :
1. It might be a driver issue : Automatically check for the latest drivers / updates with something like driver booster ( steam )
2. Your computer is infected with a crypto mining malware or trojan that is not yet in the most popular antiviruses database .
3. Perform a backup of all of your data and perform a factory reset / reinstall windows.
4. Something from the x-ray machine might have affected some components like the hard drive and this is why you get slow reading times.
5. If you have an HDD instead of a SSD it might just be at its end of life, not capable to read the data at a decent speed anymore.
6. Microsoft constantly ads bloatware to their operating system. Search on google for Windows debloat guide to make it run faster

If it is a hardware related issue you need to identify the component that is affected and replace it ( but for a laptop it is not that easy and most of the times not worth it ) so you might consider purchasing a new laptop and backup all your important files

Thanks so much for the insight! I have been seriously considering an apple product at this point because I am tired of Windows and their constant updates and problems after updates. Thanks again I thought I was losing my mind.

 

[VintageDon]

If the issues happened directly after the TSA incident and the laptop was working fine before, I doubt it's a virus. My guess would be HDD/SSD damage from either the XRays or via rough handling by TSA.

If it's HW damage, you'll repair it or replace it, easy choice

HDDs are not generally affected by Xrays, but SSDs/flash memory can be damaged by XRays (emphisis on can). If this happened, your OS could be corrupted, which could certainly cause the above.

To add to the above excellent suggestions ...

You can open an administrative command prompt (Win Key + 'cmd" + Run as administrator) and run 'sfc /scannow' Read more here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb...em-files-79aa86cb-ca52-166a-92a3-966e85d4094e

This may fix any corruption issues, and get it more stable.

If it is corruption, I'd just back it up and do a fresh install of Windows, or replace it if it's older hardware and you have the funds.

 

[LuckyGirl9334]

If the issues happened directly after the TSA incident and the laptop was working fine before, I doubt it's a virus. My guess would be HDD/SSD damage from either the XRays or via rough handling by TSA.

If it's HW damage, you'll repair it or replace it, easy choice

HDDs are not generally affected by Xrays, but SSDs/flash memory can be damaged by XRays (emphisis on can). If this happened, your OS could be corrupted, which could certainly cause the above.

To add to the above excellent suggestions ...

You can open an administrative command prompt (Win Key + 'cmd" + Run as administrator) and run 'sfc /scannow' Read more here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb...em-files-79aa86cb-ca52-166a-92a3-966e85d4094e

This may fix any corruption issues, and get it more stable.

If it is corruption, I'd just back it up and do a fresh install of Windows, or replace it if it's older hardware and you have the funds.

Again, awesome advice. I was just having a look at my windows updates and the updates since that trip have failed, so,
probably a likely culprit. Awesome catch, thanks for the help!

Linux distributions like Linux mint and Ubuntu are also a great alternative for windows and can be installed easy. Just do some research before. Most of the times Linux performs better than windows on same hardware.
I do not know in detail your use cases so some application might not be compatible with Linux tho.
Mac os is also a solid alternative

Thank you! I'm not that techie so all the advise really helps!

 

[tobitatsu]

My laptop worked great until TSA sent it through their X-Ray machine. I don;t know whats going on but
it won't load right. gets hung up. internet doesn't load right. pages totally bog down. I've used 2 different malware
programs and nothing is found. put a lot of data on a removeable drive to free up memory. Still severe issues.

Anybody got any ideas on what to do to fix it? TIA

that's weird, i'd back everything up you need, say screw it, and just do a complete reset of the operating system (a reinstall). or use a restore point if you have one