Anybody on here good with computers???

[luthoro]

This is extrememly frustrating because I am pretty computer savvy myself and I cannot figure out WTF is wrong with this thing.

My Windows 7 laptop has been behaving strangely since I got it back from a warranty repair a few months ago and getting progressively worse.

Toshiba Satellite L505-ES5011: 2.2ghz Pentium T4400 dual core, 3gb memory, 220gb HDD.

Sometimes it works just fine, plenty quick, no problems. Sometimes it runs reaaally damn slow for no apparent reason. It took over 5 minutes to load Firefox one time. I restarted it a few minutes ago and it took over 20 minutes to shut down. Now for no apparent reason it won't talk to my wireless network at home. It just doesn't see it, or my neighbor's wifi which also always shows up. I know its not the router because I can get on through a hardwire connection just fine.

I keep my system pretty clean, I browse with Firefox, I run CCleaner and registry sweeps once a week. There isn't a whole lot of stuff on this machine. A few small programs, a lot of music/photos. I'm an over the road truck driver (I drive flatbed for Western Express, Inc) and this is the computer that travels with me. I would go nuts without it.

I tried running HjT! but it wouldn't save a log file for some reason. No permission to access the folder, even though my account is admin default. Also it keeps insisting that my log in is not the Admin account when it definitely is, it denies me access to saving/deleting files to certain folders because i need "administrator permission" and stuff like that. I downloaded a freeware SWF and FLV player that I have used before on other machines and this is the message that pops up when I try to run it- "Please run this program from the Administrator account so it can set up your license. Once the license is set up, you can run it from any account." My account is both the default and admin account so this doesn't make any sense.

As far as it sometimes running slow, is it just time to upgrade the memory? This computer is less then two years old. First new laptop I ever bought (used to collect computers off craigslist/curbs/etc and piece stuff together). Obviously that won't solve the wifi issues though.

The warranty repair was just the power socket snapped off inside the machine and the screen had a few dead pixels...typical laptop issues. It wasn't defective memory or hard drive, which is why I can't figure out how the two are related. It came back restored to factory install, squeaky clean like the day I took it out of the box.

They told me that it would be restored to factory settings before I ever gave it to them. They sent somewhere else to be repaired (Kansas City, IIRC) and it came back a few weeks later. For the most part it works fine, its just small things like denying my account certain admin privileges, sometimes running really slow, and lately not seeing any wireless networks.

This is the biggest problem- the wireless adapter is "working" according to Windows but it will not see any wireless networks even when I know for a fact that there are networks in range, for example sitting in my living room at the house less then 20ft from my router and cable modem, or sitting at this truck stop in San Diego CA where I am at the moment which all Pilot and Flying J truck stops have wifi and it doesn't see any networks at all (the only reason I'm able to get online atm is because I have my phone tethered but that's only for backup because the connection is erratic and slow, I use wifi when its available). The first time it did this I was able to disable then re-enable the adapter and it started working again but that trick hasn't worked since then. Restarting makes no difference either.

EDIT: I just ran a full system scan with Malwarebytes, and it didn't find anything.

I just don't get it.

Here is a list of all installed programs, exported by CCleaner- as you will see, there just isn't much software on this machine and most of what there is, is factory installed MS and Toshiba stuff. 90% of its use is web browsing/music/movie watching:
Adobe Flash Player 10 ActiveX Adobe Systems Incorporated 4/16/2010 10.0.22.87
Adobe Flash Player 11 Plugin 64-bit Adobe Systems Incorporated 5/5/2012 6.00 MB 11.2.202.235
Adobe Reader 9.1 Adobe Systems Incorporated 11/12/2009 204 MB 9.1.0
Apple Application Support Apple Inc. 5/7/2012 61.0 MB 2.1.7
Apple Mobile Device Support Apple Inc. 5/7/2012 24.9 MB 5.1.1.4
Apple Software Update Apple Inc. 5/7/2012 2.38 MB 2.1.3.127
Bonjour Apple Inc. 5/7/2012 2.00 MB 3.0.0.10
CCleaner Piriform 1/22/2012 3.14
Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office system Microsoft Corporation 5/7/2012 85.7 MB 12.0.6425.1000
foobar2000 v1.1.11 Peter Pawlowski 2/24/2012 7.37 MB 1.1.11
FrostWire 5.3.3 FrostWire Team 3/17/2012 5.3.3.0
Google Chrome Google Inc. 1/22/2012 18.0.1025.168
Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer Google Inc. 4/13/2012 7.3.2710.138
HiJackThis Trend Micro 5/7/2012 0.36 MB 1.0.0
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator Driver Intel Corporation 4/16/2010 54.3 MB 8.15.10.1883
Intel® Matrix Storage Manager Intel Corporation 4/16/2010
iTunes Apple Inc. 5/7/2012 156.9 MB 10.6.1.7
Java™ 6 Update 14 Sun Microsystems, Inc. 11/12/2009 97.5 MB 6.0.140
KODAK Share Button App Eastman Kodak Company 1/29/2012 36.9 MB 4.00.0000.0000
Label@Once 1.0 Corel 4/16/2010 33.0 MB 1.0
LSI V92 MOH Application LSI Corporation 4/16/2010
Microsoft Network Monitor 3.4 Microsoft Corporation 4/19/2012 11.2 MB 3.4.2350.0
Microsoft Network Monitor: NetworkMonitor Parsers 3.4 Microsoft Corporation 4/19/2012 20.4 MB 3.4.2350.0
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 Microsoft Corporation 4/16/2010 12.0.6425.1000
Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer 2007 (English) Microsoft Corporation 5/7/2012 96.8 MB 12.0.6425.1000
Microsoft Office Suite Activation Assistant Microsoft Corporation 4/16/2010 8.37 MB 2.9
Microsoft Silverlight Microsoft Corporation 4/4/2012 50.6 MB 5.0.61118.0
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition [ENU] Microsoft Corporation 11/12/2009 1.72 MB 3.1.0000
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x64 9.0.30729.17 Microsoft Corporation 11/12/2009 0.77 MB 9.0.30729
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x64 9.0.30729.4148 Microsoft Corporation 4/16/2010 0.77 MB 9.0.30729.4148
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x64 9.0.30729.6161 Microsoft Corporation 5/7/2012 0.77 MB 9.0.30729.6161
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.21022.218 Microsoft Corporation 1/29/2012 0.23 MB 9.0.21022.218
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.4148 Microsoft Corporation 4/16/2010 0.58 MB 9.0.30729.4148
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.6161 Microsoft Corporation 5/7/2012 0.59 MB 9.0.30729.6161
Microsoft Works Microsoft Corporation 4/17/2012 730 MB 9.7.0621
Mozilla Firefox 11.0 (x86 en-US) Mozilla 3/17/2012 36.5 MB 11.0
Nokia Connectivity Cable Driver Nokia 3/23/2012 3.94 MB 7.1.69.0
Nokia PC Suite Nokia 3/23/2012 7.1.180.46
PC Connectivity Solution Nokia 3/23/2012 20.9 MB 11.5.22.0
PlayReady PC Runtime amd64 Microsoft Corporation 11/12/2009 2.06 MB 1.3.0
QuickTime Apple Inc. 1/22/2012 73.3 MB 7.71.80.42
Realtek Ethernet Controller Driver Realtek 4/16/2010 1.00.0008
Realtek High Definition Audio Driver Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 4/16/2010 6.0.1.5904
Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 4/16/2010 6.1.7600.30101
Realtek WLAN Driver Realtek 4/16/2010 1.54 MB 2.00.0006
SecondLifeViewer (remove only) 1/23/2012
Skype Launcher TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 2.01
SWF & FLV Player 3.0 (build 3.0.33.5106) Eltima Software 5/8/2012 3.40 MB 3.0.33.5106
Synaptics Pointing Device Driver Synaptics Incorporated 4/16/2010 13.2.6.1
TOSHIBA Application Installer TOSHIBA 11/12/2009 9.0.1.0
TOSHIBA Assist TOSHIBA 11/12/2009 3.00.10
TOSHIBA Bulletin Board TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 1.5.05.64
TOSHIBA ConfigFree TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 67.6 MB 8.0.21
TOSHIBA Disc Creator TOSHIBA Corporation 11/12/2009 8.39 MB 2.1.0.1 for x64
TOSHIBA DVD PLAYER TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 3.01.0.07-A
TOSHIBA eco Utility TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 7.09 MB 1.1.7.64
TOSHIBA Extended Tiles for Windows Mobility Center 4/16/2010
TOSHIBA Face Recognition TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 3.1.0.64
TOSHIBA Hardware Setup TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 2.00.11
TOSHIBA HDD/SSD Alert TOSHIBA Corporation 11/12/2009 37.8 MB 3.1.64.0
TOSHIBA Internal Modem Region Select Utility TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 1.71 MB 2.3.0.0
TOSHIBA Media Controller TOSHIBA CORPORATION 11/12/2009 1.0.65
Toshiba Online Backup Toshiba 4/16/2010 2.22 MB 1.2.0.38
TOSHIBA PC Health Monitor TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 27.4 MB 1.4.1.64
TOSHIBA Quality Application TOSHIBA 12/3/2010 1.0.1
TOSHIBA Recovery Media Creator TOSHIBA Corporation 11/12/2009 2.79 MB 2.1.0.4 for x64
TOSHIBA ReelTime TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 1.5.07.64
TOSHIBA Service Station TOSHIBA 4/16/2010 2.1.33
TOSHIBA Software Modem LSI Corporation 4/16/2010 16.00 KB 2.2.97
TOSHIBA Speech System Applications 4/16/2010 1.00.2518
TOSHIBA Speech System SR Engine(U.S.) Version1.0 4/16/2010
TOSHIBA Speech System TTS Engine(U.S.) Version1.0 4/16/2010
TOSHIBA Supervisor Password TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 2.00.09
TOSHIBA Value Added Package TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 53.5 MB 1.2.25.64
TOSHIBA Web Camera Application TOSHIBA Corporation 4/16/2010 1.1.1.4
ToshibaRegistration Toshiba 11/12/2009 1.0.3
TrueCrypt TrueCrypt Foundation 5/8/2012 7.1a
Windows Driver Package - Eastman Kodak KODAK Digital Camera (01/29/2010 1.4.1.0) Eastman Kodak 1/29/2012 01/29/2010 1.4.1.0
Windows Driver Package - Nokia Modem (02/25/2011 4.7) Nokia 3/23/2012 02/25/2011 4.7
Windows Driver Package - Nokia Modem (02/25/2011 7.01.0.9) Nokia 3/23/2012 02/25/2011 7.01.0.9
Windows Driver Package - Nokia pccsmcfd (08/22/2008 7.0.0.0) Nokia 3/23/2012 08/22/2008 7.0.0.0
Windows Live Essentials Microsoft Corporation 11/12/2009 14.0.8089.0726
Windows Live Sign-in Assistant Microsoft Corporation 11/12/2009 1.94 MB 5.000.818.5
Windows Live Sync Microsoft Corporation 11/12/2009 2.79 MB 14.0.8089.726
Windows Live Upload Tool Microsoft Corporation 11/12/2009 0.22 MB 14.0.8014.1029

TL;DR- My Windows 7 laptop won't find wifi signals even when there is one where I am, it keeps telling me my account isn't the admin account even though it is, and it randomly decides to run really slow sometimes for no obvious reason. I have scanned the system with Malwarebytes and it found nothing, so idk what the problem is.

Thanks in advance.

[Phate]

Kind of weird. I'd re format and re install windows first, see if that helps at all. If not, then you might have some hardware issues. Also, some programs, you'll need to right click and run as administrator, even though you are an administrator account.

[luthoro]

I can't find the recovery discs of I would have done so already...I recently threw a lot of crap out of my home that was left by previous roommates and I think I may have accidentally thrown them away with the other junk. Its out of warranty now, too so I would have to pay to have it reformatted.

Good tip with selecting run as admin though, it allowed me to open the program

[Phate]

I can make you a Win7 disc, then you'd just have to reinstall drivers. You'd want to download all the drivers now from your mfr's website and save them on a flash drive or something.

[luthoro]

I may take you up on that. I really wish I knew what the problem was so I could just fix it...

[civicex]

I may take you up on that. I really wish I knew what the problem was so I could just fix it...

most computers now days come with the recovery disk on the computer, it'll be in the small partition of your hdd maybe 10gb or so. just go through the files and find it google can help you with that, make a copy of it from there or you can choose to do a restore from there. i'd walk you through it better but i don't have windows seven on my home computer. but hopefully this helps.

[luthoro]

Okay so the wifi randomly started working again last week...and today i discovered i could cure most of the random freeze-ups and explained slowness when I'm on the web by changing Firefox's priority to high.

I would like to put more memory in this thing but idk if a 16gb upgrade will be recognized by this machine

[delslo]

idk if a 16gb upgrade will be recognized by this machine

Is the OS 64-bit? If it's 32-bit moar than 4gb is a waste of your money. If it is 64-bit, you could use 16gb but, it sounds like the laptop is a little older and I doubt you could fit 16gbs in it, and even if you could, does the motherboard support that much RAM?

Given the variables, I'd say you'd be more than fine with 8gb instead of 16gb. That's IF the OS is 64-bit

[luthoro]

Yeah its x64 Windows 7. I do know they make memory upgrades that will physically fit but what don't know is if the BIOS will recognize more then 4gb...every official compatibility thing on all the memory manufacturer's sites list my max as 4gb. I'm already at 3 so 4 wouldn't be much of an upgrade.