Hi jean001, If your machine is still slow, when you get time post a Hijackthis log and I will look at it for you. It could prove to be very beneficial here are instructions, Click Here to download HJTInstall.exe Download the one on the left Version 2.0.3 (Beta) Save HJTInstall.exe to your desktop. Doubleclick on the HJTInstall.exe icon on your desktop. By default it will install to C:\Program Files\Trend Click on Install. It will create a HijackThis icon on the desktop. Click on the Do a system scan and save a logfile button. It will scan and the log should open in notepad. Click on "Edit > Select All" then click on "Edit > Copy" and Paste the entire contents of the log into your next post. DO NOT use the AnalyzeThis button, its findings are dangerous if misinterpreted. DO NOT have Hijackthis fix anything yet. Most of what HJT lists will be harmless or even required by your Operating System.

Marcolo, this isn't necessarily for you, but for someone who might be considering linoleum type counters in the future. When we were first married, we lived in an old farmhouse that had red lino floors, and red lino counters, perfect U shape postwar remodel, sigh. (It looked like they used the cutout of the floor to do the counters!) I don't know if the problems came with the age of the lino, or what, but every time I tried to lift something warm up off the counter, it would stick fast. So, things like a bowl of soup or a bowl of oatmeal would stick. When I'd finally pry the bowl up, a small chunk of linoleum would be stuck to the bottom of the bowl. Yuck! We were very happy when we could replace those counters with some laminate. I hope you find that durable finish you are after. Have to wonder if hard wood countertops might be a good option. I think they'd still give you somegrounding with the colors you are considering. This kitchen is especially bright, is it grounded enough?

I forgot to mention before, the comment above "RAM/Memory=Speed" isn't really correct. Think of a waiting room in a doctor's office. If the doctor never has more than two patients waiting, a room with 15 chairs isn't needed. RAM holds information read and to be read by the central processor. Programs and data used by programs. When large amounts of data are being handed - video file editing, RAW format photo editing, large spreadsheets, many programs open at once, then a large amount of RAM is needed or else, just as with a large waiting room for many people waiting. WIth insufficient RAM, the holding and waiting task is offloaded to the hard drive and data reads and writes are performed at a much slower speed. For most people who put their PCs to light use, reading websites, etc., 4GB of RAM is a minimum but may also be completely sufficient. If you look at the Performance tab of Task Manager, the Available stat will tell you how much RAM is unused. On my 4 GB machine right now, this shows as having 2.2 GB available. So long as there's 1 GB or more available at times of peak use, having more RAM in your PC will not change its performance because it won't be used. Enough is good but more isn't better. For a PC having an adequate amount of RAM, the clock speed of the CPU and the access speed of the hard drive will be the pacing items for performance. That's why PCs with solid state drives (SSDs) seem so zippy, the drive access is much faster compared to a physical hard drive with rotating platters and access arms.

Go to Settings and select Update & security > Windows Defender. Under Processes: Exclusions, select Add an exclusion. I have 6 Exclusions below: C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbam.exe C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamdor.exe C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbampt.exe C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamservice.exe C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes Anti-Malware\mbamscheduler.exe C:\Windows\System32\drivers\mbam.sys You might have to do that if you want Defender running. You can copy and paste the lines above into the Exclusions box on defender. You may have to do one line at a time. In most cases Malwarebytes will run along with Defender without doing this, but there are some situations where it may be required to do it. Doing this tells Defender to ignore Malwarebytes.