What's wrong with my computer?

[Deimos Anomaly]

What does it mean if a computer suddenly starts running more slowly, and repeatedly "forgets" the wep key for its normal wireless network?

I have a samsung nc10 netbook which has begun displaying this behaviour. It's slower, you can hear the HDD working more, and it's almost impossible to connect to the internet. It keeps replacing the wep key it should be using with another, shorter one and trying to use that, which of course won't work.

Is it infected with something?

 

[Captain Ice]

I can't directly address what is causing this, but when you the last time you updated and ran your anti-virus program? When was the last time you ran Ad-aware and Spybot? When was the last time you defragged your hard drive?

Your hard drive issue sounds like it may simply need a defrag in order to let the computer get organized. The other issue I have no idea about.

 

[RandyS]

Hmm. I can't offer a suggestion either, but when my computer runs slow, it's typically because the anti-virus program is running.

 

[Deks]

Hmm. I can't offer a suggestion either, but when my computer runs slow, it's typically because the anti-virus program is running.

Only if the antivirus in question is a resource hog.
Most paid ones are.
Free ones such as Avira, MSE or Avast 5 on the other hand are not.

As for what's causing the slowdowns ... it's possible you ran out of RAM and the computer is writing everything to the page file.

You also might have a lot of bloat installed that could be hogging the resources (I recommend removing all unnecessary programs from starting up with Windows - I only use my antivirus to start up with the OS ... nothing else).

If this issue is recent, then I suggest you use Avast 5 as a free antivirus.
It's light, free and highly effective.

Do the same with Malwarebytes or Superantispyware (both of which come in free editions and are way better than spybot or ad-aware).

One other thing, if you have a previously installed antivirus, first remove it.