Thanks for your help. I'm not sure if malware can persist after a system restore, but the laptop is still extremely slow after having no issues for the two years I've had it. Also I've been getting the blue screens with the 'your computer has a problem etc.' and force restarts. It wouldn't surprise me if it was a hardware issue since I've had it for two years, but I just want to remove the idea of malware so I appreciate your help.