system
24
After two weeks of fussing with this computer, I’ve found the problem:
Windows somehow got switched into PIO mode. I was able to find a script to fix the registry here: http://winhlp.com/tools/resetdma.vbs
I don’t know if Avast caused this – perhaps it is merely a coincidence that Avast shut itself down (and prompted me to update) on the same day Windows decided it was time to go into PIO mode.
I like Avast (right now I have AVG installed) but I’ll wait for a new version to come out before trying it again.