Computer slowdown when buffering

[adrosenthal]

Lately I have been experiencing computer slowdown when buffering videos. This usually occurs when I'm watching Netflix. Just to be clear, it is not the buffering itself that is slow (which would indicate a network issue). It is the response of the computer itself. In particular, I experience extreme mouse lag when moving the cursor around and also when clicking on things. Sometimes I have to click 8-10 times rapidly in order to get any response. I've noticed the problem is exacerbated while the video is playing back. If I stop the video playback, the problem goes away after a few seconds. Also, the problem doesn't exist toward the end of the video. I'm assuming this is because I'm watching video that has already been buffered and there is no more new video being buffered.

This is a new problem that has arisen in the last 2 weeks or so. While the problem is occurring, CPU usage can sometimes reach as high as 24%, while memory usage doesn't change much (remains around 4.14 GB).

For reference these are some of my computer specs:

Intel Core i5 3.4 GHz
16 GB RAM
120GB SSD
Windows 7 64-bit

 

[adrosenthal]

Does anyone have any insight into this?

Update: After paying more attention to the details of this problem, it seems to be happening anytime I download ANYTHING. I've also scanned for malware and nothing was detected.