Strange freezes when launching applications. How to find the reason?

Question

Windows

Good evening,

First a little about the system:
Windows 7 x64, system partition on an SSD hard drive (OCZ Onyx), 8 gigabytes of memory.

Now about the problem:
Strange freezes began today when starting programs. I press the icon, for example, CuteFTP ... then a pause of 1-2 seconds (at this time the cursor changes to "watch"), and only then does the launch begin. At the same time, already running applications seem to work without problems.

The same goes for opening files. I open a file (for example .doc), and before starting Word there is a pause of 2-3 seconds.

At the moments of such brakes, the load on the processor is not more than 10%.

In recent days, I have not installed / removed any software, I have not changed anything in the settings. In which direction to dig? What could be the problem?

Answer 1

Maybe the antivirus is playing around? If you use it, pause the protection and try running the programs again.

Answer 2

It happened to me when the HDD crashed. I have not encountered SSD in real conditions.