Diskpart
clean all isn't the same as a low level format. It just removes any chance of a virus being on the drive. That doesn't mean the system is free of infection since some infections can target the BIOS, but those are rare from what I've read.
I hadn't done the low level or full format yet as I did not want to do too many steps at once and then have no idea what the cause of my issue was if it suddenly vanished. If it is the hard drive as I suspect, the low level format may help. The best test would be to swap it out with my drive from my five year old system (the drive was brand new, bought two years ago and barely used) to see if that provides better performance.
Basically, I wanted to see if it was a hardware or software (virus) issue. If it is hardware based, and all tests so far indicate, then I have a greater concern for the system than if it had been a virus. It's unfortunate the clean all did not resolve it.
