Over the weekend I tried (without researching first) Spybot Search & Destroy 2. I'll admit it was bloated, freakishly ugly and is going down the path of the once useful, but no more, Lavasoft Ad-Aware. A few things popped up like some cookies I didn't clear out manually with Fireox and/or CCleaner, and the Windows Security Center service was disabled (I know it was, I disabled it myself so no biggy I just ignored it). I installed it, updated it, ran the immunization, a scan, then uninstalled.

Funny thing is after that my NBA 2K13 game was running a really low FPS, like 33 to 36. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what went wrong. I tried everything including reinstalling sound and video drivers, making sure I didn't tweak any services (I hadn't), reinstalling the game, MemCheck, CHKDSK, S.M.A.R.T. evaluation... everything seemed in order, but I still had the issue.

I tried the game on my Windows XP partition and everything was jolly and good as it usually was so I at least ruled out any hardware issues. Back in Windows 7 I went out on a limb to check out the config file for NBA 2K13. NBA 2K13 makes use of multiple cores and has a particular setting called "STALL_CPU_ON_END_FRAME".

STALL_CPU_ON_END_FRAME has a choice of two values: "=0" or "=1" for on and off or true and false. On my older Core 2 Duo setup this setting worked well on "0". On my Intel i3 setup the optimal setting is "1". If on the wrong setting the user will experience massive stuttering and low frames per second. So once again, Core 2 Duo = "0", i3-2120 = "1". It's the same way on both XP and Win7 (64-bit).

I flipped the 'switch' from the appropriate "1" setting to "0" and suddenly my frame rate was back in order, a solid 60 FPS.

???????!!!!!!!

OK, so the entire behavior of my CPU has changed BECAUSE OF SPYBOT SD 2! (Spybot 2 is the only thing that has changed between then (when NBA 2K was in full order) and now where the behavior of the CPU has reversed on me. This is not normal, this is not normal at all!

If you are thinking, "If your game is running good after a tweak then what's the problem?" then you just failed to see the point on how the behavior of the CPU has changed due to whatever Spybloat 2.0 did to corrupt system files, change system files or whatever. CPUs die and stop working altogether. They don't just change the way they work and manage resources in mid life term as it's only less than one year old and never overclocked.

I have no clue where or how to fix this and I am REALLY NOT in the mood for a complete reinstall of the OS. I have never used the Windows repair option before, would this preserve all of my installed applications or do I might as well start from scratch?

Guys, I need some help and advice before proceeding with the ginourmous task of a fresh Windows installation.

Thanks for reading my rant.

You should have a backup no older than your last Windows Update. The only thing is, that won't give you a "why".