I have an HD with 1104.3 days on it. I have noticed that loading is much slowed now compared to a few months ago. There has been no software changes in those months. I am wondering how long Hard Drives usually last? If it matters, my HD is a "supper fast" HD from the time before SSds. It has been my boot HD for a long time. Should I replace this HD with an SSD soon or does it have some life left in it? Thanks!
Check the task manager when your performance is slowing down. It could be a possibility that it is at 100% load with a high latency, I have had a problem with windows 8.1 where Background Intelligent Transfer Service(BITS) would start and slow my performance down to a halt.
May you post a screenshot from Victoria's SMART window? 1) Download it from here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/getmirror/victoria_for_windows,1.html [wait a few seconds and download will start] 2) Open "victoria43.exe" and click on "Get SMART". Note: this program may don't work on x64, I don't know exactly.