Whilst it won't solve the cause, have you thought about putting PC in standby overnight? Does mean its not fully shutting down and will start up quicker, unless its going to be several days between use, you don't need to turn it fully off.
Slowwwwwwwwww....
- Thread starter nedflanders
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When it runs slow = CTL+ALT+DEL to bring up task manager, then look at processes and see if anything is using up the CPU.
The hard drive is muuuuuuuuuuuuch slower than the CPU, so if the computer is really sluggish and the CPU is only hitting a few %, then it is likely your computer is doing various start-up tasks where it is essentially twiddling its thumbs waiting for the hard-drive.
If the CPU is hitting high numbers for minutes at a time you know some programme is playing up.
FYI as I type this with several browser tabs open, torrents, virus checker my CPU usage is less than 5% on average. It only stays above 10% when I play games or run 3D modelling software.
IF it is just the hard drive, best bet is as someone else said and start using sleep rather than shutting down (I never shut down, and sleep only uses 1W of power).
If you deselect a programme, that programme will still work when you go to use it, it just won't load on start-up.
So it is hard to 'break' anything doing this.
The hard drive is muuuuuuuuuuuuch slower than the CPU, so if the computer is really sluggish and the CPU is only hitting a few %, then it is likely your computer is doing various start-up tasks where it is essentially twiddling its thumbs waiting for the hard-drive.
If the CPU is hitting high numbers for minutes at a time you know some programme is playing up.
FYI as I type this with several browser tabs open, torrents, virus checker my CPU usage is less than 5% on average. It only stays above 10% when I play games or run 3D modelling software.
IF it is just the hard drive, best bet is as someone else said and start using sleep rather than shutting down (I never shut down, and sleep only uses 1W of power).
If you deselect a programme, that programme will still work when you go to use it, it just won't load on start-up.
So it is hard to 'break' anything doing this.
Sorry I haven't been back to you guys. This thing is still playing up, and I didn't get your last messages, and then I had to log in again!!!
Thanks for everything, though. The local repair bloke is coming this week, so we'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed!
Thanks for everything, though. The local repair bloke is coming this week, so we'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed!
With 2GB RAM, you will, most likely struggle. The only machines I have with 2GB are netbooks, which are used only for their portability, and, to improve performance, they are fitted with SSD hard disks. Can you increase the amount of RAM in you machine? For Windows 7 (64 bit) I would suggest a minimum of 4GB, preferably 8. If you (currently) have a 32-bit installation, then Windows will only be able to use 3GB, so an upgrade (for which, unless you are using Windows 32 Starter Edition, you can use your existing licence key) is the only way forward. If you cannot upgrade the RAM, an upgrade to Windows 64-bit will be a waste of time and effort. Get a new PC, which if you play your cards right, could cost as little as £200!!!!
Thanks for that, everyone. It is 64-bit, and it only has 2GB RAM. Even I didn't think that was much by today's standards! Got a guy coming tomorrow afternoon to check it all out, and install another (probably) 4GB.
He thinks maybe there are some corrupted files or something, and he's gonna give it a full service and fit the RAM.
Also going to try a less intrusive anti-virus than Norton. I like it, but he's definitely not a fan! Admittedly it does jump straight in and start scanning when I first turn on in the morning, which is when the sloooowwww.... business is at its worst, but I wonder if more RAM will overcome that problem? Who knows? Suck it and see!
All being well,
I'll come back after tomorrow and let you know.
In the meantime, thanks again to all of you for your help, advice, and suggestions.
He thinks maybe there are some corrupted files or something, and he's gonna give it a full service and fit the RAM.
Also going to try a less intrusive anti-virus than Norton. I like it, but he's definitely not a fan! Admittedly it does jump straight in and start scanning when I first turn on in the morning, which is when the sloooowwww.... business is at its worst, but I wonder if more RAM will overcome that problem? Who knows? Suck it and see!
All being well,
I'll come back after tomorrow and let you know.In the meantime, thanks again to all of you for your help, advice, and suggestions.
First thing i used to do on any computer with norton installed is to remove it!
Its quite possible it has improved over the years but i doubt it.
I tend to use all the freebies now such as ccleaner, avast, malwarebytes, superantispyware, spybot etc and generally dont have problems.
Worth looking here too as a couple of the downloads are very good.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/windows/
Its quite possible it has improved over the years but i doubt it.
I tend to use all the freebies now such as ccleaner, avast, malwarebytes, superantispyware, spybot etc and generally dont have problems.
Worth looking here too as a couple of the downloads are very good.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/windows/
2GB of ram is enough for low end users, it certainly won't be causing slow start-up issues, that will be CPU/Hard-drive or a faulty programme.
My windows 7 computer is currently using 1.6gb with word, excel a few internet tabs and some music playing, only games, photo editing software etc cause my ram usage to go over 2gb, I doubt the OP is doing much of either.
How much is this guy charging to come look at it and fit memory?
My windows 7 computer is currently using 1.6gb with word, excel a few internet tabs and some music playing, only games, photo editing software etc cause my ram usage to go over 2gb, I doubt the OP is doing much of either.
How much is this guy charging to come look at it and fit memory?
Hi guys,
Well he came and fixed it on Wednesday, and now it's absolutely excellent! Really fast again.
He added another 2GB and used that MalwareBytes thing on it (which ran for 2 and a half hours!), and installed Google Chrome, though I've kept IE and Google, and that's instant as well. Brilliant.
He charged £70, which included the new RAM. I was happy with that.
Thanks again to all of you for your help and advice.
Well he came and fixed it on Wednesday, and now it's absolutely excellent! Really fast again.
He added another 2GB and used that MalwareBytes thing on it (which ran for 2 and a half hours!), and installed Google Chrome, though I've kept IE and Google, and that's instant as well. Brilliant.
He charged £70, which included the new RAM. I was happy with that.
Thanks again to all of you for your help and advice.
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If using win 8.1 just open 'Taskmanager' there is a tab for viewing start up progs.
Check Norton settings, unless there is a problem you do not need to scan anything on boot up - Imagine a warship, not at 'action stations' all of the time, just when necessary.
Norton only does what you direct / allow it to do... RTFM ?
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Check Norton settings, unless there is a problem you do not need to scan anything on boot up - Imagine a warship, not at 'action stations' all of the time, just when necessary.
Norton only does what you direct / allow it to do... RTFM ?
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