Something is gradually slowing down my computer


I think most people are saying similar. Upgrade ram, see if any processes are running in the background.

But tomorrow is another day. Assume you've done sfc/scannow?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion 14-ce3514sa
    CPU
    Core i5
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 evo plus 2TB
    Cooling
    Could be better
    Internet Speed
    200mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Other Info
    Originally installed with a 500gb H10 Optane ssd
just to test before making any hardware changes, open Advanced System Settings and under Advanced > Performance > Settings, set it to Adjust for best performance. reboot. test to see if it runs any better. if so, there are plenty of modifications you can make to increase performance on the software side of the house
1739399547133.webp

1739399452380.webp
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
SFC/scannow done.

Upgrading RAM won't be too big a problem. I'll bet back to everybody when that's done. Mind
I think most people are saying similar. Upgrade ram, see if any processes are running in the background.

But tomorrow is another day. Assume you've done sfc/scannow?
Done, of course. Will get back to everybody when I upgraded RAM. But it's still a mystery why everything is so slow at startup, then, once everything is truly up and running, no problem whatsoever (except for Solitaire Games and it's companion Xbox).

Good night everybody.

Bye
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Medion
    CPU
    Intel(R) Pentium(R) Silver N5000 CPU @ 1.10GHz 1.10 G
    Memory
    4,00 GB (3,83 GB usable)
My final thought as well. Is it any better without Nord VPN? I had real issues with that slowing a computer in the past and ended up not using it any more.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion 14-ce3514sa
    CPU
    Core i5
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 evo plus 2TB
    Cooling
    Could be better
    Internet Speed
    200mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Other Info
    Originally installed with a 500gb H10 Optane ssd
just to test before making any hardware changes, open Advanced System Settings and under Advanced > Performance > Settings, set it to Adjust for best performance. reboot. test to see if it runs any better. if so, there are plenty of modifications you can make to increase performance on the software side of the house
View attachment 125224

View attachment 125223
Before turning in, I'll try this... Thanks.

HK
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Medion
    CPU
    Intel(R) Pentium(R) Silver N5000 CPU @ 1.10GHz 1.10 G
    Memory
    4,00 GB (3,83 GB usable)
My final thought as well. Is it any better without Nord VPN? I had real issues with that slowing a computer in the past and ended up not using it any more.
Yep, it is slow. But it does its task beautifully. Actually, on my other devices, it runs like a dream.
And now I'm definitely turning in.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Medion
    CPU
    Intel(R) Pentium(R) Silver N5000 CPU @ 1.10GHz 1.10 G
    Memory
    4,00 GB (3,83 GB usable)
The symptoms are that of something cleaning out Pre-fetch files. This is likely to be one of those so-called cleaning Apps.

If the Pre-fetch files are cleared then an Application will take much longer to start first time, decreasing with each subsequent start.
The Prefetch files are renewed by the Windows system, it is counter productive to delete them yourself.

Similarly with a Web Browser the caching is there to speed up subsequent openings of the same Website. If you clear the cache on exiting the Browser then the initial opening of the website again will be slow while re-generating the relevant cache files.

Clearing Pre-fetch files and Caches gives rise to those symptoms. Whether it is you manually, or some App.
The answer is to stop doing that.

Obviously bare minimum hardware specs magnifies the problem.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    WIN 11, WIN 10, WIN 8.1, WIN 7 U, WIN 7 PRO, WIN 7 HOME (32 Bit), LINUX MINT
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    DIY, ASUS, and DELL
    CPU
    Intel i7 6900K (octocore) / AMD 3800X (8 core)
    Motherboard
    ASUS X99E-WS USB 3.1
    Memory
    128 GB CORSAIR DOMINATOR PLATINUM (B DIE)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA 1070
    Sound Card
    Crystal Sound (onboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    single Samsung 30" 4K and 8" aux monitor
    Screen Resolution
    4K and something equally attrocious
    Hard Drives
    A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W

    Ports X, Y, and Z are reserved for USB access and removable drives.

    Drive types consist of the following: Various mechanical hard drives bearing the brand names, Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital. Various NVMe drives bearing the brand names Kingston, Intel, Silicon Power, Crucial, Western Digital, and Team Group. Various SATA SSDs bearing various different brand names.

    RAID arrays included:

    LSI RAID 10 (WD Velociraptors) 1115.72 GB
    LSI RAID 10 (WD SSDS) 463.80 GB

    INTEL RAID 0 (KINGSTON HYPER X) System 447.14 GB
    INTEL RAID 1 TOSHIBA ENTERPRIZE class Data 2794.52 GB
    INTEL RAID 1 SEAGATE HYBRID 931.51 GB
    PSU
    SEVERAL. I prefer my Corsair Platinum HX1000i but I also like EVGA power supplies
    Case
    ThermalTake Level 10 GT (among others)
    Cooling
    Noctua is my favorite and I use it in my main. I also own various other coolers. Not a fan of liquid cooling.
    Keyboard
    all kinds.
    Mouse
    all kinds
    Internet Speed
    360 mbps - 1 gbps (depending)
    Browser
    FIREFOX
    Antivirus
    KASPERSKY (no apologies)
    Other Info
    I own too many laptops: A Dell touch screen with Windows 11 and 6 others (not counting the other four laptops I bought for this household.) Being a PC builder I own many desktop PCs as well. I am a father of five providing PCs, laptops, and tablets for all my family, most of which I have modified, rebuilt, or simply built from scratch. I do not own a cell phone, never have, never will.
To whom may solve this - or give me a way to do so:

Since a few months, my computer is gradually slowing down, certainly at startup.
- Startup itself is not as fast as it used to be
- I checked all apps etc. that are loaded at startup, disabled quite a lot that seemed superfluous (and apparently were), to no avail
- Phenomenons:
- Chrome takes a long time to load. I checked everything, emptied unnecessary caches, and so on. No improvement.
- My VPN (NordVPN) takes a long time to load. As it does so, it seems to interfere momentarily with WiFi connection in general. I contact the very helpful NordVPN support, did a lot of tests. Nothing helped.
- Microsoft Solitaire and Casual Games takes an inordinate amount of time to get up and running, not to mention Xbox (necessary for my Premium subscription).
- Foxit PDF reader (which I use instead of clunky and limited Adobe) takes an unusual amount of time to load, even when completely "empty".

Please note that once they have started, the apps behave as they should, as does the device. Exiting them, then loading them again, takes no time at all - with the sole exceptions of NordVPN (albeit with a slight improvement), and most staggeringly, the Solitaire Games, which continue to misbehave (not really while playing, just when stopping then starting the app). Microsoft Support just can't seem to do anything...

It goes without saying that I tried a lot of things "in the book", like uninstalling completely, then reinstalling the apps. Nothing helps.

What I'm almost certain of, is that something, somewhere is interfering at startup, and that getting rid of it will get things back to normal. Why otherwise would everything work without a hitch after everything is finally up and running (with the Solitaire exception)?

Please help me out with this ridiculous situation, which is plaguing me - if only because I see no end in sight. Most users, at this point, believe their device has silted up hopelessly and buy a new one. But I don't believe that a machine is programmed to do such shenanigans. So...

Best regards,

HK

I had a similar situation, and thought I could hunt down the program that may be causing my problem. I've used computers since the 80s, and have worked on and built PCs since the 90s.

After doing everything that us that work on computers would do, the PC ultimately told me what the problem was.
The drive died. Sometimes it's just am old or bad drive.

If this might be the case, backup your data. It could be a bad drive. Your symptoms sound exactly the same as a bad drive situation that I experienced.

Good luck, I hope this helps.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (OS Build 26100.3194)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Precision Mobile Workstation
    CPU
    Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1535M v5 @ 2.90 Max Turbo 3.80
    Motherboard
    00V5FJ
    Memory
    64GB DDR4 ECC (Error-Correcting Code memory)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro M2000M 4GB GDDR5 & Intel(R) HD Graphics P530
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6" 4K UltraHD
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
    Hard Drives
    2TB Crucial NVMe & 2TB Seagate SATA
    PSU
    Dell 180W 19.5V-9.23A
    Mouse
    Logitech G703
    Internet Speed
    WIFI: Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260
    Browser
    Mozilla Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security + additional Anti Spyware, Anti Malware, etc.
    Other Info
    Thunderbolt 3
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Precision Workstation T5610
    CPU
    Dual Intel(R) Xeon(R)
    Memory
    64GB ECC
just run crystaldiskinfo and check the health of your drive...

.https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/
Hi thanks,

Just installed CrystalMark. Everything is okay and healthy. See screenshots.
Please note that the main SSD C: drive has 74% left of its total 240GB (172GB) - an amount occupied by progs, Windows etc., leaving 70-GB (much less than half) free. The remainder of the SSD (about 60-GB) has been assigned to Windows, probably in case of a major update.
The HD has plenty of free space, distributed over several partitions.

So, the culprit is not there...

None of the suggestions has helped...

Best

HK
 

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    DiskHealth 02 SSD HD.webp
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Medion
    CPU
    Intel(R) Pentium(R) Silver N5000 CPU @ 1.10GHz 1.10 G
    Memory
    4,00 GB (3,83 GB usable)
And now I'm going back to sleep.

H
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Medion
    CPU
    Intel(R) Pentium(R) Silver N5000 CPU @ 1.10GHz 1.10 G
    Memory
    4,00 GB (3,83 GB usable)
Try O+OShutUp10++ and maybe Anti-Beacon and turn off some of the background MS surveying. Those certainly do contribute to hindering performance.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (OS Build 26100.3194)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Precision Mobile Workstation
    CPU
    Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1535M v5 @ 2.90 Max Turbo 3.80
    Motherboard
    00V5FJ
    Memory
    64GB DDR4 ECC (Error-Correcting Code memory)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro M2000M 4GB GDDR5 & Intel(R) HD Graphics P530
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6" 4K UltraHD
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
    Hard Drives
    2TB Crucial NVMe & 2TB Seagate SATA
    PSU
    Dell 180W 19.5V-9.23A
    Mouse
    Logitech G703
    Internet Speed
    WIFI: Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260
    Browser
    Mozilla Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security + additional Anti Spyware, Anti Malware, etc.
    Other Info
    Thunderbolt 3
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Precision Workstation T5610
    CPU
    Dual Intel(R) Xeon(R)
    Memory
    64GB ECC
Clean install :-) And uninstall Nord VPN. That's my suggestion anyway. Plus a faster drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion 14-ce3514sa
    CPU
    Core i5
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 evo plus 2TB
    Cooling
    Could be better
    Internet Speed
    200mbps Starlink
    Browser
    Firefox
    Other Info
    Originally installed with a 500gb H10 Optane ssd

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