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General discussion

Help! Windows 10 system slowed down to a crawl over time

May 17, 2019 4:40PM PDT

I know this has been done to death on the forum. When I searched for “slow computer” or “slow windows”, there were thousands of responses.

I’ve had my Acer Aspire for a couple of years now and have the latest, most up-to-date version of Windows 10 (64-bit). Granted, I use a lot of software, particularly Google Chrome with loads of tabs open, and software like Skype (two instances) and Office 365 and various background processes like Malwarebytes, McAfee Security, f.lux, DropBox, OneDrive, etc. But I have a fast computer configuration: 256GB SSD drive for Windows and all the installed software and my “working data” with an extra 1TB regular hard drive for archiving and backup – and 16GB RAM.

And I have BoostSpeed and CCleaner and have tweaked Windows in various ways to optimize performance, and I tend to close apps I’m not using to reduce the RAM load (but I shouldn’t have thought that would make a difference as they’re probably not running in the background, or at least are sitting in virtual RAM on the SSD, so shouldn’t be a drag on the system).

And yet my computer seems to have become gradually slower and slower with time. It was blindingly fast in the beginning, but now it can take half a minute just to launch File Explorer or the app I could be working (e.g. Excel or Google Chrome) displays “not responsive” for about 20-30 seconds before continuing with its operation.


Surely, it also doesn’t matter that I’ve installed loads of apps? It’s only if I run a lot of them together that they actually have a load on the computer, right?

Or could the delay be that the registry is now so huge that it takes ages to work through the database for any regular operation. I heard that many apps use the registry to store data (rather than a private database of their own). Is this normal? I scan the registry regularly and have followed all the main tweaks suggested in the various discussions, on CNET and elsewhere. And yet my computer is still slow.

The only thing I haven’t tried is to make a clean install. However, this is a huge job. Just re-installing all the apps can take several days, plus I have to reconfigure hundreds of settings in Outlook and the antivirus software, the firewall and other utilities (and reset all the File Explorer library and default view settings and backup protocols), and tweak Windows all over again from scratch, etc. etc.

Are there some useful utilities that can identify what’s really happening under the hood or some software that will really and truly optimize the computer (BoostSpeed and CCleaner don’t seem to make all the much of a difference, and of course as I had an SSD there’s no need for defragmenting either)?

I will be grateful for any ideas or pointers (or even a link to an up-to-date discussion that deals thoroughly with this subject). Many thanks in advance.

--Submitted by Gary O.

Discussion is locked

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It might be the SSD
May 24, 2019 7:09PM PDT

I have heard of systems slowing down like this because of error correction in the SSD. If this is the problem here are two possible fixes: install a new SSD with a clone of the system (which is a real pain) or use Spinrite 6 from grc.com which I have used for decades with amazing success.

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Eliminate wireless peripherals
May 24, 2019 7:28PM PDT

Three-month old HP i7 w/SSD/ 16gb / 6TB / etc. was rapidly decreasing speed, missing and delaying keystrokes. Taking forever to respond to commands, etc. I was using a wired network connection, but the wireless was still on. I removed wireless keyboard/mouse and keystroke/mouse delays ended, but machine remained slower than my 7-year-old Win10 HP with AMD. Noticed that he old HP had the wireless disabled. Disabled the unused wireless on the new HP and speed problems went away. Put the wireless keyboard and mouse back on, keystroke and mouse delays reappeared. GET RID OF THE WIRELESS!!

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Truth is....
May 24, 2019 7:47PM PDT

All PCs, including MACs (yes a PC, Personal Computer!), Are sadly prone to slowing down, while age, the biggest culprit, due to the heating and cooling of the electronics puts a lot of quick wear and tear on the system (blocked cooling vents/fans, because of dust (biggest culprit), but also because of air flow access on bottom of units being restricted (pillow in lap with Notebook on top equals BAD; this is one place MACs jump ahead (a little), since they have no air vents on the bottom). Once a system overheats, especially several times over, not much to do but watch it deteriorate over time, sometimes quickly!
With that said, next is the multiple number of apps on a system, and especially the interaction of required components, i.e. java, .net framework, adobe (and all their things....) and so many others... Updates always required (but very important!) Can bog downa system over time, which is why a complete reinstall can fix issues (but who, in their right mind wants, or has, at least 4 or 5 hours to load OS and apps (then there is locating all those license/product keys (a problem with many of our clients... Keep that info, peeps))!
The uninstalling of apps doesn't remove everything and adds to the issues, some registry cleaners (CCleaner) does help some.
So in short, we just find we have to deal with it all. As far as the deteriorating hardware, usually visual inspection best way to find. Have found many times diagnostics does not find problem or help much, usually system crashes before it can report anything!

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Two things first.
May 24, 2019 8:13PM PDT

One of the main reasons your windows 10 laptop has gone slow could be the fact that the Mitigations for Meltdown and Spectre in Windows 10 had a side effect of performance reduction, that is, slowdown of a PC. In the version 1903 (May 2019 Update) the mitigations have been worked on to not cause major performance decrease. So software wise, first try doing all the most recommended things first, defrag it, run sfc /scannow command, check if there's plenty space in the windows installed drive, uninstall antiviruses (if you can trust windows defender) etc and do update the windows to 1903 (if you can).

But first before doing any of that, (no harm in doing them, if this works, still) as mentioned in one of the replies. You gotta get your laptop physically cleaned; as in you gotta have a expert to open up the laptop to physically clean it. What happens is, over time dust and everything else that's in the air gets cumulated in the vents and inside the laptop which ultimately really slow it down. You should get it done first before any of the measure.

And if these two don't satisfy you, only then you should move onto other drastic measures. Such as clean install Windows (which isn't as drastic if you make backup and all and do it properly).

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I know the feeling. Clean "house".
May 24, 2019 9:49PM PDT

I have been running Win 10 on my computer since the free copy days. I have experienced the crawling at a snail's pace syndrome.
One of 2 things always fixes this problem. 1 A thorough cleaning of the system and physically cleaning the inside of the laptop. 2 Physically cleaning the inside of the laptop and completely starting over from scratch with all of your software and the OS.
You will also, need a can of compressed air on hand.

1. Turn off ALL background apps that you are not using at the moment.
2. Uninstall either Malwarebytes or McCaffee. They are not good friends regarding conflicts and resources. I prefer using Malwarebytes, Panda Free, and Win Defender together. I have never had conflicts on any of my laptops or desktop computers running these programs together and have had no malware or viral issues.
Panda Free link. https://download.cnet.com/Panda-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10914099.html

3. Uninstall CCleaner. Install Glarysoft Utilities as it is a better deal.
https://www.glarysoft.com/glary-utilities/download/

4. Install Glarysoft Absolute Uninstaller. https://www.glarysoft.com/absoluteuninstaller/download/

These are the ONLY 2 cleanup programs that you will need.
Now lets clean-up your computer and get it running faster. Do everything in the following order.

Open the Absolute Uninstaller and remove any unnecessary or unused programs and close the program.

Next: Clean out the %temp% folder.
Press the Win key + r key, type %temp% Delete folder contents, skipping anything in use. Close folder.

Next: Clean out the prefetch folder
Press Win key and the r key. Type prefetch. Delete folder contents, skipping anything in use. Close folder.

Next clean out the Software Distribution Folder.
On the desktop open select: This PC select :C:drive/ Windows/ SoftwareDistribution/download. Delete folder contents, skipping anything in use. Close folder.

Open Glarysoft 5 utilities.
Select the disk cleaner. In the list on the far left, tick everything that you want to clean. I pretty much select everything that applies to me.
Scan and run cleaner. Close this window went completed.

Clean your internet activities.
Open the Garysoft Utilities list, select Privacy and Security run track cleaner.

Next, if you are sure that you won't new an older version of Windows, get rid of the old version of Windows and old unneeded updates. These use a lot of space. Minimize, Glarysoft utilities.

Go to Start and open Settings. Select System/storage/ cleanup. Wait for it to load. Untick everything except old windows versions and updates. Run the cleanup program. once this is completed close this program.

This next step is for mechanical hard drives. DONT DEFRAG /OPTIMIZE SSD drives.

Maximize Glarysoft Utilities and run the Disk Defragger, using the Optimize option.
Complete the software cleaning by running all of the anti-malware/anti-virus programs one at a time.

This is the last part of the clean-up. Physically clean out the inside of your laptop.

Turn off/Power off your laptop. Close the lid and turn it over. Remove all power sources power cord and open the battery cover to remove the battery. Remove the componants compartment cover.
Using the canned air spray clean the inside of your laptop. Give special attention to the vents, fans, and the CPU. Replace the compartment cover, replace the battery and or power cord and you are good to go.
If you are still having problems with a slow computer, the issues are most likely due to a corrupt OS or a corrupt hard drive.
For the OS, you will need to do a pristine reinstall of Win10. As in a completely reinstalling the OS and your files. Which will take much longer than doing this clean-up proceedure.
For the hard drive most likely you will need to replace it.

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External data sources
May 24, 2019 10:08PM PDT

External data sources (internet drives such as dropbox) will slow you down, as Windows will try to read them until they respond. Something that is offline will bring your computer to a halt.

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Slow pc
May 24, 2019 10:54PM PDT

Try a disk cleanup on start scroll down to Windows Administrative Tools Disk cleanup Clean up System Files Delete Previous Windows Installations Gain 20 or so Gigabytes on your hard drive It's the only thing you can do with a Solid State Drive also works with IDE storage devices

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Use programs other than windows apps
May 25, 2019 12:32AM PDT

Windows 10's built in photo app is horribly slow taking a minuet or more to open then having done so having a blank screen for anothe then only very slowly opening further photos, change to something like faststone. What the windows app is doing all that time I dont know but Isuspect it is sending data back to microsoft including the picture you are trying to open.

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Using files backed up in DropBox or Microsoft's OneDrive?
May 25, 2019 1:37AM PDT

As noted below by David, using files stored on DropBox or OneDrive may alone be the source of your dramatic slowdown in Win10. Try disconnecting from those data files stored on either and just backup to those services rather than use a datafile stored there. You may see dramatic improvement. It appears to have slowed my Quicken to a crawl. Saving every single change involves what seems a ridiculously long delay.

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Speeding Up Computer
May 25, 2019 5:05AM PDT

Try the following:
1. Reduce the number of non-Windows background apps from starting up by going into Task Manager (ctrl-alt-del) select the Startup tab and turn off app start ups that aren't essential by clicking Disable button in bottom-right corner.
2. Remove any old bloatware you still have, and remove programs you no longer use.
3. Remove and/or move old files you know you don't need on your HD and run a disk cleaner and if you have a mechanical hard drive, consider running an error check and defragmention on it in Windows.
4. There are also tons of online articles that provide help on doing things like turning off search indexing, OneDrive syncs, Windows Tips & Tricks, etc. but you will increase speed while losing functionality that you might actually like.
5. The new Windows 10. May 2019 update allows one to delete additional non-essential Windows apps clogging up your system. Again, gain speed but lose functionality.
6. After you're all done removing apps, run CCleaner to clean up your Windows registry and delete other odd files that clog up your HD and slow down your system.

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Hmmm??
May 25, 2019 4:45PM PDT

How come no one mentions, SFC, DISM, Disk Cleanup of system files??

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Some help from me too
May 25, 2019 4:52PM PDT

Hey man. I can give you a couple of simple suggestions.
1. Let's start with accepting that your pc will not run as before. It's normal. Nothing is eternal.
2. Open task manager and check "disk" load. If its 100%, then this is your problem.
3. Check registry. There are many programs out there(such as little registry cleaner), which can check and fix your registry files.
4. Check "empty load", which means - start pc-open task manager and check the loads to CPU, memory, disk while nothing is working (except background apps)CPU must be from 1 to 5 max, memory ~10-15%max, disk 1-2%.If is more, check what is taking resources.
5. Disable some services. From time to time some services (such as Superfetch) are becoming problematic. There are guides online, how to check which service is slowing down your system.
6. Re-install (just C:/). I know it may be a pain for you, but windows need to be re-installed once every 6 months or 1 year.

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Registry cleaners.
May 25, 2019 6:49PM PDT

Not advised in these forums. Often cause more harm than good.
Dafydd.

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Registry cleaners
May 26, 2019 2:10AM PDT

I wanted to say, that is important to check the registry files, that's all.CCleaner has this option as well.

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Flashing
May 26, 2019 10:42PM PDT

Flashing the system might help

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An Intel driver may be the cause
May 27, 2019 11:41AM PDT

re: my experience with a Win10 1803, HP i7, 32GB RAM, 1TB hdd (80% full), Intel 4600 integrated graphics... Use this diagnostic https://downloadcenter.intel.com/ to check your Intel drivers. My Rapid Storage driver was out of date and this solved the majority of my slowness issues. Had no way of knowing this. I also found that an app (Sketchup) I was using communicates a lot through IE 11 even though I use Chrome as a browser. Some settings weren't optimal according to publisher. Changing the settings helped that app run faster. Run System File Checker. I found and fixed one corrupt system file. Defrag didn't fix anything. I also found that Sketchup when used with Carbonite uses a lot of disk and network resources too. I changed Carbonite to daily backup and changed Sketchup to open without it's tool tray open. What a difference! Finally I changed the Performance Options control panel to favor performance instead of appearance. I let Windows decide on the paging file size rather than using the 1.5xRAM size that is frequently mentioned (it decided 5GB was enough). The machine seems to operate much faster now and is enjoyable to use once again after several frustrating months. Bottom line... There will be multiple causes of slowness. Good luck.

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Might help to start and stop services on demand
May 28, 2019 9:39AM PDT

I've found that a few services that I use just once or twice a week slow down the PC considerably. So I created little batch files to start and stop each of these services as needed. For example, I have a batch to start a periodic online backup's services, and another to stop these services; so -- even though the program requires them to be set as automatic, I only run them when I need them. I do the same for my SQL Server services, which I only use about once a week. This has considerably cut down the drag on my PC.

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Curious what Task Manager is telling you...
May 29, 2019 8:33AM PDT

I have noticed similar slowdowns as well. When I open up Task Manager in the extended "More Details" view, I typically see Disk utilization sitting at 100%. I still have not figured out why this is going on, particularly since most Processes are running at less than 3MB/s. The system has a 1TB SSD (for the C: drive - Windows System) and a 1TB disk drive (for the E: drive - Data). So my search continues as well.

Do you see any of the critical performance measurements (CPU, Memory, Disk, Network, GPU) maxing out during your slowdowns?

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My C drive for Win10
May 29, 2019 12:08PM PDT

My C drive for Win10 shows 31gb being used.