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W10 freezing problem

Jun 5, 2016 1:26AM PDT

Hello,
can someone tell me how to prevent W10 occasionally freezing? Thanks

Discussion is locked

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Re: freezing
Jun 5, 2016 3:16AM PDT

With the info you provide, it can be either hardware or software.

- If it's hardware, the easy solution is to buy another PC.
- If it's software, the rather easy solution is to do a full reset of Windows, install all the right drivers and not install any other software.

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Thanks Kees
Jun 5, 2016 4:20AM PDT

I forgot to say that it's a new PC (Asus P553M) and W10 was installed recently, with only few other programs installed.
Is there another way?

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Since the machine was recently acquired
Jun 5, 2016 7:06AM PDT

That's a warranty issue. But you mention the recent install of W10. You'll want a factory install of the OS that it came with as well.

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That's a warranty issue.
Jun 5, 2016 7:52AM PDT

Yes.
It is a warranty issue because I bought the PC with W10 already installed by the seller.
But, because I do not want to waste time to let them fix my PC, I want to try to solve the problem, if it is not too difficult.
I do not think it's the hardware.

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OK, let's say it's software.
Jun 5, 2016 7:56AM PDT

From the factory it should be working. Use their documented method to factory restore it.

Here my instruction is not so easy. After the factory restore there are steps that I consider unacceptable for a new machine.
1. The Nvidia driver update fails. So there's a manual download and install of something from Nvidia.
2. The machine will BSOD until another driver is updated.

The maker tells us this but why the machine being a week old would need such is a mystery today. The Windows PC industry is now over 2 decades old and still delivering a mess.

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Thanks Proffitt,
Jun 5, 2016 8:14AM PDT

then I think I'll wait a few weeks. Perhaps the problem is going to fix itself with future updates from W10. Confused
I only know that shopkeepers want good money, the rest are trivial details.

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Between office and home
Jun 5, 2016 8:45AM PDT

I must have 20+ laptops under my control and not once did a Microsoft update cure an issue like this. In every case it was, and I'm confining this to new machines or ones that were factory restored, a driver or app download from the maker.

Now let me move to the field. That is, machines you get from clients and the repair counter. The biggest issue there has been malware and the use of registry cleaners and those speed up my pc offers. After that you run the gamut of torrent users, more than one antivirus or the slow machine complaints.

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Assuming
Jun 5, 2016 8:07AM PDT

you cannot return the laptop without restocking fees and shipping, you are stuck. The CPU is slow, slow, slow and almost dead slow with W10. The freezing you observe is W10 doing it's thing, like calling home to check for updates or screening for virus with Defender. Sure you can turn off those features but the improvement will be minuscule. Never ever buy a PC with an Atom or Celeron CPU or AMD A4 or A6 if you want to use it for general purposes. They are only practical in specific low power requirement situations.

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Can you explain this?
Jun 5, 2016 8:18AM PDT

I have an older laptop which is the Sony VAIO VGN-NW240F/T. It's stock but with a new HDD as the original was spewing SMART warnings. It's on Windows 10 and runs great for a machine like that. No lockups. Specs?
2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 Processor
4GB DDR2 800MHz Memory
500GB Serial ATA 5400RPM Hard Drive, DVD±R/RW Optical Drive
15.5" (1366x76Cool Widescreen LCD Display, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
Windows 10 Home Premium (64-bit)

The Asus in question has a similar CPU according to http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-N3530-vs-Intel-Core2-Duo-T6600

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I have several
Jun 5, 2016 9:49AM PDT

machines with C2D and Atoms and Celerons. All the C2Ds work well as you observed. None of the Atoms and Celerons are satisfactory as general computers regardless of OS or benchmark metrics. Explain that.

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I'll give you the Atoms.
Jun 5, 2016 10:20AM PDT

But I also have another Celeron desktop which is a "Acer Aspire XC Compact Desktop PC Intel Celeron J1900 2GHz | AXC-603G-UW13"

Specs are again on the low end:
Celeron J1900
4GB RAM
500GB HDD
Onboard video.

It's actually great as we use it as a home theater PC to run Netflix and more.

Maybe you are talking about decade plus old machines?

OK, I do have a 2008 HP Quad Core HP4999T that is going to a person that lost it all (fire) and it's on Windows 10. Solid as a rock operation but a tad slow. The Acer Celeron is actually faster but we are talking a lot of years between the two.

Post was last edited on June 5, 2016 10:21 AM PDT

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Oh wait, maybe I have an Atom in the office.
Jun 5, 2016 10:29AM PDT

Why yes I do. I'm pulling it out just to see what Atom it has and boot times.

Asus T100 with:
Atom Z3775
2GB RAM
32GB solid state for OS
500GB in the keyboard and base.

Boot time 22 seconds (not resume, not sleep, not from hibernate)

It's also rock solid. We use it to demo our apps so folk know we don't require big gear.

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Like I said it depends
Jun 5, 2016 4:47PM PDT

Reading news articles and surfing portals are the worst as they are crammed with ads which drag every click or scroll to a crawl or seeming halt. That's what I mean by general purpose use.

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I have low powered PCs to try this on.
Jun 5, 2016 5:39PM PDT

I get a lot of posts saying it's Windows 10 then I am having nothing but good times with W10 at home and office. On top of that I have access to a lot of PCs to see what's up.

You wrote " The freezing you observe is W10 doing it's thing " which is not happening here on the machines I happen to have in the office today.

But and this is a biggy, Grif (moderator) has some fine advice about keeping a machine clean.

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Keeping a machine clean.
Jun 6, 2016 8:59AM PDT

Interesting.
What do you think about Free Window Registry Repair?

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I wouldn't touch it.
Jun 6, 2016 9:20AM PDT

These things cause more harm than good.
Dafydd.

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OK. Thanks.
Jun 6, 2016 9:26AM PDT

A viable alternative?

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Re: alternative
Jun 6, 2016 10:37AM PDT

An alternative for what exactly. Registry cleaners are good for nothing. But I don't think you want an alternative for nothing.

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For
Jun 6, 2016 10:59AM PDT

keeping a PC clean.

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Re: clean
Jun 6, 2016 11:06AM PDT
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By clean I use Grif's advice.
Jun 6, 2016 11:12AM PDT

It's posted often but here's a recent post with all of it.

http://www.cnet.com/forums/post/f742c795-5881-433b-a29b-6d758efe5cd3/

As to my usual setup I have just migrated to a new W10 laptop so my first stop was Ninite.com. Why?
Read http://www.howtogeek.com/201354/ninite-is-the-only-safe-place-to-get-windows-freeware/

So I can safely install Firefox and Chrome then for my list of add ons I use these:
Adblock+
Web Of Trust
Copy as Plain Text (I think it's version 2?)

Anyhow that's it. I use Windows Defender as the AV and if I feel adware has gotten on the PC I use Grif's advice.