Fixing a HP laptop - very very slow

Tell them to buy a new Laptop in the most polite way you can think of.

Don't waste your time on old hardware trying to run Windows 11 or even Windows 10.

" I am not sure if this was purchased with win 10 or with win 11."

Very unlikely, more like Vista, at best Windows 7/8.

netrate said:

I will install a new SSD and report back when it is done.
Also a Scan of the hard drive revealed no errors and a defrag was done.

Click to expand...

I'm sure the HDD is a slow 5400 RPM drive. This will decrease the laptops speed dramatically.

An SSD will make a big difference - and a clean install probably will as well. I'd also clean install Windows 11. It's no slower than 10 and maybe even slightly faster. How full is the current disk? That can slow things up too. SSD's are quite cheap now so getting one bigger than you need can be worth it. I believe they perform better the more free space there is. Someone may correct me on that as not sure where I heard it a long time ago, but the more free space, it's supposed to make the ssd that bit faster apparently.

Hazel123 said:

An SSD will make a big difference - and a clean install probably will as well. I'd also clean install Windows 11. It's no slower than 10 and maybe even slightly faster. How full is the current disk? That can slow things up too. SSD's are quite cheap now so getting one bigger than you need can be worth it. I believe they perform better the more free space there is. Someone may correct me on that as not sure where I heard it a long time ago, but the more free space, it's supposed to make the ssd that bit faster apparently.

Click to expand...

When it comes to my SSDs I keep the used space as low as I can. I've never come close but I will not go over 80%. Before I would allow my drive to get that full I would unallot 10% or more of the drive space to allow for over provisioning.

I Don't hear the word "Defrag" much any more! That may have been a necessary thing to do to an old HD, to keep it running efficiently, but we don't Defrag an SSD. Don't even think about it. There is built in logic to take care of where everything is put.
With the old HD's, I developed the routine to clean out every piece of junk that windows and the browsers could create. And that was nothing complicated, just a simple DOS Batch File.

For years, as a working Computer Tech, my speciallity has been efficiency and performance.
I always loved hearing "Dang! It didn't run that fast when it was new!" from my customers.

So when anyone says, "it's running SO Slow!" I just want to say, "Bring it on down here, and I'll fix that for you".
If you have a PC with limited resources, the secret is to limit the work load you put on it. Then tweak it out, for maximum performance.
If a PC is having trouble with the Full Blown version of Windows 11, or instance, there are lighter alternatives. We all know about Lite Beer, or Lite Sodas, well.....there are Lite versions of Windows too.

Nuff said,
TM

TechnoMage2021 said:

I Don't hear the word "Defrag" much any more!

Click to expand...

I remember watching the programs graphics of the files being moved around. We've come a long way since then.

I used to just love running that old Defrag. Yes, watching those little blocks of data moving around was a real blast. :roflmao:

"Running SO Slow!" could also be an overload of "Crap". That is, .tmp files, and Temporary Internet Files created by the Browsers. There is no built in, Automatic, removal of those things, and most of the Cleanup programs that I've seen won't remove those either. Even Windows Cleanup just ignores them.
So, in defense of my own systems, I wrote a Batch File to remove every bit of Garbage that I could find.
Some of it, is pretty well hidden. That was about a year ago, and I'm still finding new places where junk files hide. Every time I find a new hiding place for junk files, I add that location to my Cleanup.bat program.

The most junk my batch file deleted in just one day, was 340K files.
In the old days, I'd run a Defrag after such a cleaning, but with my SSD, I don't have to worry about it.
Firmware in the SSD takes care of it.

TM

At the risk of treading on toes....... if you want a top to bottom, side to side, cleaning try Privazer. Have seen nothing like it tbh. It cleans nooks and crannies I'd never even HEARD of and I've been doing this stuff since XP.

Free PC cleaner & Privacy tool <-------- Link to it here

4GB ram is barely enough for modern browsers. You need at least 8GB for a functional OS.

Upgrade the ram to 8GB and convert the hard drive to an ssd and you will see a noticeable improvement.

I also suggest reinstalling windows and wiping everything out (after backing up their data of course)

Stay away from software "cleaners". Just use disk cleanup.