PC Running very slowly

Here are my PC specs
------------------------
Windows 11 home V 23H2 (OS Build 22631.2861)

Boot Mode: UEFI with successful Secure Boot

CPU 360 gigahertz Intel Core i3-8100
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
1 megabyte secondary memory cache
6 megabyte tertiary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Not hyper-threaded

Drives
3.00 Terabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
1.99 Terabytes Hard Drive Free Space

Slimtype DVD A DS8ACSH [Optical drive]

ST2000DM001-1CH164 [Hard drive] (2.00 TB) -- drive 1, s/n S1E18PLS, rev CC24, SMART Status: Healthy
TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 [Hard drive] (1.00 TB) -- drive 0, s/n 87J9ZDPFS, rev MS2OA750, SMART Status: Healthy

Bus Adapters

Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller
Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller
Intel(R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.0 (Microsoft)
Null Fax - HP Officejet 5740 series (3x)

Virus protection

PC Matic Super Shield
Virus Definitions Version Up To Date
Realtime File Scanning Off

Communications

↓ Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) #2
Status: Cable unplugged
Dhcp Server: none responded
Physical Address: 9CA:3EE:E7:B5
Connection Speed: 3 Mbps
↑ Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 #2
primary Auto IP Address: 192.168.1.111 / 24
Gateway: 192.168.1.1
Dhcp Server: 192.168.1.1
Physical Address: 9CA:3EE:E7:B1
Connection Speed: 72 Mbps
↓ Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
Status: Not connected to a network
Dhcp Server: none responded
Physical Address: 9CA:3EE:E7:B2
↓ Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #3
Status: Not connected to a network
Dhcp Server: none responded
Physical Address: 9EA:3EE:E7:B1
↓ Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller
Status: Cable unplugged
Dhcp Server: none responded
Physical Address: F4:4D:30:FC:5C:51

Networking Dns Server: 192.168.1.1

System MEDION MD34045/2521
System Serial Number: 12521010010879
Enclosure Type: Desktop

Main Board

Board: MEDION Z370H4-EM 1.0
Serial Number: ME5100G74501440
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
UEFI: American Megatrends Inc. 370H4W0X.112 02/15/2019

Memory

7.88 Gigabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM0' has 8 GB (serial number 990AE4D0)
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM0' is Empty

HDDs
c: (NTFS on drive 0) * 971.12 GB 468.44 GB free
d: (NTFS on drive 0) 26.84 GB 7.04 GB free
f: (NTFS on drive 1) 1.94 TB 1.48 TB free
g: (NTFS on drive 1) 53.75 GB 33.94 GB free
* Operating System is installed on c:

Printer
HP Officejet 5740 series

Display
Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 [Display adapter]
Philips PHL 243V5 [Monitor] (23.4"vis, s/n ZV01538001241, September 2015)

The PC is taking up to 5 minutes to load windows.

It used to take about 60 seconds but has got slower over
the past year.

What other information could I provide to help with fixing this problem?

Open an elevated command prompt and type Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
Wait for that to finish then type SFC /SCANNOW and wait for that to finish, did either give any indication of errors?

Run this batch file. It contains SFC, DISM and CHKDSK commands in a command window and may take 10 minutes to run.

Also run 'Disk Clean-up' in Administrator mode. If not run in Administrator mode then ensure you also select the option to 'Clean up System Files' and then let it run. It may take a while if it has never been run before and it finds a lot of stuff to delete.
Then delete all restore points except the last one.
Then run 'Defragment and optimize drives' in Administrator mode selecting the C: drive to defragment.

You say in the thread title "pc running slowly". In the thread you say it take 5 min. to load windows. Since I do not know if it's one or both, my suggestions are for both.
Test with all external peripherals removed except keyboard and mouse

As Rollback Jockey mentioned running dism/sfc commands are recommended. He did not mention that you should restart after running those commands if anything was repaired. Also try these other suggestions to help narrow it down.

1. Perform a clean boot to eliminate software conflict causing the issue. If it doesn't happen in a clean boot, you have some software conflicting with Windows. Brink's procedure will help you weed out which one. Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts Tutorial

2. disable fast startup. :

3. after windows fully loads, right click on start button and select task manager. Look at the column headers. Are any resources running at 100%.? If so, click on that header to sort the processes to show those hogging the most resources to be at the top.

4. I would normally suggest that you update your bios to latest and update graphics driver from the manufacturer, but I was unable to find any support page for Medion devices. Instead I suggest you update your graphics driver from Intel. Create a restore point before updating. Latest is
31.0.101.2115
Build Date: November 16, 2022

5. Run disk cleanup. In search box search for "disk", In search results RIGHT click on Disk Cleanup & select 'run as administrator'
Along with what will already be checked, also put a check by Previous Windows Installations and Temporary Files

6. You have HDDs, Defrag them. search 'defrag'. In search results select "Defragment and Optimize" drives. The app will tell you which drives are fragmented and need to be optimized

7. Check for Malware using Malwarebytes Free. Scroll all the way down in this link and select Malwarebytes Free.
Do a full scan. Quarantine (or remove) anything that Malwarebytes detects. Restart the computer.

8. Test to see if issues remain while in safe mode? Boot to Safe Mode in Windows 11 Tutorial

7. Repair Install Windows 11 Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade Tutorial

glasskuter said:

As Rollback Jockey mentioned running dism/sfc commands are recommended. He did not mention that you should restart after running those commands if anything was repaired.

Click to expand...

I was only interested if any errors were reported before moving forward.

Buy a SATA 3 2.5" Internal SSD ($20-$30) for Windows.
If there's another unused sata port.

Check out S.M.A.R.T.

I’d also recommend uninstalling the third party antivirus using their removal tool or Revo Uninstaller in case this is slowing down the pc by scanning on boot &/or during use.

wiganken said:

Run this batch file. It contains SFC, DISM and CHKDSK commands in a command window and may take 10 minutes to run.

Also run 'Disk Clean-up' in Administrator mode. If not run in Administrator mode then ensure you also select the option to 'Clean up System Files' and then let it run. It may take a while if it has never been run before and it finds a lot of stuff to delete.
Then delete all restore points except the last one.
Then run 'Defragment and optimize drives' in Administrator mode selecting the C: drive to defragment.

Click to expand...

Hi

thanks for your advice, below is the result of running the batch file

C:\Windows\System32>sfc /scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

C:\Windows\System32>chkdsk /scan
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Joan Boot.

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
1548800 file records processed.
File verification completed.
Phase duration (File record verification): 1.12 minutes.
41973 large file records processed.
Phase duration (Orphan file record recovery): 22.60 milliseconds.
0 bad file records processed.
Phase duration (Bad file record checking): 0.21 milliseconds.

Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
73457 reparse records processed.
1781742 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
Phase duration (Index verification): 2.36 minutes.
0 unindexed files scanned.
Phase duration (Orphan reconnection): 2.55 seconds.
0 unindexed files recovered to lost and found.
Phase duration (Orphan recovery to lost and found): 0.71 milliseconds.
73457 reparse records processed.
Phase duration (Reparse point and Object ID verification): 206.83 milliseconds.

Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Security descriptor verification completed.
Phase duration (Security descriptor verification): 282.14 milliseconds.
116472 data files processed.
Phase duration (Data attribute verification): 1.06 milliseconds.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
36487752 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
Phase duration (USN journal verification): 781.12 milliseconds.

Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
No further action is required.

948356095 KB total disk space.
488616284 KB in 368719 files.
283064 KB in 116473 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
1696935 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
457759812 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
237089023 total allocation units on disk.
114439953 allocation units available on disk.
Total duration: 3.55 minutes (213161 ms).
Press any key to continue . . .

Please advise what I should do next.

Thanks

Daniel

Get rid of PC Matic Super Shield if only as a test.

@daniellouwrens - So you ran the batch file and it found no problems but did you also do the other things I mentioned?

Also 'PC Matic Super Shield' is known to cause issues so did the problems start after installing that program? See PC Matic Home Review and also PC Matic Review 2023: Is It Better Than Other Antiviruses?.

As @Rollback_Jockey mentions try uninstalling it as a test. You can always reinstall it if no change.

wiganken said:

@daniellouwrens - So you ran the batch file and it found no problems but did you also do the other things I mentioned?

Also 'PC Matic Super Shield' is known to cause issues so did the problems start after installing that program? See PC Matic Home Review and also PC Matic Review 2023: Is It Better Than Other Antiviruses?.

As @Rollback_Jockey mentions try uninstalling it as a test. You can always reinstall it if no change.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I only ran the batch file. I will run Disk Clean up today.

Unfortunatly we have a lot of visitors staying and that is taking away from available time
in regards to fixing the problem.

I have a lst of the advice items and will get them done, hopefully soon.

Regards

Daniel