System Running Really Slow

PheagleAdler · Mar 11, 2024

I don't even know where to start. The Disk is at 100%, memory's about 90, and the laptop's running incredibly slow. Takes forever to restart, login, do almost anything.

I already have Search disabled but is there anything else I can do?

steveg · Mar 11, 2024

Task Manager should at least show you what is eating the resources, then go from there.

glasskuter · Mar 11, 2024

Things to try:

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
Make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair. If it found corruption it could not fix followup with this command (note the spaces)
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Restart computer

(Note-you can follow up with another sfc /scannow command to make sure that dism repaired the files)

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.

update your bios to latest and update graphics driver from the manufacturer,

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

If 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 .You do not defrag SSDs.

Check for Malware using Malwarebytes Free. Scroll all the way down in this link and select Malwarebytes Free.
Download Free Windows 10 Antivirus | Malwarebytes
Do a full scan. Quarantine (or remove) anything that Malwarebytes detects. Restart the computer.

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

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

Flashorn · Mar 11, 2024

Could we have a bit more info like the HDD/SSD capacity and how much memory is installed?
We know it's a MSI board but, that's it. The more info we have , the better we can understand
the problem and help out.

glasskuter · Mar 11, 2024

@Flashorn is right. Due to lack of info I had to give a canned response.

Flashorn · Mar 11, 2024

glasskuter said:
@Flashorn is right. Due to lack of info I had to give a canned response.

Your responses are always thorough.

FreeBooter · Mar 12, 2024

In this guide, i will bring to you another tutorial on how to speed up Windows 11 and improve the performance significantly.

PheagleAdler · Mar 13, 2024

Flashorn said:
Could we have a bit more info like the HDD/SSD capacity and how much memory is installed?
We know it's a MSI board but, that's it. The more info we have , the better we can understand
the problem and help out.

My apologies. I thought this was filled out with my information for my desktop, which is not accurate for this problem.

The laptop is an HP with Windows 11 64 bit installed
AMD Athlon Picasso, Silver 3050U CPU
8 GB RAM
HP 87D2 motherboard
2048MB ATI AMD Radeon graphics
931GB Toshiba MQ04ABF100 hard drive

Porthos · Mar 13, 2024

PheagleAdler said:
and the laptop's running incredibly slow. Takes forever to restart, login, do almost anything.

PheagleAdler said:
931GB Toshiba MQ04ABF100 hard drive

Get an SSD installed.
Your system compounds a slow processor with an even slower 5400 rpm hard drive.

PheagleAdler · Mar 13, 2024

Porthos said:
Get an SSD installed.
Your system compounds a slow processor with an even slower 5400 rpm hard drive.

I don't think it should be running as slow as it is just because it has a HDD. Plus, I don't really know how to tinker with laptops, there's not a lot of space to work with. I try to avoid opening them up.

allan · Mar 13, 2024

What do you mean the disc is at 100%?

Also, is this a new issue or has it been this way for a while? If new, what is different since it ran normally?

Last, please run full scans with both your installed AV and with MalwareBytes.

Senecio · Mar 13, 2024

I've come across this issue before, of the hard drive being used 100%. The solution as @Porthos says is to use a Solid State Disk. Then housekeeping tasks which are tying up your hard drive are completed very quickly and the system responds as it should.

allan · Mar 13, 2024

I really get a kick out of how people on this forum provide recommendations without getting a clear picture of the situation. For example:

Does disc is 100% mean full or empty?
Did the system ship with W11 or did the OP upgrade?
Is this a new problem or an old problem?
Do we know if malware is involved?
etc

Without knowing the answers I see someone recommending an SSD (which will help with NOTHING except boot time), someone saying the processor is too slow for W11 (I really don't know how to respond to that), and a couple of folks suggesting a broad range of "solutions" - many, if not most of which, are not relevant.

Please understand I'm not trying to criticize anyone here - everyone wants to help and most of the folks here seem to be genuinely nice and desirous of helping others. It just seems to be a forum-wide fact that many respondersdon't ask pertinent questions before providing suggestions - which may or may not be relevant (or even appropriate).

PheagleAdler · Mar 13, 2024

allan said:
I really get a kick out of how people on this forum provide recommendations without getting a clear picture of the situation. For example:

Does disc is 100% mean full or empty?

Did the system ship with W11 or did the OP upgrade?

Is this a new problem or an old problem?

Do we know if malware is involved?

etc

Without knowing the answers I see someone recommending an SSD (which will help with NOTHING except boot time), someone saying the processor is too slow for W11 (I really don't know how to respond to that), and a couple of folks suggesting a broad range of "solutions" - many, if not most of which, are not relevant.

Please understand I'm not trying to criticize anyone here - everyone wants to help. It just seems to be a forum-wide fact that many posters don't ask pertinent questions before providing suggestions - which may or may not be relevant (or even appropriate).

It came with Windows 10. The computer automatically upgraded to 11, I had no say in it.
This problem is has not been around forever but it's not recent. I'd say maybe a few months. I've taken to using my desktop for most things.
Malware seems unlikely.

I don't recall it being this slow when I was first upgraded to 11.

allan · Mar 13, 2024

Okay, so from what you say it wasn't the upgrade to W11 that was the cause. Please go ahead and run the two full scans I requested (your installed AV and MBAM). Also, again - what do you mean by "disc is 100%)?

andrew129260 · Mar 13, 2024

allan said:
I really get a kick out of how people on this forum provide recommendations without getting a clear picture of the situation. For example:

Does disc is 100% mean full or empty?

Did the system ship with W11 or did the OP upgrade?

Is this a new problem or an old problem?

Do we know if malware is involved?

etc

Without knowing the answers I see someone recommending an SSD (which will help with NOTHING except boot time), someone saying the processor is too slow for W11 (I really don't know how to respond to that), and a couple of folks suggesting a broad range of "solutions" - many, if not most of which, are not relevant.

Please understand I'm not trying to criticize anyone here - everyone wants to help and most of the folks here seem to be genuinely nice and desirous of helping others. It just seems to be a forum-wide fact that many respondersdon't ask pertinent questions before providing suggestions - which may or may not be relevant (or even appropriate).

I agree with your post, and they are very good points. I am guilty of that. I do admit. I messed up in this post.

When the person opens a new thread, it asks them to fill in their specs and everything of the problem. But the information they gave is minimal in the main post. I feel @glasskuter did a great job giving the main things to try (which the OP has not done yet).

SSd's help more than just boot time. That is very old info. An ssd with windows installed on it makes everything faster, not just boot.

The main reason I said the cpu is slow, despite being on the minimum supported list for windows 11, is it is barely designed to handle everyday tasks when it launched in 2020, not much more than that. That was 4 years ago. It is a very slow cpu when it launched, and even slower now. Windows 11 with feature updates over time is going to get more and more bogged down on that slow of a cpu. Requirements are only going to go up over time, not less. Lots of crappy cpus launch and they don't provide a good experience. Sure it can certainly "work" but so can netbooks. Doesn't mean it's a good idea. The slow 5400 drive paired with it definitely doesn't help. And sure it ran "fine" before, but it could have had a feature update that made it sluggish, a windows update, etc.

Then again everyone has different definitions of what's "usable". Also depends what they use the computer for. Web browsers nowadays eat ram like candy and windows updates alone can throttle a hard drive like crazy. Especially because this drive is 5400rpm running windows. It's not even 7200rpm! I think 4 cores and 4 threads are a minimum along with an ssd for a good experience with windows 11. Any AMD athlon or weaker cpu like this in my experience I had on windows 11 has been terrible, even with a clean install. Any hard drive with windows 11 installed onto it as the main drive has been bad in my experience as well.

They can certainly wipe the OS and start over, but given how the user states:

PheagleAdler said:
Plus, I don't really know how to tinker with laptops, there's not a lot of space to work with. I try to avoid opening them up.

I felt like it was easier to tell them to get a more worthwhile machine then it is for them to try tinkering with this any further.
If an old smartphone can do tasks faster than your computer, you need a new computer.

PheagleAdler · Mar 13, 2024

andrew129260 said:
I felt like it was easier to tell them to get a more worthwhile machine then it is for them to try tinkering with this any further.
If an old smartphone can do tasks faster than your computer, you need a new computer.

Out of the question. Can't afford to spend that kind of money right now. I'd like to try the things discussed in this thread to see if something helps.

andrew129260 · Mar 13, 2024

PheagleAdler said:
Out of the question. Can't afford to spend that kind of money right now. I'd like to try the things discussed in this thread to see if something helps.

Have you done the suggestions posted on post 3 by @glasskuter?

allan said:
Also, again - what do you mean by "disc is 100%)?

Providing as much information as possible can help.

Also you can buy an older system for cheap that will run better than that machine. It may not be as expensive as you think. What do you use this computer for?

allan · Mar 13, 2024

andrew129260 said:
I agree with your post, and they are very good points. I am guilty of that. I do admit. I messed up in this post. When the person opens a new thread, it asks them to fill in their specs and everything of the problem. But the information they gave is minimal in the main post. I feel @glasskuter did a great job giving the main things to try (which the OP has not done yet).

SSd's help more than just boot time. That is very old info. An ssd with windows installed on it makes everything faster, not just boot.

The main reason I said the cpu is slow, despite being on the minimum supported list for windows 11, is it is barely designed to handle everyday tasks when it launched in 2020, not much more than that. That was 4 years ago. It is a very slow cpu when it launched, and even slower now. Windows 11 with feature updates over time is going to get more and more bogged down on that slow of a cpu. Requirements are only going to go up over time, not less. Lots of crappy cpus launch and they don't provide a good experience. Sure it can certainly "work" but so can netbooks. Doesn't mean it's a good idea. The slow 5400 drive paired with it definitely doesn't help. And sure it ran "fine" before, but it could have had a feature update that made it sluggish, a windows update, etc.

Then again everyone has different definitions of what's "usable". Also depends what they use the computer for. Web browsers nowadays eat ram like candy and windows updates alone can throttle a hard drive like crazy. Especially because this drive is 5400rpm running windows. It's not even 7200rpm! I think 4 cores and 4 threads are a minimum along with an ssd for a good experience with windows 11. Any AMD athlon or weaker cpu like this in my experience I had on windows 11 has been terrible, even with a clean install. Any hard drive with windows 11 installed onto it as the main drive has been bad in my experience as well.

They can certainly wipe the OS and start over, but given how the user states:

I felt like it was easier to tell them to get a more worthwhile machine then it is for them to try tinkering with this any further.
If an old smartphone can do tasks faster than your computer, you need a new computer.

First, I really wasn't judging anyone, just stating an observation. If I sounded judgemental I certainly apologize.

Second, I have SSD's on all of my computers. Other than boot time, the impact is minimal once the system is up and running.

As for the cpu, yeah - old and not the most powerful, but certainly more than capable of running W11 nicely. Ditto the 5400 rpm HD.

Anyway, I still don't know if the OP's hd is full or empty, and despite having asked 3 times there is still not answer. Same with my suggestion to scan for malware. So....... I'll just sit back and be a voyeur for now.

andrew129260 · Mar 13, 2024

allan said:
First, I really wasn't judging anyone, just stating an observation. If I sounded judgemental I certainly apologize.

Second, I have SSD's on all of my computers. Other than boot time, the impact is minimal once the system is up and running.

As for the cpu, yeah - old and not the most powerful, but certainly more than capable of running W11 nicely. Ditto the 5400 rpm HD.

Anyway, I still don't know if the OP's hd is full or empty, and despite having asked 3 times there is still not answer. Same with my suggestion to scan for malware. So....... I'll just sit back and be a voyeur for now.

1.) your completely fine, no disrespect at all. Believe me i get what you are saying and agree.

2.) I have upgraded multiple computers from hdd to ssd. In my experience the boot time is a benefit, but the biggest benefit is launching multiple programs and copying files, doing any actual work. The benefits are massive across the board for everything, especially on older machines with older processors. Not sure why you are not seeing the same.

3.) We will agree to disagree on that. And "run" is subjective. It all depends what your doing on the machine. Just running word and edge with couple tabs? Sure. Doing anything else? Most certainly not.

4.) And yes, this is very common in a forum, you ask questions and dont get answers from the OP. Happens all the time. Which I think is one of the reasons why us forum members get numb and stop asking questions like you mentioned, due to the constant happening of it......