Why do Dell owners have so many problems?

TraderGary · 2026-07-30T12:52:55-0400

spapakons said:
Now some fellow posters understand why I insist on official drivers directly from Intel/nVidia/AMD. In the rare case that the hardware is customised, the installer will let you know. Only in that case I download chipset and graphics drivers from the computer or individual component manufacturer. I rarely let Windows Update to upgrade my drivers and much rarer I use a driver tool such as Snappy Driver Installer. Installing all the official drivers improves performance and compatibility and stability.

I've used a two-laptop setup for many years. The main laptop has always been a Dell XPS, and the backup has usually been a Microsoft laptop. I've always updated Microsoft laptops with Microsoft Update and the Dell XPS laptops with Dell Command | Update. For me that's always been problem free.

spapakons · 2026-07-30T13:05:31-0400

Makes sense. Windows Update will install proper Microsoft drivers on the Surface, the same you would manually download from Microsoft site. However when it comes to other manufacturers, WU usually installs the driver for the specific device only with the default settings (minimum setup). This doesn't enable all features in many devices and doesn't install optional software to configure the device and improve performance. I want the full package so I prefer the official drivers. Let alone WU might install older drivers, it's not always the latest released.

cheaterslick · 2026-07-30T13:41:37-0400

Bree said:
Yes. I have two laptops that charge by usb-c, both bought as used. The Dell came with its own Dell usb-c 100W charger, the Lenovo had lost its original charger and came instead with an HP usb-c 45W charger. Both chargers will charge either of the laptops (and any other usb-c device).

I also have a 20W usb-c travel charger. That too can charge my laptops, albeit not very quickly.

View attachment 177975 View attachment 177976

That's a 3-prong UK one. Is there an American equivalent version?

trevo · 2026-07-30T13:45:40-0400

kelper · 2026-07-30T13:49:15-0400

trevo said:
View attachment 178031

Did you read post #6?

Bree · 2026-07-30T14:13:31-0400

cheaterslick said:
That's a 3-prong UK one. Is there an American equivalent version?

There should be plenty, here's a 45W example.....

UGREEN Nexode Air 45W USB-C Charger | UGREEN US

Power your devices with the UGREEN Nexode Air 45W USB-C Charger, combining GaN efficiency and a foldable plug in a compact design. Buy now.

us.ugreen.com

neldog · 2026-07-30T14:25:45-0400

neldog said:
This is exactly what I do - disable all the Dell Services in Windows Services. This way, none of that stuff is running. If I ever need it for again something, I can easily bring it back to full life. I download all the new drivers as they are updated from the Dell site for my specific Service Tag Number.

I should come back here clarify and fix my post a little.

Where I wrote "disabled" the service, that is wrong - what I actually have done is change the startup setting from Automatic to manual, on I think, three of the five. I believe at least two were already manual. So they are all now set to "Manual" and no Dell services will run on startup.

I think there are some reasons to not actually disable the services. I think, one time Dell needed to do a handshake to check something and a few services did start and stayed running for the uptime of that session, (shutdown). I think I got a notification that Support Services was in need of an update. This all happened some time ago so I am a little hazy on this.

If you are interested in doing this, to stop the Dell Services running, I think it best to just set startup to Manual to be safe. Just that one time do I remember seeing any of their services running since I started having my computer set this way. Sorry for first post not being totally correct. It's embarrassing to came back and fix it.

TraderGary · 2026-07-30T14:44:13-0400

This deserves repeating.

Many people are highly concerned when they see a service running in Task Manager. They think it's busy using up their valuable resources. Windows is an interrupt driven operating system and usually when a service is "running" all it's doing is firing an occasional 'interrupt' to see if there's anything for it to do. If not, it simply goes back to doing nothing. But it's still listed as 'running'.

If you run Process Explorer, which is much more accurate than Task Manager, you will see a long list of processes that are 'running' but each is using only a tiny fraction of the total CPU usage.

I just looked at my Process Explorer, and I currently have 286 processes 'running' but I'm currently using only 1.77% of my CPU to 'run' them.

neldog · 2026-07-30T15:01:07-0400

For me, as it pertains to the Dell Services, it is really not about system resourse's so much as the consent errors with the Dell software. I got tired years ago with their software not playing nice. Everything runs much, much nicer with all that Dell stuff not getting in the way. I still have it if the need were to arise, it's just not running.

When all that Dell stuff is running, I find that the hit on total system resource's is not all that bad, as you say, and if was just that, resource's, I am with you, it's no big deal and I would leave it alone.

spapakons · 2026-07-30T15:11:47-0400

TraderGary said:
This deserves repeating.

Many people are highly concerned when they see a service running in Task Manager. They think it's busy using up their valuable resources. Windows is an interrupt driven operating system and usually when a service is "running" all it's doing is firing an occasional 'interrupt' to see if there's anything for it to do. If not, it simply goes back to doing nothing. But it's still listed as 'running'.

If you run Process Explorer, which is much more accurate than Task Manager, you will see a long list of processes that are 'running' but each is using only a tiny fraction of the total CPU usage.

I just looked at my Process Explorer, and I currently have 286 processes 'running' but I'm currently using only 1.77% of my CPU to 'run' them.

Some "idle" services tend to search for updates or scan your PC at the most inappropriate time consuming resources and slowing it down. It's best to set to manual or disable those you won't use. If you are concerned about incompatibilities when disabling Dell services, the solution is simple. Uninstall any Dell applications entirely. Manually search for updates once or twice a month. Being lazy and letting automatic updaters do all the job makes the computer slower and slower. Don't be lazy.

TraderGary · 2026-07-30T15:21:33-0400

neldog said:
For me, as it pertains to the Dell Services, it is really not about system resourse's so much as the consent errors with the Dell software. I got tired years ago with their software not playing nice. Everything runs much, much nicer with all that Dell stuff not getting in the way. I still have it if the need were to arise, it's just not running.

When all that Dell stuff is running, I find that the hit on total system resource's is not all that bad, as you say, and if was just that, resource's, I am with you, it's no big deal and I would leave it alone.

I'm not seeing any problems with Dell software here. I'm not experiencing any conflicts with anything I'm currently running. My system is certainly not experiencing any kind of performance hit. I am lucky to be running a new Dell XPS premium high-end laptop.

FrancoDT · 2026-07-30T15:23:21-0400

TraderGary said:
This deserves repeating.

Many people are highly concerned when they see a service running in Task Manager. They think it's busy using up their valuable resources. Windows is an interrupt driven operating system and usually when a service is "running" all it's doing is firing an occasional 'interrupt' to see if there's anything for it to do. If not, it simply goes back to doing nothing. But it's still listed as 'running'.

If you run Process Explorer, which is much more accurate than Task Manager, you will see a long list of processes that are 'running' but each is using only a tiny fraction of the total CPU usage.

I just looked at my Process Explorer, and I currently have 286 processes 'running' but I'm currently using only 1.77% of my CPU to 'run' them.

I tend to pay much more attention to the RAM use in Task Manager then CPU use as CPU is normally never an issue. For example, Dell Support Assist typically uses 50-300 MB of RAM during normal background operations, but it is prone to severe memory leaks that can cause background processes like SupportAssistAgent.exe or serviceshell.exe to balloon up to several gigabytes or tens of gigabytes of RAM. I've seen the huge spikes, same goes for the WSAIFabricSvc on my Surface Laptop which is used for AI and largely the Recall service. It frequently causes multiple memory-heavy WorkloadsSessionHost.exe processes that consume gigabytes of RAM. I've removed recall and keep that service disabled due to huge memory leaks on ARM64. Co-pilot runs fine with it disabled.

trevo · 2026-07-30T15:37:09-0400

kelper said:
Did you read post #6?

Yes, why?

TraderGary · 2026-07-30T15:43:02-0400

FrancoDT said:
I tend to pay much more attention to the RAM use in Task Manager then CPU use as CPU is normally never an issue. For example, Dell Support Assist typically uses 50-30 0 MB of RAM during normal background operations, but it is prone to severe memory leaks that can cause background processes like SupportAssistAgent.exe or serviceshell.exe to balloon up to several gigabytes or tens of gigabytes of RAM. I've seen the huge spikes, same goes for the WSAIFabricSvc on my Surface Laptop which is used for AI and largely the Recall service. It frequently causes multiple memory-heavy WorkloadsSessionHost.exe processes that consume gigabytes of RAM. I've removed recall and keep that service disabled due to huge memory leaks on ARM64. Co-pilot runs fine with it disabled.

As you know, I'm running the same Microsoft Surface ARM64 laptop as you are. Recall is OFF by default and I've never enabled it, so I've never seen a Recall memory leak. I have no intention of EVER turning Recall ON.

I'm running the latest versions of Dell SupportAssist and Dell Command | Update and I've not experienced any memory leaks so far. I do have 64GB of 9600 MT/s RAM in my new Dell XPS main machine.

FrancoDT · 2026-07-30T15:57:58-0400

TraderGary said:
As you know, I'm running the same Microsoft Surface ARM64 laptop as you are. Recall is OFF by default and I've never enabled it, so I've never seen a Recall memory leak. I have no intention of EVER turning Recall ON.

I'm running the latest versions of Dell SupportAssist and Dell Command | Update and I've not experienced any memory leaks so far. I do have 64GB of 9600 MT/s RAM in my new Dell XPS main machine.

You don't need Recall enabled or installed to see it, just look at the WorkloadsSessionHost.exe processes in your task manager which are controlled by WSAIFabricSvc in Services. It's a known issue on ARM64. Also keep in mind you have double the RAM that I do on your surface so you're less likely to notice it then I am. The 2-4GB is noticeable to me with only 16GB. Also I have my CPU, RAM, and GPU use always displayed on my desktop so I tend to notice them at just a glance (see attachment) and I'd guess much more often then you normally do. Now my Core Ultra 9 Dell/Alienware machine has 64GB RAM so the Dell Support Assist is more of an annoyance and waste of RAM since I get my driver updates from the Dell website and usually much earlier as well. No point in running it since it eats RAM 24/7. Especially if it accumulates and I have to keep purging the app.

Josey Wales · 2026-07-30T16:02:48-0400

Download Intelligent standby list cleaner (ISLC) 1.0.4.1

Intelligent Standby List Cleaner (ISLC) is a lightweight utility designed to optimize your system’s performance by clearing the Windows standby memory list. This tool helps reduce lag, improve responsiveness, and free up memory by automatically managing the standby list size, especially during...

www.wagnardsoft.com

This app from the maker of DDU may help?

TraderGary · 2026-07-30T16:02:54-0400

FrancoDT said:
You don't need Recall enabled or installed to see it, just look at the WorkloadsSessionHost.exe processes in your task manager which are controlled by WSAIFabricSvc in Services. It's a known issue on ARM64. Also keep in mind you have double the RAM that I do on your surface so you're less likely to notice it then I am. The 2-4GB is noticeable to me with only 16GB. Also I have my CPU, RAM, and GPU use always displayed on my desktop so I tend to notice them at just a glance (see attachment) and I'd guess much more often then you normally do. Now my Core Ultra 9 Dell/Alienware machine has 64GB RAM so the Dell Support Assist is more of an annoyance and waste of RAM since I get my driver updates from the Dell website and usually much earlier as well. No point in running it since it eats RAM 24/7. Especially if it accumulates and I have to keep purging the app.

What do you use to always display your CPU, RAM, and GPU?

FrancoDT · 2026-07-30T16:10:24-0400

TraderGary said:
What do you use to always display your CPU, RAM, and GPU?

That one is a Rainmeter skin I use on the Surface and Core Ultra 9 machines. My other machine I also use HWINFO integrated into different rainmeter skins that display the temps as well as that machine tends to run hotter by nature.

cheaterslick · 2026-07-30T16:24:28-0400

trevo said:
View attachment 178031

No it's not. There's no such thing as 'free'.

Anyway, somebody else was polite enough to answer my question, thank you.

Why do Dell owners have so many problems?

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