Progressively Slower Internet Despite Many Attempts to Resolveth Issue

Thanks again for the comments.

I have attached a couple of interesting graphs - CPU activity and Disk C activity during a very slow internet download via Firefox. To do this, I have to open Task Manager and the Performance tab before starting the download - otherwise I cannot get the Task Manager to open.
When the internet download stalls - or almost - so does the Task Manager's update process - ie the graphs stop moving right to left - or at least hesitate for long periods like 15 or 20 seconds. Once the download completes - if it does - the CPU and Disk C activity remain high for about another 30 seconds before settling at lower levels. If I close Firefox, the disk and CPU activity also remain at a high level for about 30 seconds before reducing. The system disk (C) activity in presumably far too high. The disk is a Samsung SDD PM830 mSATA 256GB.

Thanks again for the comments.

I have installed Samsung Magician and run a performance benchmark on the SSD (C drive). The results were 508MB/s read and 250Mb/s write - which I think is OK. Magician also "stronly recommended" the message contained in the image below - which I do not really understand.



TRIM is enabled.

The SSD driver must at least be a suspect in all this. The update driver system in Windows reports that the most appropriate driver is already installed, but it has a date of 21/06/2006 - which seems ancient. I have not been able to update it because I cannot find an updated version for this disk. However, I have just unearthed a "firmware upgrade" for the disk. Current firmware on the PC is version CXM13D1Q whereas the suggested upgrade has version number CXM03D1Q with a date aof 2016. The verion number seems to have decreased! - worrying? Anyway, I have yet to discover how to upgrade the SSD firmware.

There is 87GB free space on the SSD.

I don't know the purpose of the V partition but I have a vague recollection that it was automatically created by a backup system a long time ago.

I'm somewhere near the limits of my understanding with the firmware issue and the above message from Magician, but I feel we might be getting closer to the basic problem. I hope so.

Thanks.

OK, thanks for all replies once again. I appreciate the trouble people have gone to in order to help.

Yes, BIOS is up to date, and I did try running the commands you kindly suggested.

I think (!!!) that I have now solved this problem but I have to wait a few more days to be absolutely confident. I found a Dell "update" that just uninstalled the Intel Rapid Storage technology software. When I restarted the PC - Bingo! It now runs as fast as I would expect given the limitations of my 7MB connection. When I look at the C disk (SSD) activity while loading a web page it is now just a blip of activity over a couple of seconds. Previously the disk showed 100% activity for up to one minute when loading the same web page.

Not such great news unfortunately! The PC was fine for about 24 hours and then I did a large upload - about 1GB. After that, it was back to its impossibly slow self once again. The upload went well, much faster than recently, but processing large quantities of data, seemingly in more or less any manner - even off-line, seems to bring the problem of slow internet back.

However, there does appear to be a difference now. The disk C (SSD) activity during a webpage load is now quite modest, whereas it was 100% for an extended period before I uninstalled IRST. Nevertheless, the CPU activity is still very high for quite a long period for every (slow) webpage load.

I'm guessing that the IRST was causing a significant problem but that a further significant problem has yet to be found.