Windows slow - general

Hi

I'm experiencing some weird issues recently and I think it may be because I have deferred and delayed the feature update from 'restarting' to update from 1709 to 1803.

General use is not as snappy as it once was. Using Home version with SSD.

If I double click This PC, it can take 2 - 3 seconds to fully show drives and folders.

Opening a text file can also result in the same 2 - 3 second delay.

Same applies to opening Firefox, which as been updated.

I caved in and let Windows update to 1803, but not much has changed.

Windows antivirus and Malwarebytes hasn't found anything.

What could be the issue?

Do you use Windows Defender?

Have you looked in Task Manager to see if the "Antimalware Service Executable" process is using a lot of CPU power when your machine is not snappy? That's Windows Defender. It's acting up for a lot of people, including me.

Look at this thread. It's a possible explanation:

High CPU usage from Windows Defender - Windows 10 Forums

Thanks for your reply.

I don't think it is, as I've had a look at CPU and disk usage. My other concern was the SSD may be on its way out, as the slowness reminds me of when a mechanical HDD plays up before giving up the ghost.

Do you see anything that you can't explain in Task Manager processes when the PC is slow?

What is using the largest percentages of CPU or RAM when slow?

Generally, I'd expect an SSD to either work well or not work at all, rather than become slow--unless you have some unexplained and unusual disk activity.

Thanks again for the replies.

Strange, it seemed OK over the weekend.

Just hope there's no malware or viruses, but I'd imagine it would have been picke up by Malwarebytes and Defender?

The sluggishness and delays were when opening up Firefox or even just notepad and general when opening folders / drives.

Did something just fix itself or something more sinister behind the scenes?