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#11
How do you maintain a fast Windows computer?
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New #12
You can for sure, the laptop I'm using now has not slowed at all in 5 years through Windows 8.1 and all the versions of Windows 10. The same was true going back to Windows ME.
Never having reinstalled Windows in those 5 years, though with Win 10 it is essentially that every 6 months anyway.
It is down to the user not doing objective hardware and software maintenance, on what they have installed.
What we don't know is what you have installed and how you use it so rather impossible to know.
I would start with the essential absolute basics like PC specs, is there enough RAM, is there enough spare SSD/HDD space(20% or so), has the drive been scanned for bad sectors etc. This has already been mentioned.
People have a tendency to home in on trivia, 'cleaning' and defrag does nothing worthwhile at all. That you have found out.
Wise Disk Cleaner, bloatware uninstall, it has not helped has it.
The first port of call after the basics is probably the Task Manager to try and sort out some stuff that needs seeing to.
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New #13
Make sure you have enough free RAM and have left page file settings alone.
Check your idle usage is (e.g.) CPU use is at least <3%, disk, internet 0.
Disk often becomes 100%
Check your disk performance.. max transfer rate, SMART parameters, benchmark.
From post #5
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New #14
Hey Ericj,
To expand on Helmut's suggestion of addressing your Task Manager > Startup.
I would also look at Task Scheduler. You may find there are task that you may not need/want running at startup and/or running every day (i.e Dell Support Stuff, Adobe Acrobat, etc) and you can right click on the task and disable it.
Some 3rd party programs can add an entry in Windows Services (Adobe Acrobat Update comes to mind) that you may not need/want running at startup (i.e. Startup type Automatic) and you can change their Startup type to Manual.
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New #15
You have Windows 10 Education: is the computer under control from an educational entity?
Windows 10 for Education
“Windows 10 in S mode is an enhanced security mode of Windows 10 Pro that provides schools streamlined security and superior performance.”
--- I’m sure you can do a few things to help yourself and that will be fine if you are successful.
Earlier this year a friend called me and asked for help on their son’s Windows 10 Education laptop.
--- In his case he was using a computer that the college provided.
--- I don’t recall the details they described but the computer was running different including some slowness: I never looked at it to verify what they meant.
--- I wasn’t about to touch it: I told them to bring the computer to the college’s IT dept.
--- He had to wait a few days, he got it back the same day he brought it in and it was running normal
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New #16
All good advice above. Other ideas are:
- Use Autoruns to check / disable third party start-up items, services & tasks https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sys...loads/autoruns
- Under Advanced Power Options check your maximum processor state is 100%
- Consider installing a SSD as your system drive if you don't already have one.
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New #17
Thank you, everyone, for the help. I have done what all of you said and my laptop is faster now :)
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New #18
Hi there
really I wouldn't waste time on wondering about what services are running.
I assume these days any sort of laptop has a sensible cpu and 8GB RAM so no point messing about there.
The thing I've actually found that makes by far the biggest improvement on almost every computer system I've ever had or worked on - whether IBM "Big Blue" Mainframes - back years ago to PC's is to optimize the I/O (Disks).
Slow Disks are the bane of every computer system and will make even the fastest i7 processor feel like it's running as an old netbook.
These days - especially for the OS's swap any HDD's for SSD's - prices are so cheap these days for 250GB SSD - good enough for most windows installations, Can be had for around 42 USD these days
Here's a link to a couple of models -- amazon UK - note UK prices unlike USA show INC TAX so you can probably source this stuff even cheaper. A 120 GB one - perfectly OK if just for boot drive really is peanuts -- around 20 GBP (inc tax).
Kingston SA400S37/240G SSD A400 240 GB Solid State Drive (2.5 Inch SATA 3): Amazon.co.uk: Computers Accessories
No excuse not to have one.
As for HDD's --ensure they are 7200 RPM with a load of cache -- slow 5400 rpm with tiny - if any cache should have been dumped years ago -- also use SATA instead of IDE.
Forget all the geeky things like going through start up services etc -- fast I/O will improve the machine so much more than anything else for normal tasks -- don't also try to run too many things at the same time as well.
Cheers
jimbo
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New #19
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New #20
You can control this to some extent by opening the property tab for that folder in Windows File Explorer.
Right click the folder, choose properties, poke the "customize" tab.
Look at "optimize this folder for".
If it's set to videos, music, or pictures, you may prefer "general items" or "documents".
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