How do you maintain a fast Windows computer?

EricJ · 28 Sep 2018

I have owned my laptop for a year now and I have noticed that its getting slower, it isn't as fast and responsive like it used to be. Is it possible to make my laptop as fast and responsive as it was when it was new without having to reinstall Windows?

ignatzatsonic · 28 Sep 2018

More detail needed.

Is it slow only when doing certain things, such as starting or shutting down?

Would you say this came about rather suddenly?

Have you done any testing to confirm whether you may have failing hardware?

Is the machine known to be free of viruses and malware?

How pronounced is this---could it be your imagination or poor remembrance of how it used to be?

Does it occur ALWAYS when doing certain tasks or only sometimes when doing those tasks.

Have you made any attempts to "tune" or "clean" the machine?

Have you ever taken a look in Task Manager when it's slow to see what tasks are occupying RAM and CPU cycles?

I'm sure others can add to this list.

Most likely it came with some type of recovery mechanism to restore to a factory state if it comes to that, but that may not help, depending on the underlying cause.

EricJ · 28 Sep 2018

ignatzatsonic said:

More detail needed.

Is it slow only when doing certain things, such as starting or shutting down?

Would you say this came about rather suddenly?

Have you done any testing to confirm whether you may have failing hardware?

Is the machine known to be free of viruses and malware?

How pronounced is this---could it be your imagination or poor remembrance of how it used to be?

Does it occur ALWAYS when doing certain tasks or only sometimes when doing those tasks.

Have you made any attempts to "tune" or "clean" the machine?

Have you ever taken a look in Task Manager when it's slow to see what tasks are occupying RAM and CPU cycles?

I'm sure others can add to this list.

Most likely it came with some type of recovery mechanism to restore to a factory state if it comes to that, but that may not help, depending on the underlying cause.

Hey ignatzatsonic, thanks for helping.

The laptop is very fast when starting up and shutting down.

No, the laptop has been slow for quite a while now.

Yes, I have used Dell's own hardware diagnostics tool, and there was no failing hardware.

Yes, I recently did a full scan and an offline scan with Windows Defender.

No, I am 100% sure that the laptop has become slower.

It occurs always when opening applications or launching video games, including loading times. For example, when opening the settings in Windows it takes a while for it to load or when opening a folder with items in them, it takes a while for the icons of those items to appear. Some applications such as Steam, Kindle or Wise Program Uninstall lags when I use them (scrolling down or opening another tab).

Yes, I have set Storage Sense on weekly cleaning and Defragmenter on weekly defrags.

Yes, for some reason the Disk often becomes 100% because of: System, Cryptographic services, Radeon Settings: Host Application, Registry, Antimalware Service Executable, and Rivet Networks Dynamic Bandwidth Manager. I don't know if its normal, but when idle the Memory is always on 37%.

ignatzatsonic · 28 Sep 2018

Regarding your last paragraph: you could temporarily disable those services one by one to see if the slowness might dissapate.

How many processes do you typically have running? 60? Over 100?

How many items do you show as "enabled" in the startup tab of Task Manager? I have 3 enabled.

I had a ridiculous slowdown issue a couple of months ago that turned out to be Antimalware Service Executable taking up around 30% of CPU. It may as well have been 100% as the PC would freeze. It's apparently a bug that doesn't affect everyone. I defeated that service permanently with a registry edit. Lesser measures had no effect.

You may have to do some trial and error stuff.

I'm not sure if Dell's diagnostics are reliable.

I have 8 GB of RAM and normally use less than half. I'd say 37% is acceptable.

Let others comment.

dalchina · 28 Sep 2018

One simple option - try a clean boot and see if you notice a difference.

Defragmentation is carried out automatically - most users should not need to worry about it.

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.

I've had Win 10 on this since around 2015 and upgraded progressively, and noticed no slowing.

Disk often becomes 100%

Check your disk performance.. max transfer rate, SMART parameters, benchmark.

EricJ · 28 Sep 2018

ignatzatsonic said:

Regarding your last paragraph: you could temporarily disable those services one by one to see if the slowness might dissapate.

How many processes do you typically have running? 60? Over 100?

How many items do you show as "enabled" in the startup tab of Task Manager? I have 3 enabled.

I had a ridiculous slowdown issue a couple of months ago that turned out to be Antimalware Service Executable taking up around 30% of CPU. It may as well have been 100% as the PC would freeze. It's apparently a bug that doesn't affect everyone. I defeated that service permanently with a registry edit. Lesser measures had no effect.

You may have to do some trial and error stuff.

I'm not sure if Dell's diagnostics are reliable.

I have 8 GB of RAM and normally use less than half. I'd say 37% is acceptable.

Let others comment.

"How many processes do you typically have running? 60? Over 100?" Do you mean applications I have opened my self or everything in task manager?

I currently have 5 enabled which are: Cmtray, Delayed Launcher (By Intel Corporation), QuickSet (By Dell Inc), Waves Maxx Audio Service Application (By Waves Audio Ltd), Windows Defender notification icon. Do you think I should disable one of these, or are they useful for my system to work properly?

Is there a free reliable diagnostic tool you can recommend?

By the way, I also use Wise Disk Cleaner to clean and defrag my computer. Do you think it may have been causing the problems with my laptop?