CPU Nuked from Orbit

Slowly but surely, I've noticed my CPU can't keep up with once-normal daily tasks. I use Windows 10 (upgraded) and a SSD.

There are two main issues.
The first, while using Photoshop (CC) is a spike / total freeze (up to 30 seconds) of the program even when working on sub-75mb files, but only when I use my Wacom Create tablet. The freeze happens when I use a mouse, but isn't as intense. Peculiar thing is, I also notice the same freeze on my personal laptop with (upgraded) Windows 10 and SSD. Even more peculiar, this didn't seem to happen with a standard HDD and Windows 7, which was a company laptop.

A more troubling issue started a couple days ago, when the whole system has trouble running Photoshop and one Twitch stream. The CPU is up to 80-90% consistently, even after rebooting.

I also have inconsistent boot times: sometimes the system starts right up, but still takes a while to get all the programs loaded (my startup isn't crazy: it loads Slack, Trillian, and a couple other odds and ends). Sometimes that boot is several minutes.

Other info:
- Video and Wacom drivers are up to date, as well as all Adobe CC versions.
- I did the Windows 10 upgrade from Windows 7 less than a year ago. Maybe 9 months?
The system itself is rather old, with the CPU / mobo approaching 5ish years old, but I don't think I should be having this much trouble.


Is this indicative of a CPU falling on its sword, or is there something that needs refreshing? I've looked up a Windows 10 reset, but wanted to make sure it's not something else before I nuke all my apps.

Thanks for any help!

When confronted with such problems I first do a full update of the antivirus program then run a full/deep scan, will take awhile. Then I usually download and install the free Malwarebytes, let it update then run it. In extreme situations I also use a Registry cleaner but that can be dangerous.

I check that all devices are using the proper drivers, some from Win7 and early may not work properly and if the computer and OS are 64-bit the drivers need to be 64-bit, same for 32-bit needs 32-bit [can't run 64-bit anyway]. I've only changed from 32-bit to 64-bit on suitable computers by doing a clean install [upgrade or downgrade from one to the other requires it].

By "antivirus program" are you talking about one in particular or Windows Defender?

SixFootEwok said:

By "antivirus program" are you talking about one in particular or Windows Defender?

That always refers to what you have installed. Is Windows Defender what you are using? If so work with it.

Thanks.
If these scans don't show anything, what would you recommend?

Have a look at your "reliability history" and see if there are any red flags.If so,right click on the "check for a solution",then click on "view tech details".The freeze is often caused by the display adapter timing out and shows up as "nvlddmkm".I and many others were plagued by this in the early days of win10 and the only solution was to uninstall Nvidea drivers completely and re-install using the custom method and ONLY installing the drivers,not any of the other stuff.I started with the latest driver package available,which worked,it was NOT THE ONE win10 said was correct.

So, started with a clean boot, and the boot time was still especially long (black screen with blue Windows logo). Once the desktop loaded, it was of course faster, but 85% of the loading was the logo screen.

I also saw the cpu hit 100% as soon as I launched chrome (it loads about 5 pages). But, 100% seemed excessive. This was before I re-enabled some of my startup programs, but nothing else was running except Chrome.

@joeandmarg0 Hmm, all that's in there is Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manager failing, though it's every day or every other day, with a few days in between at most. Nothing from any of the programs I use often.

The Photoshop freeze is usually a hangup which then sorts itself out. I don't have to kill Photoshop or any other program. It's just as if I'm working on a huuuuuge file and the system can't take it (but of course, they're smallish files...200mb at the very largest). I'll try to reinstall the newest Nvidia driver, but I'm pretty sure I go barebones wrt the extras.