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Brand new Win 10 computer runs slow after setup
I set up a brand new Win 10 computer following what I have learned on Microsoft Support and other
support sites. I worked for about 30 hours (I'm a slow worker) on a long list of settings and program installations. A partial list of the setup steps I took includes: Malwarebytes, AVG, Ccleaner, SuperAntiSpyware,
Spybot, ADW Cleaner, Panda USB Vaccine, VLC Media Player, Firefox, Sumatra PDF, Secunia PSI, Wiz
Mouse, Dropbox, setup an Admin account with a limited account for daily use and browsing, turned off
autoplay, ran Windows update, Wifi hotspots off, show file extensions on, adjusted for best
performance. All went well until at around a certain point both Windows and web browsing slowed down
markedly. A recent restart with updates took 45 minutes.
Unfortunately I failed to keep detailed notes so I don't recall at which step the problem appeared, but
I do recall it appeared gradually. I failed to set restore points during the process. After I completed
all setup, Task Manager Performance CPU usage averaged 60% when the computer was at idle, with
nothing open other than Task Manager. If I clicked on any icon, CPU plateaued at 100%. Looking under
Task Manager Processes, I saw almost all processes stayed at less than 2% CPU usage with brief jumps to no more than 5%. A few AVG processes averaged less than 5%. Two standouts were:
Windows Audio Device Graph Isolation at 17% and System Interrupts at 15%. By comparison, my old
Windows 7 computer at rest with many programs open shows 0% to 5% CPU Usage total.
Attempting to fix this problem, I ran AVG and Malwarebytes scans with no malware found, then
SuperAntispyware and removed the 651 items it found to remove! Then I replaced all anti-virus and anti-malware
programs with Windows Defender, and removed Secunia. After restart CPU usage averaged 20%. Ran
Microsoft Saftey Scanner with no malware found, removed Microsoft One Drive. At this point ALL
startups were removed or disabled. Defrag showed as not needed. After restart CPU usage averaged
12%. Restart in safe mode showed CPU usage average 3%. After normal restart did a "clean boot"
with no improvement. Turned off Win 10 Tips Tricks and Suggestions. Ran SFC scanner twice with no
malware found. Windows Audio Device Graph Isolation is down to 5%. (The only audio device is the
built-in speaker, and advice to remove enhancements can't be followed as no enhancements appear in
Device Manager.) System Interrupts process now shows CPU average 2%. Now CPU average usage is
now 12% after a restart, but if idled overnight it rises to 30%. Firefox browsing and Windows are still
slow, although better than as described at the beginning of this post (but that is with many desired
programs and settings removed). Firefox often shows "Firefox is not responding".
I am aware of the option to do a clean re-install of Windows 10, but that is my last resort, as I hope to
avoid re-doing the 30 hours of setup (if I can remember it all!), and the same problem might happen again. Any help to restore this computer to the speed one expects of a brand new computer is appreciated.
Thanks.