Alt-Tab becomes sluggish over time

Redicebergz said:

Laptop specs (Dell Inspiron 15r 5537):
CPU: i5 4th gen mobile processor
GPU: integrated graphics
Ram:12 gb
OS: Windows 10 Pro
Hard drive: 500gb 850 evo SSD

So this problem has plagued me for several months, but I had never thought to ask online; I've only asked about it to several of my tech friends. Basically, after about a day or so of my computer being on (this means even through sleep mode, since I often put it into sleep mode), the alt-tab task switching function becomes really slow compared to when it was first booted. I've tried a lot of things to fix this, including getting rid of unwanted programs, completely wiping my hard drive and starting with a new windows 10 iso file, and checking other internet help forums on the matter. The cpu and ram usage in task manager are both acceptable, barely half the ram is being used and the cpu is generally around 5% usage. I do run a lot of programs all the time, but I've got the ram to support it, so I'm not sure why that would be a problem.

I have multiple different desktops and laptops, and I've never had a similar problem, and I don't do anything different among my computers; they all have about the same specs (or worse) and don't encounter this problem with the amount of programs I run and the amount of time I leave them on. This leads me to believe that it is a hardware problem, but I have no idea where to start with this and am just contemplating scrapping this laptop and using a different one. I want to avoid doing that because I like the touch screen and an i5 is really good for what I do.

Thank you in advance.

Next time it starts to snail-down on you, try just restarting Explorer, and see if that perks it up. May help isolate the issue.

Use Taskmanager option here:

Restart explorer.exe Process in Windows 10 Windows 10 General Tips Tutorials

Or add it to your Desktop right-click menu here:

Restart Explorer Context Menu - Add in Windows 10 Windows 10 Customization Tutorials

Could you please also provide us with info about current Windows version?

A screenshot of winver.exe is enough.

Are there updates available in WU? Have you rebooted computer since they got installed?

Redicebergz said:

Ah, that does seem to restore it to its former glory, thank you, but any idea what may be causing this to happen? I'm curious to find a permanent solution so I don't have to do this every so often. Plus restarting explorer brings a host of other problems such as freaking out the multi-touch gestures on my trackpad for whatever reason. Thanks again

Explorer gets "tired", for a lack of a better term. I don't know the deep down specifics of why it does that, other than it gets a little internal thrashing with itself...too many handles open or something. Restarting seems to clear the cobwebs and get back to normal. Browsers do that sometimes, too. Restarting them in place usually clears them up. Memory leaks, maybe. Anyway, you have a quick fix if it happens. I suggest to stick that context menu option on because it's so convenient.

TC

f14tomcat said:

Explorer gets "tired", for a lack of a better term. I don't know the deep down specifics of why it does that, other than it gets a little internal thrashing with itself...too many handles open or something. Restarting seems to clear the cobwebs and get back to normal. Browsers do that sometimes, too. Restarting them in place usually clears them up. Memory leaks, maybe. Anyway, you have a quick fix if it happens. I suggest to stick that context menu option on because it's so convenient.

TC

Interesting, I have never had this issue though I can have my system on for months in a row with hundreds of browser windows open, tens of file explorers open and a bunch of apps crunching numbers. :)

Redicebergz said:

Also, windows is up to date, this is a problem that has persisted for almost a year, so I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with a windows update.

I think you may be missing the Cumulative from last Tuesday, 8/01.