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davieG

What makes a PC 'fast' ?

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I've got a desktop pc running Windows 7 it's coming up to 6 years old.

 

I don't have much software on it, video grabber, an old version of paint Shop Pro, MS Office 2007 and a video editing programme plus Avast.

The C Drive is using 440Gb out of 700GB

 

The spec is:-

 

Intel Core 2 Quad CPU @ 2.33GHz

RAM is  4 GB ( 3.19 usable)

 

32 Bit

 

---------------------------------

 

It seems very slow both in general use and when on the internet even though I have a download speed in the mid 30s

 

When I'm  moving photo/video files around it just seems to seize up.

 

It originally had vista on it and it seems to have got slow since i changed to Win 7.

 

Is this normal? Should this spec be able to manage Win 7?

 

Could there be some hidden junk slowing it down?  No virus etc show up when I scan it.

 

If not what sort of spec should i be aiming for if I replace it?

 

 

 

 

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If it was ok with vista then something is wrong, as win7 is a lot faster, unless something is not compatible with win7, have all the drivers installed ok?

Start task manager and see if anything is using too much cpu/memory.

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As a general rule, anything that could manage Vista can manage 7, and it usually made them run smoother, how long ago did you change? Was it an upgrade or did you completely reinstall it from scratch? Also is your internet slow on all browsers or just one?

 

There are a number of reasons it might be running slowly, check the task manager and see if anything's using your resources, some applications are becoming greedier and greedier in terms of memory etc. One place I usually start is going to 'run' and typing in 'msconfig' (without the quotes), and looking at what is running on startup. Quite often things like auto-updaters can be running all the time and slow it down. Goes without saying that you shouldn't start unticking things without checking they're not important first though.

 

If you are concerned about viruses / malware etc then the software I always recommend is Malwarebytes, which has a free version, but unless you've got any reason to suspect you've got a virus (or you download lots of dodgy stuff) then I wouldn't jump to that conclusion.

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Seems to be mostly the Chrome browser which I am having problems with as it always says it didn't shut down properly when I reopen it even after I reboot the PC.

 

Also when I shut it down I get a message that it's waiting for some background programme to shut down, I've never managed to find out what that is.

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Answer to all pc ills... reformat.

I love a freshly formatted machine.

I did that when I installed the Win 7 about 18 months ago.

 

I'm very reluctant to do it again as it took me hours days to get my Video grabber to work and i've still not managed to get it going on my laptop which also has Win 7 on it and is much older and a lower spec.

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Hmm, can't see anything particularly out of the ordinary from what you've posted, Chrome can generate a lot of processes because of the way it works. Have you got any add-ons / extensions installed?

 

When it shuts down and says it's waiting for programs to close, it should give a list of what these programs are.

 

Talking about slow speeds moving stuff around makes me think the hard disk might be an issue, but it's not particularly full, and Windows 7 usually defragments itself just fine. Upgrading to an SSD will make just about any computer fly but it's a very expensive solution.

 

Without having a look at it myself I'm not sure where to go next but I'll have a think.

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By the looks of it you just don't have enough RAM in the machine to have everything you want running on it at once. Have you tried increasing your page file as well if you have enough space?

 

Also Might be worth taking it apart and cleaning out the fan and processor and seeing if it helps. Overheating can cause your PC to slow down if your CPU is being maxed out constantly. I'd be intrested to see if you are getting spikes in your CPU hitting 100% and then dropping back down again.

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By the looks of it you just don't have enough RAM in the machine to have everything you want running on it at once. Have you tried increasing your page file as well if you have enough space?

 

Also Might be worth taking it apart and cleaning out the fan and processor and seeing if it helps. Overheating can cause your PC to slow down if your CPU is being maxed out constantly. I'd be intrested to see Have you tried increasing your page file

 Have you tried increasing your page file - how?

 Have you tried increasing your page file - again how?

 

Can give it a good clean.

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Way too many instances of Chrome running there.  First thing I would try short term is to just delete chrome off your system entirely and go with something like Firefox.  Use it for a few days and see if you notice any improvements.  If you do, Chrome is your problem and it's just a case of either changing or having to deal with it.   Google Chrome is well known to have memory leaks all over the place which at times can slow even then quickest PC's to a crawl.  

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Way too many instances of Chrome running there.  First thing I would try short term is to just delete chrome off your system entirely and go with something like Firefox.  Use it for a few days and see if you notice any improvements.  If you do, Chrome is your problem and it's just a case of either changing or having to deal with it.   Google Chrome is well known to have memory leaks all over the place which at times can slow even then quickest PC's to a crawl.  

 

That was the first thing that striked me as weird as well tbh, but I thought he might have a reason for having that many browsers open at once. I'd switch to FireFox personally too.

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That was the first thing that striked me as weird as well tbh, but I thought he might have a reason for having that many browsers open at once. I'd switch to FireFox personally too.

I only had two windows open.

 

Just gave it a good clean and it seems better.

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Stop windows installing any automatic updates.

Ironic actually as it wont install any at the moment, maybe that's part of my problem.

 

Bust as said above it seems a fair bit quicker since I cleaned it.

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Run CCleaner

No harm in running a MalwareBytes scan

 

Right click 'Computer' > 'Properties' > 'Advanced system settings' (left hand sidebar) > In the 'Performance' category select the 'settings' button > Make sure the radio button for 'Let Windows choose what is best...' is active

Right click 'Computer' > 'Properties' > 'Device manager' (left hand sidebar) > Ensure that there are no yellow exclamation points

Hold the Windows key + 'R' to bring up the Run box and type 'regedit' in and press Ok > navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run (expand each folder) and take a screenshot of the registry entries in that folder so that we can see if you have too much running at start up. Repeat for the location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run - there may be some we can advise you to delete.

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Way too many instances of Chrome running there.  First thing I would try short term is to just delete chrome off your system entirely and go with something like Firefox.  Use it for a few days and see if you notice any improvements.  If you do, Chrome is your problem and it's just a case of either changing or having to deal with it.   Google Chrome is well known to have memory leaks all over the place which at times can slow even then quickest PC's to a crawl.  

 

I believe they're Chrome extensions.

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Thanks for the replies.

Run CCleaner  - Already do this.

No harm in running a MalwareBytes scan - Installed and run - 508 issues found, cleaned but still slow.

 

Right click 'Computer' > 'Properties' > 'Advanced system settings' (left hand sidebar) > In the 'Performance' category select the 'settings' button > Make sure the radio button for 'Let Windows choose what is best...' is active - That's ok

Right click 'Computer' > 'Properties' > 'Device manager' (left hand sidebar) > Ensure that there are no yellow exclamation points - One exclamation mark for Toredo Tunnelling Pseudo-Interface, latest version installed

Hold the Windows key + 'R' to bring up the Run box and type 'regedit' in and press Ok > navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run (expand each folder) and take a screenshot of the registry entries in that folder so that we can see if you have too much running at start up.

 

 

Repeat for the location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run - there may be some we can advise you to delete.

 

 

 

Not sure if I did that correctly but when I got to run I couldn't open any of the files listed.

 

 

I believe they're Chrome extensions.

 

 

These are the only extensions i have running

 

 

Chrome munches a serious amount of memory.

 

If you wana see some instant improvement stick an SSD in and load your core OS on to that and use your existing drive for data.

 

I already have two hard drives installed and a couple of external ones, there's very little data on my C drive which has 376 gBs free. I presume you need some sort of conversion kit to fit and SSD.

 

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Looks like it's your CPU, your perhaps running too much for your CPU to comfortably handle, try deleting any old installed programs or closing the automatic opening programs as soon as you boot up. 

Also make sure there is good air flow to your PC, could be running very hot and it's struggling to cool down.

 

My old PC has 4gb of Ram on an i5 2500k 3.5ghz quad core coupled with a 256gb SSC and it's lightning quick, even on demanding games. I doubt increasing your Ram will increase performance as I feel your CPU could bottleneck the performance.

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Thanks for the replies.

 

Bin off them extensions to your Chrome too. 

 

Also SSDs you don't need a conversion kit or anything, pretty much plug in and play. Obviously you will need a windows installation disk if your replacing the Hard Drive with the Operating software on. And if you do go down the SSD route DO NOT DEFRAG IT, will damage the SSD and shorten the life significantly.

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Bin off them extensions to your Chrome too. 

 

Also SSDs you don't need a conversion kit or anything, pretty much plug in and play. Obviously you will need a windows installation disk if your replacing the Hard Drive with the Operating software on. And if you do go down the SSD route DO NOT DEFRAG IT, will damage the SSD and shorten the life significantly.

Binned all but 2 and it's made no difference.

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