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Something must be wrong with my computer. It is a AMD A4-5000 1.5 GHz, 12 GB DDR3 RAM, 1TB hard disk. It runs so slow. All I want to run is chrome and ms word and at times it is 100% on disk. I am guessing something in the background is making it slow. There are 64 background processes running and I have disable pretty much everything I can for startup.
Any advice appreciated! It is running Windows 10 BTW
Backup anything you want to keep.
Download win10 and created an install usb.
Format hard drive
Install win10
For more speed, ditch the old HD and fit an SSD.
Your processor is pretty slow.
Uninstall any av software just use supplied windows stuff firstly.
the 100% disk thing is common, I had it before can't mind how I fixed it. I've reinstalled since and it didn't come back.
Putting an SSD in is the absolute best thing you can do to speed up any PC. You can keep your hard drive for storage and run Windows and any programs you use regularly off the SSD.
Go through all your background processes and look for stuff that doesn't need to be running.
What they all said.
Agree with Kelron. My old PC boots up to Win 10 in 20 secs since installed O/S on a SSD.
Cheers for the quick replies. I am running Avast AV - is that just not needed anymore with Windows 10?
What SSD would be reccomended? There seems to be a vast range out there. It is a HP pavillion laptop.
nah, inbuilt windows stuff is fine.
<shift> <esc> to see what Chrome is doing
Task manager - preformance tab ---> resource monitor - then disk tab to see what is using disk
fixes to 100% disk usage. was stuff like that I went through to sort it last time.
Reinstall is probably the easiest option mind you, but things on that list aren't hard to do.
It's defo a quirk from updating to w10 on some machines, so fix it first before you splurge on a new disk. (which is nice, but not essential for a browsing and word machine, personally for something like that I wouldn't care how fast windows booted(why are people restarting all the time?), or how fast it opens programs. it'll make very little difference to the in app experience on that kinda usage.. )
Backup what you need, run the recovery options and do a 'fresh' Win 10 install, put everything back on, then pop an SSD in.
Buy a hard drive enclosure. Use free minitools partition wizard, and copy the lot over. Swap drives, once happy, use the old drive as a removeable one.
Depending upon space, try and get an SSD of the size you need. Bear in mind Amazon black friday for some deals.
I got a 1TB SSD for £150 two years ago. That went in a fast laptop that has room for 2 drives. Picked up a 500gb drive also by shopping round.
We've got SSD's in 3 laptops and 2 desktops.
My lads gaming PC needs a fresh install every 12 months, as the graphics drivers stop installing properly.
Avast is crap and bloated, often causes slowness. Best to get rid of it. The built in Windows Defender antivirus stuff is fine (as well as being sensible about what you are doing, and not installing stuff from dubious sources etc).
Well Avast has gone. Just going through and getting rid of a lot of programms that arent needed as well (such as itunes as it never gets used anymore) so will see how that goes before looking a SSD.
Your SSD options will depend on the model of laptop. Look for any covers on the sides or back you can unscrew, they should have little icons next to them.
You may only have one hard drive bay in which case you'll have to swap them over, any standard sized SSD will fit. You may also have an M2 or mSATA slot which can take an SSD in a different form factor, and will allow you to keep your current hard drive too.
Or if you can find the exact model number of the laptop you should be able to look up a spec sheet which will tell you what expansion slots you have.
am running Avast AV - is that just not needed anymore with Windows 10?What SSD would be reccomended?
No.
Samsung Evo.
Well getting rid of Avast seems to have made a massive difference. Started up much better and now seems to be running well as well.
As above a samsung EVO. If you use a Samsung then you can also use their cloning software (if you need it) and they also have additional software that will tweak windows to get the best out of and SSD
Other options are available of course but I've never had any problems with samsung SSDs and I've done several now
The corollary to that is, there's a lot of shit SSDs.
Oh 90 quid for 250gb these days, think i'll upgrade myself been waiting on the price coming down, haven't looked for ages, (ye, ye, know what I said) but I've been meaning to as I need it for abelton.
bit of a thread hijack, but see if I fling away the laptop slimline dvd drive, can I connect the ssd to that?(I could open up and have a look, but best just asking you lot.) 250gb isn't enough for me, but would be fine for start up.
is the dvd the same connectors? Also how would one go about securing the drive in place there?
Cougar - Moderator
The corollary to that is, there's a lot of shit SSDs.
I didn't realise there were a lot of bad ones, I know there are some like the bx200 which were turds but I thought they were generally fine.
How can you tell, what are you looking for? Is it a particular controller or keyword you want (or want to avoid) in the spec?
How can you tell, what are you looking for? Is it a particular controller or keyword you want (or want to avoid) in the spec?
The Kingson, Crucial and Western Digital ones are fine, generally about £10 cheaper than the Samsung EVO at 240gb, but the EVO's are generaly regarded as the go to drives; slightly faster, better warranty, a few other marginal benefits.
I didn't realise there were a lot of bad ones,
I may have exaggerated slightly. Point is though, all are not created equally, some are considerably faster or more reliable than others.
The problem with SSDs is that they wear out. You can't do as many write cycles as you can on an old spinning hard drive. Therefore it isn't just a case of any old SSD will do. As I understand manufacturers improve this by a combination of manufacturing technique as well as hardware/software that will effectively 'spread' the writes over the hard drive rather than wearing out the same spot all the time and hence killing the drive early.
You can improve the life by not buying a drive that will be completely full (thus giving more space to spread the writes around), buying a decent quality drive and having enough RAM on your computer to avoid having to swap regular memory to page file
In short, don't just buy the cheapest you can get as hard drive failure is painful.
Not sure I've ever seen a crap one & we use some cheap and cheerful ones, but I've not done bench marks on the ones I've use either, but they all seemed to speed up the machine they were fitted to.
The bx200 situation I was aware of did still seem point towards a benchmark results not real world situations, though changing the chips (I forget the details) after the initial release was under hand.
I kind of think this superfluous when we don't even know what chipset the OP laptop is, it might not even take advantage of possible full speed increase if it's not Sata 3 (my g/f lovely purple laptop wasn't), so buying a top end SSD seems slightly pointless in that case.
The sata info will be available at http://uk.crucial.com/
EDIT: Leffeboy, I'm reusing a 2nd hand SSD in my work machine, it came back from a site where it had been in use for potentially 3 years daily (admittedly not used hard). The health check tool says it's lovely and healthy, so I do wonder if the drive will become redundant due to their size before they wear out. That said I wouldn't rush to buy a used SSD, if I couldn't check the usage results first, and I agree like everything, you don't buy the cheapest & expect great results
The problem with SSDs is that they wear out. You can't do as many write cycles as you can on an old spinning hard drive. Therefore it isn't just a case of any old SSD will do.
Early ones did suffer a little from this but newer ones are far better.
They have a hell of a lot of writes per sector, less than a spin drive but enough so it's not really a consideration for the average user.
You wouldn't use one as a sever storage drive in an enterprise situation that's constantly being written too, but that's a very different environment to a home PC.
It not a bit of a moot point?
How long can SSD last?
The life span of a Samsung 850 Pro with 1 TB then results in: Incredible 343 years this SSD will probably last. This isn't a guarantee, but a good forecast. The warranty for the named SSD is ten years
Just a thought - Is your cooling fan running loudly?
I had an issue with mine running slow, the disk was on 100% for ages. Took it apart and found all the cooling channels clogged with dust. Blew it all out and it was back up to speed again, and running quietly!
I guess the temp sensor was throttling back the cpu excessively.
How long can SSD last?
The life span of a Samsung 850 Pro
That's the pro though, the evo doesn't carry the same level of warranty, but that is reflected in the price difference.
Hi selled. Good idea I will have a look. Is it worth spending £100 plus on a ssd for it? Seems like a large investment on a 3 year old machine with a slow processor
Seems like a large investment on a 3 year old machine with a slow processor
Well for your usage it seems should be perfectly good.
It might just need a good cleanup, in terms of software and dust. The slow hard drive though will always be what it is.
There's a nifty free app called hw monitor, I'd recommend running that and see what sort of temperatures you are hitting.
If it's getting hot and throttling, it could well be clogged with dust or you could have some unessesary software running that's hogging the CPU.
Okay quick question to all ...
Me colleague, an engineer, said it is better to leave the computer on 24/7/365 then switching on and off.
Which is right?
😛
Makes naff all difference apart from the electric bill*
*assuming the computer is reasonably optimised. Mines set to turn the screen off after 10 mins, shut down after half an hour of inactivity.
mattyfez - Member
Makes naff all difference apart from the electric bill**assuming the computer is reasonably optimised. Mines set to turn the screen off after 10 mins, shut down after half an hour of inactivity.
Okay sounds like me colleague might be right if that is the case.
Yes, my computer is reasonably optimised. Sleep after 20 mins inactive. Waking up no problem.
😛
I'd say your colleague is wrong, why would you want it switched on 24/7 if your not using it? It'll just be using electricity, probably not much, but there's no point.
mattyfez - Member
I'd say your colleague is wrong, why would you want it switched on 24/7 if your not using it?
He never switches his PC off for whatever reason.
I asked him for his reason only to be told me it would be better off leaving it on ... 😮
I thought it would be "wear and tear" but since the only moving parts are the fans nothing will go wrong.
I popped an SSD in my (now) 7 year old laptop 2 or 3 years ago. Made a big difference. Think it was a Kingston one. I've also ditched Windows as it's a lumbering, bloated pile of shit. I mean, having to reboot to install updates - how archaic is that? Linux Mint has been spot on.
That doesn't sound like a good reason. You can look into sleep and hybernation modes, but if it's got an SSD drive it should be able to boot from stone cold 'off' in less than 60 seconds, more likely 30 seconds.
So mines simply set to shut down after half an hour of nothing happening, if you need remote access to your computer then there's a case for leaving it on, but otherwise not.
That's what I thought. Will check if he lets it go into sleep or hibernation mode.mattyfez - Member
That doesn't sound like a good reason. You can look into sleep and hybernation modes, but if it's got an SSD drive it should be able to boot from stone cold 'off' in less than 60 seconds, more likely 30 seconds.
Mine go into sleep or standby but I do shut it down from time to time.So mines simply set to shut down after half an hour of nothing happening, if you need remote access to your computer then there's a case for leaving it on, but otherwise not.
Sleep and hybernation modes have become fairly redundant given how quickly SSD's can boot a system, they still have some niche uses, but they were typically used because waiting for 3 minutes or more was a pain in the butt.
Aye, you're correct, I'd question the wisdom of putting a SSD in that machine tbh, keep the money put it towards a new machine.robbo1234biking - Member
Hi selled. Good idea I will have a look. Is it worth spending £100 plus on a ssd for it? Seems like a large investment on a 3 year old machine with a slow processor
Guess you can always put the ssd in any new machine further down the line as well.
Good idea I will have a look. Is it worth spending £100 plus on a ssd for it? Seems like a large investment on a 3 year old machine with a slow processor
If you change computers later you can always keep the drive.
Me colleague, an engineer, said it is better to leave the computer on 24/7/365 then switching on and off.Which is right?
In the modern world it's an irrelevance. I'm guessing he's older than I am, that might've been good advice in the 90s.
if it's got an SSD drive it should be able to boot from stone cold 'off' in less than 60 seconds, more likely 30 seconds.
I've got a PC at work built from scrap that can do that on a mechanical HDD. Combination of UEFI and W10 I presume. It's startling, christ only knows what it'd do with an SDD. I keep meaning to film it and show people, it staggers me.
Yes, me colleague is over 60 ... 😀
Well the tidy up of a number of programs and removal of Avast seems to have vastly improved it so I think I will leave it at that for the moment. It wasn't so much start up time that was the issue but being slow when trying to use it. I think it was Avast plus to many apps searching for updates in the background that was slowing it down.
mattyfez - Member
Sleep and hybernation modes have become fairly redundant given how quickly SSD's can boot a system, they still have some niche uses, but they were typically used because waiting for 3 minutes or more was a pain in the butt.
I don't think that's true tbh, the advantage of sleep/hibernate is nothing to do with boot times really, it's that it preserves the environment, i.e. all your programs etc are still open, windows in the right place, browser tabs still up etc.
it preserves the environment, i.e. all your programs etc are still open, windows in the right place, browser tabs still up etc.
To be fair I said fairly redundant, not completely redundant 😉
Personally I don't tend to have open browsers or unsaved work floating about, and my PC is pretty damn quick, so I can open an app or browser with no bother.
It's a feature that I simply don't really need any more.
I either lock the computer, or shut it down.
Question, getting this evo 250 tomorrow(opticalhousing came today), youse think? Should I clone to the new drive or reinstall? Baring in mind I reinstalled about 4/5 months ago, fine to clone, no funniness with the clone switching to traditional disk to sdd, I'm guessing windows will just recognise it's now working with an ssd and adjust to suit(Even if it needs to)?.
tbh, I'm just thinking out loud here, I pretty much can't be arsed reinstalling everything, cloning it is! 😆