Windows 10 Slow Performance

wildest_jjk · 7 Feb 2021 at 19:47

Hi guys,

I'm struggling to get my head around a performance issue with Windows 10 on my parents PC.

Sometimes when you login everything and I mean everything is slow. You click the start menu and it will just look like nothing happens. Then 5 minutes later it will open up with a black window without even loading it in fully. Just clicking anything can take an age which is not right.

Occasionally it will work perfectly as it did after I completed a Windows 10 reset (keeping personal files). However the next day it's back to being unusable, and then after logging back in again after a few hours all seems fine. I've tried safe mode and all appears to work fine as expected.

Does anyone have any ideas or experienced anything like this? There are minimal startup programs and minimal applications installed since the reset, apart from Firefox.

Any help will be great! Thanks

theforce · 7 Feb 2021 at 21:42

Maybe a misbehaving driver? Can you post your parent's complete specs?

wildest_jjk · 7 Feb 2021 at 22:17

theforce said:
Maybe a misbehaving driver? Can you post your parent's complete specs?

Thanks for the response. Not sure if this is what you are after but does it help?

Intel Pentium G3420 3.2GHz
Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz
MSI H81M-E33 mATX
SuperFlower Amazon 300W PSU

Rroff · 11 Feb 2021 at 11:56

You sure it isn't Windows update or performance optimisation and maintenance tasks running in the background? Windows 10 tends to be terrible for being busy in the background especially if updates are pending.

If you are using a mechanical HDD worth checking the Event Viewer in case it is failing as well as that can result in similar issues with Windows.

wildest_jjk · 11 Feb 2021 at 21:13

Rroff said:
You sure it isn't Windows update or performance optimisation and maintenance tasks running in the background? Windows 10 tends to be terrible for being busy in the background especially if updates are pending.

If you are using a mechanical HDD worth checking the Event Viewer in case it is failing as well as that can result in similar issues with Windows.

Thanks so much and I think you might be spot on!

Checked the event viewer again and looked a bit deeper at some of the warnings. All of the errors are for bad blocks over the last couple of weeks or so. I installed CrystalDisk and there are cautions against the HDD so I am now running chkdsk /r overnight. Not sure where else to go after this apart from a new HDD (will take the opportunity to move to SSD for that PC as well).

P.S. The drives are WD bought used from the forum, warranty expired in 2016. I did try Seatools DOS but could only see long generic test which failed and no option to 'Fix All'. I couldn't even get started with WD's bootable application.

wildest_jjk · 13 Feb 2021 at 14:18

Thanks for all of the help. I have decided to remove/destroy the HDD and have reinstalled Windows 10 onto one of these that I have just purchased:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cruc...-6.0gb-s-7mm-solid-state-drive-hd-06b-cr.html

andy_mk3 · 13 Feb 2021 at 14:21

That SSD should help no end. Windows 10 will always struggle someone on an old dual core CPU and 4GB ram though, especially while running updates and other tasks in the background. Once settled down it should function quite well for general use though.

wildest_jjk · 13 Feb 2021 at 14:41

no idea what said:
That SSD should help no end. Windows 10 will always struggle someone on an old dual core CPU and 4GB ram though, especially while running updates and other tasks in the background. Once settled down it should function quite well for general use though.

Thanks bud, will keep an eye out but so far the results are extremely positive.

I was concerned about the CPU/RAM at one point but I think if anything the memory will most likely be an upgrade for the future. As things stand it seems to be coping with most applications hence why this was a bit of a confusing one!!

andy_mk3 · 13 Feb 2021 at 15:47

wildest_jjk said:
Thanks bud, will keep an eye out but so far the results are extremely positive.

I was concerned about the CPU/RAM at one point but I think if anything the memory will most likely be an upgrade for the future. As things stand it seems to be coping with most applications hence why this was a bit of a confusing one!!

Yes it should be fine to use for some time yet. Windows 10 just really suffers badly on old hard drives, it's constantly doing background tasks which are drive intensive so it makes a huge difference having an SSD.