What is causing my slow computer startup and lag during regular operation?

  • Thread starter PWiz
  • Start date
  • Tags
    Computer
In summary: Auslogics Disk Defrag Freemalwarebytes freewindows defenderIn summary, your laptop has a lot of issues that need to be fixed. The most important thing you can do is to get an antivirus/antimalware program and scan your computer for viruses. Additionally, you might want to consider disabling some of the start-up programs and increasing the number of threads in your NVIDIA graphics card.
  • #1
PWiz
695
114
I know this sounds a bit dumb, but I'm not that good with computers. I've got a laptop with a 4 GB DDR3 RAM (I've got 2 RAM slots, one is empty), a dual core i5 Processor with a clock rate of 2.5 GHz, a 500GB hard disk with an RPM of 5400 and an NVIDIA graphics card with 2GB of video RAM (I'm not sure if the graphics part is relevant here). My OS is Windows 8.1.

My laptop takes forever to start up and hangs up very often during regular operation, even while performing simple task like opening a web browser. Sometimes it functions smoothly, but after some sessions returns to its stubborn nature. I often program using IDEs such as Visual Express and play some video games which require medium specs, but the computer hangs up much more while performing these tasks.
.
I've already disabled as many start-up apps as I can through the task manager and enabled multi-threading in my NVIDIA control panel to allow both processor cores to share the workload, but it's not helping. I've closely monitored my CPU utilization and memory usage percentages from the performance section in the Task Manager during startup and while launching IDEs/games. The CPU % peaks to a 100 one or two times in the first 2 minutes of startup before settling down at around 45, while three-fourths of my memory stays used almost all the time (even when only 1 user is active on the laptop) . I initially suspected that the startup lag was due to my HDD not being able to load the OS onto the RAM fast enough, but this issue persisted even after waking the laptop from "sleep" mode, so I guess there is something more to it. I don't want to tamper with the BIOS because I might accidentally edit some important configuration settings. I also reduced the level of graphics and details in-game and it made almost no difference. The most peculiar thing is that sometimes the laptop works without any of these issues, and it's this irregularity that bothers me.

So what's wrong with my laptop?
 
Computer science news on Phys.org
  • #2
Sounds like you have a virus. What anti-virus software are you using?
 
  • #3
Actually, I don't have one - I just rely on the firewall.
 
  • #4
PWiz said:
I don't have one actually. I just rely on the Firewall.
Yeah, well there's your problem. GET ONE !
 
  • #5
Download and run these tools

ccleaner
Auslogics Disk Defrag Free
malwarebytes free
windows defender
 
  • Like
Likes PWiz and RaulTheUCSCSlug
  • #6
PWiz said:
I know this sounds a bit dumb, but I'm not that good with computers. I've got a laptop with a 4 GB DDR3 RAM (I've got 2 RAM slots, one is empty), a dual core i5 Processor with a clock rate of 2.5 GHz, a 500GB hard disk with an RPM of 5400 and an NVIDIA graphics card with 2GB of video RAM (I'm not sure if the graphics part is relevant here). My OS is Windows 8.1.

My laptop takes forever to start up and hangs up very often during regular operation, even while performing simple task like opening a web browser. Sometimes it functions smoothly, but after some sessions returns to its stubborn nature. I often program using IDEs such as Visual Express and play some video games which require medium specs, but the computer hangs up much more while performing these tasks.
.
I've already disabled as many start-up apps as I can through the task manager and enabled multi-threading in my NVIDIA control panel to allow both processor cores to share the workload, but it's not helping. I've closely monitored my CPU utilization and memory usage percentages from the performance section in the Task Manager during startup and while launching IDEs/games. The CPU % peaks to a 100 one or two times in the first 2 minutes of startup before settling down at around 45, while three-fourths of my memory stays used almost all the time (even when only 1 user is active on the laptop) . I initially suspected that the startup lag was due to my HDD not being able to load the OS onto the RAM fast enough, but this issue persisted even after waking the laptop from "sleep" mode, so I guess there is something more to it. I don't want to tamper with the BIOS because I might accidentally edit some important configuration settings. I also reduced the level of graphics and details in-game and it made almost no difference. The most peculiar thing is that sometimes the laptop works without any of these issues, and it's this irregularity that bothers me.

So what's wrong with my laptop?
Do a search for "Hiren's Boot CD".

All else fails, re-install the OS.
 
  • #7
PWiz said:
... My OS is Windows 8.1. ...
PWiz said:
Actually, I don't have one - I just rely on the firewall.

IIRC Windows 8 comes with free own-brand antivirus/antimalware called Windows "Defender" ...
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/using-defender#1TC=windows-8
You could try a full scan of your hard-drive using defender to see if it finds any malware*, that could take a couple of hours, but worth trying before you do anything heroic like reinstalling the operating System.

Re: slow boot. Try booting into "Safe Mode" which only loads essential drivers, and see if that improves boot time ...
http://www.howtogeek.com/107511/how-to-boot-into-safe-mode-on-windows-8-the-easy-way/
If "Safe Mode" makes a big improvement then it's probably a driver issue which is slowing boot time.

[ *Having said that, in my experience, computer delays/hangs are usually due to unintentional-conflicts rather than malicious software ].
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes RaulTheUCSCSlug
  • #8
Windows defender is awesome and I'm pretty sure it is free! You do not have to pay for a good anti-virus software. Also, I would recommend if you wanted to keep your laptop at peak speed, to perform routine backups and factor resets. (Like buy an external hard drive, trust me on this one! and they are dirt cheap now compared to how much they cost a couple of years ago.
 
  • #9
Greg gave good practical advice which should be followed (although I'm not a believer in ccleaner's claims of performance increases)

At the minimum
a. Get malwarebytes and run it. I bet it gets a bunch of stuff. (It always does the first time its run on a machine)
b. Defrag
c. Install Anti Virus. Windows defender is better than nothing (but not by much - My unattended computer was rooted by an adserver with it installed, and it gets low ratings at av-comparitives). I choose to use Avira Free, but there are many choices.

4GB ram is marginal, so windows will swap a lot (especially if there is malware running). With the EXTREMELY SLOW laptop drives, this will cause the system to essentially freeze for long periods.
Add more RAM and you will be glad you did. Add a SSD (solid state drive) and you will be glad you did. (Note: adding an SSD can be a complex process unless you reinstall from scratch).

You can look at running processes and see if there are memory hogs. (CTRL-ALT-DEL Process Manager) but this requires some knowledge and patience.
 
  • Like
Likes harborsparrow
  • #10
RaulTheUCSCSlug said:
Windows defender is awesome and I'm pretty sure it is free!
It should be included with 8.1... look in the Control Panel.

Control Panel.JPG
 
  • #11
Are you installing "important and recommended" updates ?

Update History.JPG


 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes Greg Bernhardt
  • #13
RaulTheUCSCSlug said:
... perform routine backups and factor resets.
I believe a factory reset is the same as reinstalling the operating system. Doing that will then require downloading & reinstalling years of updates [Gigabytes of data] , which will take many hours.
 
  • #14
B0b-A said:
I believe a factory reset is the same as reinstalling the operating system. Doing that will then require downloading & reinstalling years of updates [Gigabytes of data] , which will take many hours.
...which will take many hours days
Lol... don't fool with that.

I did a simple "refresh", and ended up with:

Refresh.JPG
A bunch of programs I had to reinstall... on a slow satellite internet connection. T'was a bummer... lol
 
Last edited:
  • #15
Addressing maintenance rather than your slow machine:
I install WinPatrol on all my machines. I paid for the PLUS version because it gives me access to a database where I can find out what services and processes are for and whether they are suspicious. It warns me when programs install new services, take over defaults, add to the run on startup, change certain registry keys, etc

My security consists of Avira Free, WinPatrol and occasionally running Malwarebytes. and HiJackThis
 
  • #16
Plus one for HijackThis.
 
  • #17
Then creating a backup and starting it with the back up would be better? I hate how the windows 8 platform does mandatory updates. Also, I don't think it would take as much time as you think. Updates scrap stuff from previous updates as well as add stuff, or else windows 8.1 would be a large number of gigs, way larger then when it was released. Which seems unlikely.

OCR said:
Lol... don't fool with that.

I did a simple "refresh", and ended up with:

View attachment 83498A bunch of programs I had to reinstall... on a slow satellite internet connection. T'was a bummer... lol

But then again I have a chromebook that I use regularly now and haven't had to touch my laptop in a couple months!
 
  • #18
I forgot to mention that I have Windows Defender as well as McAfee security "plus," although I'm not sure the latter does anything other than waste some of my disk space.

Windows defender regularly quick scans my computer and I didn't receive any detection messages from it from the past few months. I did a full scan two days ago and found a trojan and an adware, both of which were subsequently removed from my PC. The scan took 4 hours and did not detect any other malware. I also installed CCleaner which fixed some directory issues in my PC (some files were left after a few software uninstallations), and Malwarebytes, which detected a another adware for me and removed it (I ran a rootkit scan as well).

My PC performance has improved a little, but still not as much as I expected. I plan on getting a 4GB RAM for the second empty RAM slot in my laptop to improve things. I must also mention that my HDD has 3 partitions, and the parent partition (the "C" drive) which contains the Windows system files is almost full, although the other partitions still have a lot of space. Could this be a cause? Additionally, I had downloaded a software from the net which I really needed a long time ago, and Windows Defender had warned me that one of its .dll files could be malicious. Many people downloaded the software from the same location, so I decided to take a risk and add that dll file to the exceptions list in Defender and its still there. Should I remove this file? I might not be able to use that software anymore.

Thanks.
 
  • #19
PWiz said:
I forgot to mention that I have Windows Defender as well as McAfee security "plus," ...

Windows-Defender and McAfee antivirus will both do real-time scanning, they could compete/conflict with each other and slow your computer, ( you should disable real-time scanning in one of them), see ...

howtogeek.com said:
Why You Shouldn’t Run Multiple Antivirus Programs At Once
... These [antivirus] programs hook deep into your Windows operating system and are not designed to work together. In a best case scenario, running multiple antivirus programs at once could result in degraded performance. In a worst case scenario, the programs could interfere with each other and cause system crashes.
[/PLAIN] [Broken] http://www.howtogeek.com/133704/how-to-scan-your-computer-with-multiple-antivirus-programs/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #21
PWiz said:
Should I not remove McAfee? I mean how good is it compared to Windows Defender?
Windows own-brand antivirus is usually near the bottom of the league-table, see ...
http://www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/
Having said that Windows own-brand uses less computer resources [ CPU & memory ] than its competitors, and it's free.
 
  • #22
try some optimization softwares like ccleaner,
uninstall unwanted softwares,
if it does not work reinstall windows.
 
  • #23
Also, you might want to invest in a SSD.
 
  • #24
If you are running Windows, you need more than 4 Gb of RAM. That will probably be the root of your slow startup. But also--Windows 7 and earlier always took 3-4 minutes to boot. Windows 8 and later--1 minute.

But you need more RAM, I believe. I have a similar system. I'm typing on it now. It starts okay, but sometimes it freezes. I have more RAM on order, because on other systems (running Windows 8.1), the addition of RAM beyond 4 Gb has made Win 8.1 a lot happier.
 
Last edited:
  • #25
If your computer is running slow, I would ditch McAfee and all commercial anti-virus, at least as an experiment, and use Windows Defender instead. Also, get MalWareBytes (but don't run it constantly--instead, from time to time, turn off Windows Defender, disable the Windows Firewall, and let MalwareBytes scan your system as a cleanse).

Unfortunately some anti-virus programs are incredible machine hogs.

Also, as suggested above, defrag the disk. And then, after defragging the disk, maximize the size of the swap file on disk (so that,when you open multiple programs, it isn't trying to grow and shrink the swap file on disk).

Finally, run msconfig.exe and turn off non-essential startup programs and services--but be careful if you do this. Google when in doubt. Only turn something off if you know it's okay. Generally, you can safely turn off all the automatic updates from Flash, Adobe and the like, as long as you go and get the updates manually from time to time. You can also configure Windows updates not to run automatically (and if your machine is slow, you need to do that--have it notify you that updates are available, but only download and install with your permission when you are ready).

Do not let your browsers store all the open tabs, but have it close everything when the browser exits.

And finally, don't run a million programs all at once. Don't play music in the background while you're doing other things (at least, not on the same computer). Common sense!
 
  • Like
Likes RaulTheUCSCSlug
  • #26
Windows defender is one of the worst ant-virus solutions on the market in terms of both performance and detection scores. It is not even competitive. I get into it with anyone that recommends it.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

But, that said, programs like avira (which I use) certainly slow down a reboot. But they have little impact on normal operation.

But the OP was not saying just slow-boot
PWiz said:
My laptop takes forever to start up and hangs up very often during regular operation, even while performing simple task like opening a web browser. Sometimes it functions smoothly, but after some sessions returns to its stubborn nature.

He needs 4GB more memory, pure and simple. 4GB total is not enough. Anything else is a waste of time. Once he 8GB memory, he can look at what else is going on.
perhaps SSD, perhaps remove processes that slow things down, etc etc. But with 4GB he is going to be swapping a lot, and windows is terrible at that, and his drive is slow.
 
  • #27
Do you have a restore point saved? That is my first line of defense. Reinstalling your OS is a desperate move and a major pain in the donkey.
 
  • #28
meBigGuy said:
He needs 4GB more memory, pure and simple. 4GB total is not enough.

4 Gb is not ideal, but I've been running with it on several computers having Win8.1 for a couple years now. Only on the one do I get any pauses, and they are always the browsing stopping for a few seconds, nothing more. Admittedly, I've got my puters tuned finely, which others might not have.

8 Gb makes Windows happier, for sure. I'm just saying, there are probably things in the software that are also causing this. I would maximize the swap file (after defragging) as a first step.
 
  • #29
4G is enough, but, not optimal for 64 bit windows. 8G is the sweet spot. I doubt extra memory will solve your issues. I still think a system restore will put you in the right direction
 
  • Like
Likes RaulTheUCSCSlug
  • #30
Everyone I know with 4G ram has swapping issues. It will always happen. If your particular regimen does not happen to cause a lot of swapping, then you will have no issues.
Swapping with a slow laptop disk drive is particularly slow.

Doing system restore and other radical system approaches is a waste of time until you have 8G. If you have 4G and really stay on top of what is happening, you can get acceptable results, but that is not a very robust solution.

Add the memory, because you really need it. When you still have issues, come back and post and there will be no problem getting advice based on everyone's anecdotal personal experience (mine included) :smile: Run malwarebytes or XXX or YYY or do a restore or reinstall widows or ... You will hear it all. (of course, a reinstall is a sweet place to restart if you can do it). I'll tell you to run malwarebytes.

Second largest improvement (not counting running malwarebytes:wink:) is to add an SSD.
 

1. What are the main factors that can cause a slow computer startup and lag during regular operation?

There are several potential factors that can contribute to a slow computer startup and lag during regular operation. These include: a lack of available RAM, a fragmented hard drive, outdated or corrupted software, a virus or malware infection, and too many programs running in the background.

2. How can I check if my computer has enough RAM?

To check how much RAM your computer has, you can open the Task Manager (Windows) or Activity Monitor (Mac) and look at the memory usage. If your RAM usage is consistently high, you may need to upgrade your RAM or close some programs to free up memory.

3. How can I defragment my hard drive?

On a Windows computer, you can defragment your hard drive by going to the Start menu, typing "defragment" into the search bar, and selecting "Defragment and Optimize Drives." On a Mac, you can use the Disk Utility tool to repair and defragment your hard drive.

4. What should I do if I suspect my computer has a virus or malware?

If you suspect your computer has a virus or malware, you should run a full scan with your antivirus software. If the scan detects any threats, follow the instructions to remove them. You may also consider using a reputable malware removal tool or seeking professional help.

5. How can I prevent too many programs from running in the background?

To prevent too many programs from running in the background, you can disable unnecessary startup programs. On a Windows computer, you can do this by going to the Task Manager, selecting the "Startup" tab, and disabling any programs that you don't need to run at startup. On a Mac, you can go to System Preferences, then Users & Groups, and click on your username. From there, you can select the "Login Items" tab and uncheck any programs you don't want to run at startup.

Similar threads

  • Computing and Technology
Replies
7
Views
1K
  • Computing and Technology
Replies
16
Views
4K
Replies
10
Views
2K
  • Computing and Technology
Replies
12
Views
2K
  • Computing and Technology
Replies
2
Views
1K
  • Computing and Technology
Replies
10
Views
2K
Replies
12
Views
2K
  • Computing and Technology
Replies
10
Views
5K
  • Computing and Technology
Replies
11
Views
15K
  • Computing and Technology
Replies
16
Views
85K
Back
Top