Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

Have a Dell Inspiron running Windows 7, recently running very slow which is usually (in my experience) indicative of HDD failure.

However, have ran three tests (memory, HDD etc.)with different software and it passes them all.

Changed startup/services and kept everything to a bare minimum, ran Malaware Bytes which detected 8 bits of malware, but it's still very slow. Also used ccleaner to clean any build-up of garbage.

Have tried increasing virtual memory too and this hasn't made a great deal of difference.

There is hardly anything been installed on the computer either, it belongs to my Mother who basically just uses it to browse the web.

Anyone any ideas?

riiidaa

iTrader: (2)

create a new windows profile, reboot into the new one and see how it feels

CREWJ

What are the rest of the specs?

An0n0m0us

So when it's running slow have you opened task manager and seen what processes are running taking up the cpu/hdd utilisation?

BlkKnight

'dose is usually good at reporting disk faults - anything in the event log?

While in task manager, view the extra column Page Faults Delta to see if anything is thrashing the disk (peaks of 400-600 are OK, but anything sustained over that is a bit suspect)

Does it BSOD?

Remove any DVD's / USB Flash drives

Are the fans & exhausts clear of hair & gunk?

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

Have you tried cleaning out the air filter as they get blocked with dust and the laptop over heats and runs slow.

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

It seems to be that even the most none hungry processes are pushing the CPU up to 100%, e.g. cccleaner, disk cleanup. Nothing running that shouldn't be as far as I can tell.

It's an Intel Celeron with 2GB RAM, cooling fans seem free from debris and problem occurs even when the laptop is stone cold.

Haven't had a BSOD but does hang/freeze during Windows update.

Going to reinstall Windows 7 and see what happens..

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

What's the spec of the laptop, RAM speed, hard drive speed, CPU speed ? I presume it's a mechanical hard drive and not an SSD ?

How long have you had the laptop, is this running slow something that has happened recently ?

A Celeron CPU is slow in this day and age where you get more CPU intense software and operating systems, the RAM is a bit on the low side, what's the speed of the RAM ?

jonc

How much free space is there on the HD? Create a new profile by renaming her existing profile instead rather than rebuild, it's far quicker and you won't lose anything. Also run msconfig to see what installed apps are starting up and disable any that aren't required. Rebuild should only be a last resort.

BlkKnight

My money is that it's continuously trying to put SP1 on .

Reinstall should fix it.

Might consider buying a cheap ssd if you are going through the effort of a reinstall?

Tidgy

download and run this program https://www.malwarebytes.org/

see if it finds owt