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Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on Apr 25, 2018 1:49:23 GMT -5
My sister's Dell looks very spiffy, but is more than five years old. It runs terribly slow, because Win 7 evidently thinks it is out of RAM (which it isn't). At the slightest puff of wind, it will write RAM to the disk in order to free up some, so it is constantly working the hard drive, which of course slows it way down. I have run RAM diagnostics, but it passes. Any ideas why Win 7 plays ping-pong with the hard drive?
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Post by picturefreak on Apr 25, 2018 2:55:44 GMT -5
1. spyware
2. virus
3. malware
4. unexpected add on software
5. microsoft trying to force you to upgrade to windows 10 just like the battery fiasco at apple
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hawaii5oh
Full Member
The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.
Posts: 323
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Post by hawaii5oh on Apr 25, 2018 7:06:48 GMT -5
All of the above!
Was indexing was accidentally turned on?
WIN + R to pop up the "run" screen
type in "services.msc"
You can disable "Windows Indexing Services" but indexing does serve a purpose.
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Post by timothyu on Apr 25, 2018 17:45:10 GMT -5
As above, number one reason for a slowdown is spy/malware.
Download Malwarebytes, the free version. Excellent for removing stuff the other programs often won't because they have been paid to leave stuff behind. You will get a full version for 15 days or so. After that you can keep the free version and run it only when needed about once a week manually. People with the same problem who have tried it have found up to 200 spy/malware thingies running in the background slowing things down.
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Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on May 12, 2018 0:10:24 GMT -5
I have run many different malware scans, but nothing found. Also I have reviewed what is running with Task Manager and found nothing that would suggest there is something lurking and eating up RAM. Despite that diagnostics say there is nothing is wrong with RAM, what I would really like to do is—at least temporarily—is swap out the RAM and see if anything changes. That would be the acid test.
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Post by picturefreak on May 12, 2018 0:31:05 GMT -5
- How much RAM does the machine have and is it detecting all of it?
- Does the problem exist upon reboot/fresh boot?
...reinstall OS... eek.
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Post by Hemond on May 12, 2018 7:25:03 GMT -5
Look at the TM as the disk is churning as you describe above. Look for a process that is causing high disk access rates.
Sort the DISK column by clicking on the header, which sorts by highest to lowest. Look for something using 90% access. What I
usually find in cases like this is the anti-virus is set to do a full scan on each startup. (this is the default on many
of the notoriously bad avs like Norton & McAfee) These scans will bring your computer to a standstill.
You may also find some mysterious process like "System" or "Service Host" using 90% disk access / Cpu access. These require
deeper researcher using built in apps like the Resource Monitor to ID the misbehaving process.
Another thing to look out for is the horrendous memory leaks in Firefox. FF will happily use up over 90% of your memory and will
eventually bring the computer to a crashing halt. You will see the exact symptoms you describe.
Live with it and do a reboot occasionally if the culprit is FF.
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Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on May 26, 2018 10:45:21 GMT -5
I haven't been to that PC since this thread was started, so let me go by um, memory.
This disk thrashing occurs at all times, even after fresh reboot and with no browser or any program running. It started at some point, in other words something happened vs. it has always done it. It's just been lived with, but I want to fix it, because it would be funnier if the PC didn't feel like a 90-year-old using a walker with tennis balls on the bottom, if you know what I mean.
I can't remember how much RAM, but maybe 4 Gb.
Reinstall the OS? You mean locate the original MS install disk? Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha. Surely, getting a relative to come up with that is the last thing I'll be able to do. No, it is more likely that I will be able to figure out this unique problem—I've never seen it before—before that will happen. It just seems unlikely to me that the OS would get corrupted in such a way that the only thing apparently wrong is that it thinks RAM is full and thus triggering virtual memory.
I guess it could be possible for a mo'bd defect to simulate a bad RAM, but in that case a RAM diagnostic should catch it. Oh, well, I'll borrow some RAM and make a fresh start the next time I go over there.
Howcumzit I can use FF on other PCs all day long and there is no crashing to earth (except when viewing "that other site," which is a continuing known problem). Sounds fishy to me. Besides, it happens with IE as well.
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Post by timothyu on May 26, 2018 12:49:50 GMT -5
Presuming the usual culprits have been addressed such as removing temp files with *.tmp in disk drive search rather than using disk clean-up... and using the chkdsk in Run. Has the cache of the browser been cleared and limited to say 350mb ? Is there a date the system can be restored to before this occurred using System Restore?
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Post by Hemond on May 27, 2018 22:07:46 GMT -5
You don't need the disk. You can download a fresh ISO directly from Microsoft. That is if you
don't want to use the Recovery partition. Put it on a USB drive or write to a DVD.
Here's a tutorial.Here's the MS Win7 download link.In case the product key sticker is missing. You can recover it hereusing the Belarc Advisor. This link relates to Win10 but it is valid for 7 too. Last time I did this, I didn't have to enter the key. Nor did I have to reinstall the hardware drivers. You might like to capture/copy the chipset and other drivers just in case. There is free automated software out there to do that.
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Post by Hemond on May 27, 2018 22:29:15 GMT -5
That should make it easy then. Look at the Task Manager after selecting the Process tab and sorting the disk tab from
highest to lowest. The likely candidate causing the trouble will be at the top. Using 98% of disk access most likely.
My guess is still a virus scan is going on. That is what I've found just about every time when folk have this complaint.
If not, and if some vague mysterious process is the culprit, you can break out
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Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on Jun 12, 2018 15:26:24 GMT -5
Thanks. I'll take a look next time I am at that PC and report back. It may be some time.
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Post by XP++ on Jun 12, 2018 16:48:04 GMT -5
What about for XP?
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