Non-Geek has slow computer - Fix??

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Bill N

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Joined
Jan 4, 2014
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Ozark, Missouri
Rather than wander into the land of internet fixes for slow computers first, I thought I should check with some folks whom I trust to give good advice.  My HP computer has slowed to a grind on a couple of major websites (Fox News and Drudge Report) and I suspect it will also be slow on several others.

I am looking for a reliable program that can possibly fix my slow down problems at a moderate cost (or even free).  There are many shown on a Google search but I prefer to use one that others have had experience with and can recommend.  Thanks for any help offered.

Bill
 
  Use your browser; eg. GOOGLE, on the Escapees Discussion Forum, sign up, scroll down to Computers and Software. Many computer people will help.
  Use a good Antivirus program such as Eset, scan your computer, Then MalwareBytes, scan again. They both have free versions and work well!
 
I use a free product called CCleaner, used to be called Crap Cleaner, it does about everything and there are versions for purchase that have upgrades. I only use the free version from Piriform. I think it works great.
 
MalWare Bytes gets good Reviews. in fact it is what Staples uses to clean up compuers

Fix-Me Stick is heavily advrtised.

That said Windows is bloatware and the longer it runs the more bloated it gets with patch after patch after patch.. Imagine how you would move if you had a minor injury so a bandage was applied, then instead of changing the bandage they simply piled more and more bandages on top of it.. You would slow down too.

The Solution.. for me.. Was a Chromebook.. THey update by replacing the entiere OS not just patching.

And they do it faster than you can believe..  I've got two of 'em for web only jobs (they do not do much "offline" but are fanstastic for Online stuff) both have gotten infected or so it appears.

Took me, with out any special tools software or methods less than 5 minutes. WAY LESS to clean 'em out and one restored on a high speed Wi-Fi system in less time than it took my meal to arrive. the other took all night for the FULL restore (slow Wi-Fi)  but was usable within 5 minutes or actually closer to 2 minutes.

I still have 3 windows (one 7 two 10) in the RV but these are dedicated use machines
The "7" is the file server for my Replay TV's (DVR) processing and serving the electronic program guide and other functions all related ot the Replay. I usually only "Touch" it physically when powering on or off after/before changing campground. or sometimes to download a new EPG

One runs my Ham Radio

One keeps assorted logs,  and documents I need for medical, kitchen or business reasons.

But the Chrombooks do all the "Heavy Lifting" web work.  Save for the mouse they are identical. Same bookmarks, Same add ons, Same Same Same.. Sine both restored from Google's back up box.
 
Bill N said:
Rather than wander into the land of internet fixes for slow computers first, I thought I should check with some folks whom I trust to give good advice.  My HP computer has slowed to a grind on a couple of major websites (Fox News and Drudge Report) and I suspect it will also be slow on several others.

I am looking for a reliable program that can possibly fix my slow down problems at a moderate cost (or even free).  There are many shown on a Google search but I prefer to use one that others have had experience with and can recommend.  Thanks for any help offered.

Bill

How does CNN and MSNBC websites run on your computer?  Perhaps, the problem is not the computer.  :)
 
Paul & Ann said:
How does CNN and MSNBC websites run on your computer?  Perhaps, the problem is not the computer.  :)
It was a pretty neutral post Paul until you tried to turn it into something political.  But to answer your question I would not know how those websites work because 1: I am not into fake news and 2:  I don't seek out garbage websites. ;D  Hope that answers your question.  Now back to mine please.

Bill
 
How old is the computer?  Today's programs need high speed processing chips and lots of RAM to run some of the programs.  Older computers might not be able to keep up with those requirements.
 
Bill N said:
It was a pretty neutral post Paul until you tried to turn it into something political.  But to answer your question I would not know how those websites work because 1: I am not into fake news and 2:  I don't seek out garbage websites. ;D  Hope that answers your question.  Now back to mine please.

Bill

Me, political?  Certainly you jest.  :)  I was just suggesting you try a couple other news websites for comparison.  I dont see anything political in that.  Are those the only two websites that it runs slow on?  What operating system are you using, and did the computer just slow down all at once, or has it been a gradual thing?  I just went to the Fox News website, and it does load slower than CNN, but not a whole lot slower.

I am running Windows 10 and Malwarebytes, and have no problems.  In the past I have used CC Cleaner as well on other computers.  Clearing the cache on your computer could help too.
 
my suggestion is to buy a chromebook.  cheap and fast and not much worry about this sort of stuff in the future.  It'll probably be less cost and certainly less headache than trying to fix an old dog of a machine.....
 
All of the above are good suggestions, but there's an underlying problem in the microprocessors themselves that was exposed a couple of months ago.  The manufacturers issued patches that isolated the vulnerable parts of the processors, but a byproduct was they slowed down existing computers, some more than others.

Since the flaw is in the microprocessor itself, not in the operating system, almost everything is affected - Windows, Chrome, Android, Apple OS, etc.

Spectre and Meltdown are the viruses in question.  There's nothing you can do about the slowdowns, how much it affects the performance of your system depends on how much excess processing speed you had to start with.  if you had a fast PC that used 50% of the processor's capacity and you lost 30% due to the patches, you probably won't notice much difference in performance.  But if your processor was maxed out to begin with, the slowdown will be significant.  I have one laptop that became all but unusable when the patches came out, another with a faster processor is still performing OK.

Google them for more information, but the bottom line is there's nothing to do but wait for the chipmakers to come up with new chipsets that perform well without being vulnerable, then replace your PC.
 
Lou Schneider makes a good point, especially if you've noticed the slowdown in just the past few weeks.  Between my DW and I, we have 2 laptops and 3 desktops plus, I take care of several friends and family computers.  After the Spectre and Meltdown "fixes" came out, one of my desktops dropped to its knees and my brother's desktop died.  Both have older AMD processors which were very adversely affected by the fix.  Although Microsoft fixed the fix for the AMD problem eventually, the problem prompted him to just go buy a new computer.  AMD aside, some of my Intel based computers struggle with the fixes even today and are noticeably slower.
 
Paul & Ann said:
Me, political?  Certainly you jest.  :)  I was just suggesting you try a couple other news websites for comparison.  I dont see anything political in that.  Are those the only two websites that it runs slow on?  What operating system are you using, and did the computer just slow down all at once, or has it been a gradual thing?  I just went to the Fox News website, and it does load slower than CNN, but not a whole lot slower.

I am running Windows 10 and Malwarebytes, and have no problems.  In the past I have used CC Cleaner as well on other computers.  Clearing the cache on your computer could help too.
Apologize if I misread your post Paul but if those two websites were the absolute fastest on the internet I would ever know because I just would not frequent them.  I used to back in the day until I found out that their coverage of breaking news was kinda sparse and tilted but that was just my opinion.  I did use CCleaner this afternoon and think I see some improvement.  This is a 2 year old HP Laptop with Windows 8.1.  I did not wish to load up Windows 10 but my wife did with her same model laptop and had tons of problems initially.  After about a year she thinks she has it calmed down but is still on 10.  I did run the Malwarebytes trial for a couple of weeks and let it expire.  Trouble is when I read the license info for some of these sites they seem to want to give you something for free initially but then if you really want to fix the problem you will wind up paying.  One site said after the trial period, unless you cancelled, you would be charged $99.  I am not good at keeping track of their trial periods so I just delete their website and move on. 
 
I highly recommend Malwarebytes.  The trial you apparently installed will expire if you do not buy a key within a couple of weeks, but that doesn't mean it is not still a good anti-virus to have.  All that happens is it reverts to the freebie version which has some limitations, mainly the real-time feature is disabled.  Real-time coverage is good to have, but the freebie version is still very useful.  Just run it manually periodically.
 
You can also try Avast free version. I get a pop-up from them once in a while trying to scare me into buying the full version, but other than that, seems to be fine.
 
I use a ton of free programs over the years to keep my ancient laptop running at top speed. I try to go through all these steps about once a week give or take. I do use the CCleaner more often by itself to clear off internet junk.

First off do a Windows update.
Then do a Create A Restore Point

I would also back up all your docs and pics etc., and clean off any of those you don't need AFTER making the backups.

Just do one thing at a time, then restart your computer and if all is well, move on to the next item. I would keep making restore points between tweaks. If anything goes wrong, you can restore and then start over.

I haven't listed the programs (bottom of this note) in the preferred order, but basically between creating restore points, I would do things in this order:

Update windows
Backup docs and pics, then remove those you don't need or use right now
Remove programs you don't use
Defrag
Check malware
Check virus
CCleaner
Defrag
Clean Registry
Defrag Registry
Find Junk Files
Defrag


CCleaner
https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner

Aulogics Disk Defrag
https://www.auslogics.com/en/software/

Find Junk Files
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/find_junk_files.html

Housecall free virus scan
https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/forHome/products/housecall.html

Malwarebytes
https://www.malwarebytes.com/

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm

Eusing Free Registry Defrag
http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_defrag/registry_defrag.htm

I've had very good luck and my laptop is over 10 years old and still cranking out.  ;D
 
I have used and had good luck with Eusing Registery Cleaner. It is a free app that scans your registry and cleans up old and  non-used files.  It makes a copy of your old registry so if you have a problem with the  cleanup you can go back to the original  registry.  I have never had to use that feature.  Just my two cents from a digital dinosaur.
 
Nobody seems willing to acknowledge that some websites are just slow.  There are so many variables that it's impossible to even begin to guess.  You,have to start with the speed of the slowest link in the route between your computer and their web servers.  (You'd have to know how to do a traceroute to find out) Then on to what software is running their site.  The speed of their internal processor, disks, memory, then the actual language and technology they created their site in.  Since you're talking about news sites it's logical that they have plenty of live content.  Videos for instance.  Do the vids start by themselves?  If they do you've probably found the culprit right there.

Is it only when you're on the web? The problem is not the computer it's your internet connection or your web cache and/or cookies.  Clear cache and delete cookies once in a while.  (Or use CCcleaner because that's one of the things it does).  Or even better set it to delete them on exit.

Once in a while the problem is virtual memory.  I've found that letting Windows manage it automatically is sometimes the worst choice.

Analyze the fragmentation of your disk unless it's a SSD.  The tool will tell you if it needs to be defragged.  (If it a SSD make sure Trim is enabled or at least that defrag is disabled).  Normally these are automatic but sometimes they get disabled by someone with good intentions but bad information.

My experience is that only once in a while is the problem caused by a virus.  And when it is it's very obvious.

Part of my volunteer job is keeping ancient computers and servers running well.  I think I've learned a trick or two.

How long does it take for the computer to boot from power off to password?
 
Paul 1950 said:
How does CNN and MSNBC websites run on your computer?  Perhaps, the problem is not the computer.  :)

Haha  ;D

I wonder how old the computer is, PCs seem to hit a point of no return and if it's struggling to load websites, that's no good. HPs are pretty good from what I understand though.
 
It seems that use of the CCleaner program has improved the situation significantly.  Things on the two sites that I mentioned are still pretty slow but not nearly as bad as they were.  I now attribute the slowness at least partially to the amount of data those websites try to load up initially.  The computer is an HP Laptop with Intel Pentium processor.  My wife has the same model but mine has Windows 8.1 and hers has Windows 10 (she elected to do the free changeover).  IIRC my laptop is about 3 years old but was used very little until the desktop PC went  into constant freezeups about 8 months ago.  Thanks for the helps folks.  It was much appreciated.

Bill
 

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