Windows 10: VAIO PC excruciatingly slow for unknown reason

Hi,

I'm primarily a Mac person, coming back to windows on this PC cause its the only one in the house with an optical drive. Last windows OS I used was XP, and I'm totally lost in 10.

As I understand (I am not the primary user of this computer) the OS has recently been freshly installed. This computer has barely been used as the slowness has relegated it to a back cabinet. I have stopped everything I can think of from running or starting that I don't need, and still can't run two apps at once. Importing a CD with iTunes? Can't do a web search without it freezing. Looking at settings? Go grab a cup of coffee while the menu loads. The specs on this PC seem to be acceptable--an i7 intel processor with 4gb of ram--I'm having a hard time understanding why it is so impossibly slow.

My Mac, for comparison, has an intel i5 processor and 4gb of ram and is running Catalina with absolutely no issues, very little load time or delay for any task.

So what's different? Unknown

Windows version is 1903 OS build 18362.476 (updated a week or so ago.)

Thanks!

:)

 

Multiple Different Errors for Unknown Reasons

Unfortunately neither fixed the issue. Trying to follow the instructions of any other 'windows not connecting fix' things online leads to errors like this popping up at nearly every step:

 

Outlook app on HP Elite X3 excruciatingly slow

The Outlook app is excruciatingly slow to open and, once open, to sync mail. Often enough, it crashes when trying to open. Or, I'll select mail to delete, press the delete button, then, after a long pause, it crashes. And, upon re-opening, the selected
emails have not been deleted.

oh, and often times, when i select an email to open and read, it doesn't open. Or, at least not in a reasonable amount of time. In fact I just tried. This time the email i selected opened. But, when pressing Download Message, it doesn't download. I
come here to post this, then try going back to the Outlook window and it is gone, has crashed.

Please help.

 

Slow Computer

Hi Sheree,

One of the most common reasons for a slow computer are programs running in the background. Other factors that can contribute to the issue are memory space, malware infection, outdated software, and processor overheating. To improve your computer's performance,
you can check the tips listed on this link. We suggest that you also try to follow the suggested steps.

Feel free to post back if you have further questions.