Windows 10: Computer being slow. Task manager says half of RAM in active use.

Good morning/afternoon/evening all,

For the past week or so my laptop (Dell Inpiron 15 3545) has been very slow in opening/running any application. The first thing I did was check task manager, which reported that half of my RAM (3.9/7.9 GB) was in active use by some program, even though no applications were open at the time. My first thought was that I had a virus of some sort, even though the only thing I had downloaded recently was a driver from the Dell website one week prior. Nevertheless, I ran a full malware scan (MalwareBytes AntiMalware) twice which reported no malware each time, and then ran CCleaner to clean any small files like cache and internet history. The issue remained. Looking online, I came across several references to Poolmon, which scans the RAM for usage. The highest-usage program listed was titled "MmSt" with 105MB of total RAM usage, with the next listings being 10MB or fewer. I tried to boot into safe mode with networking, and task manager showed about 20% usage.
I tried a clean boot into the OS using the following tutorial: HTML Code: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows[/quote] Afterwards, the task manager showed about 30% of usage.

This is all I have been able to do so far. I am thinking of trying to refresh windows, but I do not have a recovery disc nor will my computer let me make one on a thumb drive (not sure why). At this point, the task manager is now showing that on top of the 30% of RAM, the Disc (C is now at 100% with no evidence as to what is taking that much. Does anyone have some suggestions?

:)

 

Ram on Task manager

• May you please attach a screenshot of Task Manager?
• You may visit
  Lenovo Support - "Support Home Page"
• Try to detect your system and check whether you have RAM 4GB/8GB

 

Ram on Task manager





1* - You have 2 RAM of 4GB

2* - Task Manager shows you have 8GB

3* - 3.8GB(in use) + 3.8GB(cached) + 0.624MB(Hardware Reserved) + 0.230MB(Pool) = 8GB(approx. more)

Note:

• 1GB = 1024MB
• It seems you have more than 8GB RAM
• You might be using any RAM Boost Software

 

RAM usage says 100%

Hi,

Thanks for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

I would suggest you to Run Maintenance task

The Run maintenance task checks issues that might slow down your computer's, such as how many users are currently logged on to the computer and whether multiple programs are running at the same time.

Follow the below steps.

• 
  Press Windows + X on the keyboard.
  
• 
  Select Control Panel.
  
• 
  Select Troubleshooting.
  
• 
  Click on Run maintenance task under
  System and Security.
  

Hope it helps, reply to us with the status of your issue. We will be happy to assist you.