Windows 10: How to fix a very slow laptop?

SSD may not help with processing power but sure helps with program starting, Even with normal use, windows reads and writes several GB daily and there's also virtual memory that works much better with SSD. There's also superfetch and prefetch using disk all the time.

 

A girlfriend of mine just let me use her laptop once in a while (she uses it very rarely, thank goodness!), Problem with it: it's slow. Very slow. How slow you ask? Installing something takes up half-an-hour to an HOUR to complete (even simple anti virus definitions take THAT long!) and even starting windows take up like 7 minutes long from start to finish.

I thought installing the FCU on her laptop would ramp things up (installed with her permission ofcourse) but no. Even that takes the slowness to a whole new level.

She used to have Windows 8.1 on that laptop but we've upgraded it. So.... How can we ramp that baby up without injecting that PC with some good helping of Red Bull?

Toshiba Satellite, 1Ghz laptop.

CPU: AMD E1-2100, AMD Jaguar

Clock freq: 1 Ghz







Oh and don't get me started over installing updates on this baby... (only if you have all day and no time on your hands...)

:)

 

Nokia E75 - very slow to get a GPS fix

With Integrated GPS positioning Method.. 5 minutes for the FIX is quite reasonable. Depending upon the topography of the area and the Weather.. it may be upto 30 minutes or more... Tall buildings / trees and / or Rainy / Cloudy weather hampers the signals
from the satellites and therefore it may take quite long.. Also note that starting the Maps application at a place other than where it was switched Off the last time.. will also take a longer time for the Fix...

Some vehicles windscreen are coated with certain material that may also block the signals...



..as a Mobile phone is not a dedicated GPS device.. the size of the antenna and processing are the deciding factors... If you need to have a faster FIX.. check whether your phone has Bluetooth GPS capability (I do not think it is...not sure though).. that
can provide a fix within matter of few seconds...

 

Nokia E75 - very slow to get a GPS fix

Its normal for all phones because you are not using A-GPS. Keep in mind that the GPS unit of a phone is like less than the size of your thumb, while the GPS units of dedicated devices are like as big as an entire finger at times, plus using a lot more
power than the GPS unit of a phone. The 5min thing and the forever in a moving vehicle is quite normal (this goes for EVERY unit not using A-GPS or network positioning).

 

Good day.

Is the hard disk dying per chance? How much memory it has got? If Windows 8.1 was running fine there is no reason Windows 10 is running so slow. Did you try a clean installation?

PS - Try checking S.MA.R.T. values and issue a chkdsk c: /f /r /x command (from elevated command-prompt) on every partition, replacing c: by appropiate drive letter.

 

It has only one drive, the C:/ drive. I'll check that when I get the chance, the owner is now away for the sunday...

6 Gigs of mem it has.

 

Another possibility is security software conflicts.

 

Yeah, she has AVG and Windows Defender running at the same time... *Shock

 

This is described online as a low-end laptop. Expect it to be slow. (No wonder she doesn't use it much!)

Its CPU passmark rating is 631.

In comparison we bought two HP desktops in 2010, one rated around 3700 and the other around 5000.

We junked them last year in favor of a laptop at 5700 and a desktop at 12000.

So ... a laptop rated 631 is bordering on junk. For better speed get a better computer.

 

Thank goodness it's not mine... I only got offered to upgrade the OS... *Roflmao2

 

Upgrading the HDD to an SSD would give you the biggest speed boost.

A CPU Passmark of 631, though? wow.

 

I could explain it to her, but she's quite a-technical! *Smile And... yes... Kiiiiiinda slowish!

 

Not true. According to https://www.techarp.com/guides/compl...re-cpu-list/3/ this AMD E1-2100 processor is not vulnerable by Meltdown and Spectre exploits, so it lacks speculative execution optimization. In this case, installing SSD has minimal effect onto computer speed. See Let's run Win10 on really really old hardware - Page 24 - Windows 10 Forums post for further information.

 

There are basically two things that can be upgraded on that computer - HDD to SSD and RAM. So you think upgrading the RAM to the max of 16GB from the 4GB it likely came with from the factory would offer a greater performance boost than an upgrade from HDD to SSD?

 

Both the RAM and SSD upgrades make sense only after processor upgrade. *) It is not always possible; lowend CPUs are often soldered to notebook motherboard, and if it can be done (processor is placed in socket and motherboard supports different CPUs), it is task for PC technician, anyway.

*) I own older netbook Asus EEE with soldered Atom N450 processor, tried to add RAM & test SSD in it, still very slow & processor utilization very high during long time after start. I decided to use that SSD in other notebook where it makes much better job.

It is possible to disable unneeded tasks & services, it may improve response a bit. Unfortunately I still did not found/made reasonable list of them & howto. And overall efficiency of these changes applied to lowend system remains questionable.

Buying some more powerful system (not necessarily new) is the best alternative I think.