Windows 10: How to fix a very slow laptop?

I'm not familiar with either! If both serve the same function, then both are fighting each other for priority and control to complete its function.

If AVG is not a licensed install, then perhaps a temporary uninstall might prove beneficial?

 

Installing any 3rd party AV should disable WD so it doesn't run all the time while some of it's functions are retained, like possibility of manual scans. WD has became a quite good AV so no need for additional ones. When not configured properly AVG can be really "heavy" on system, every time you download, copy a file or install a program it checks it for malware and that can tax the system considerably. On inherently slow systems, with slow HDD it can wreck havoc with system performance.
Hard disks on such portable devices are very slow because they are made to survive much more abuse. SSDs are not sensitive to motion and hits and can be many times faster than such HDDs.
Considering performance of that machine, an SSD would do wonders for it's responsiveness.

 

Norton and Microsoft did some behind-the scenes wrangling. Windows Defender used to never show up in Task Manager. Within this past year, Windows Defender showed up alongside Norton. Any slowdown may or may not be coincidental with Meltdown/Spectre software remediation that came to pass.

 

Agreed, considering the computer also came with a 5400 RPM HDD.

 

I think that laptop's fine with Windows 10. Windows Defender would automatically be disabled if you have an installed AV anyways.

It all matters to which processes is killing the drive, very typical for windows 10.

 

Hi folks

as others have suggested SSD would be the easiest and probably the most effective.

Of course there's always a facetious answer !! (please don't take offence but I think it's quite funny : ) get a new one !!!

The SSD though is the best idea - forget about RAM increase (unless you can easily add more) - most laptops have a very limited space

Reminds me the other day in a pub with a friend talking about making money on the Stock Exchange
question was how to make a small fortune

My answer was start with a large one. !!

Cheers
jimbo

 

RingTailCoon: Run Task Manager when your system starts. If it looks like on the picture (high CPU & lazy disk), then buying SSD is definitely waste of money, regardless of number of high-ranking users which recommend it. Only the main bottleneck matters.

 

Back in the day (goes off to see when that was ... gadzooks it was 2007!) I bought an Asus Eee PC. By far the best thing I did for that machine was to rip out the 5400 rpm HD and replace it with a OCZ or Crucial 128 GB SSD. The performance was appreciably better, especially for startup/shutdown/launching applications. On lower-powered PCs IO makes a huge difference because it's the slowest link in the processing chain.
HTH and good luck with your upgrade, whatever you decide.
--Ed--

 

NavyLCD: I do not want to argue but (as I wrote before) I have real experience - Windows 10 on EEE 1005PG with & w/o SSD gives the same experience. See the screenshot taken from this machine - the main problem (unresolvable) is weak processor.

EdTittel: Did you have Windows XP installed? Then yes, EEE system with SSD may behave better. Windows 10 unfortunately demands much higher computing power which Atom and similar processors cannot provide. Under these circumstances, slow disk suddenly turns into marginality.

Just to clarify: I never told that SSD upgrade has no sense for systems equipped with better processor, but I have to claim that SSD is pointless in Windows 10 systems with processors without "speculative execution" optimization (not vulnerable to Spectre/Meltdown). RingTailCoon's laptop falls into this category. (And yes, everyone may try it if he can; old netbook & some SSD required.)