Gets slower and slower

Ok, I got a laptop in January. I uninstalled all the bloatware, etc, and it was running great. However, I've noticed a significant decrease in speed lately, more noticeably in gaming (and my card is not overheating, it's never gone past 62 C). I used to be able to play on high settings, now it's on medium, bordering low.

Any suggestions on what I can do? I've already done the Vista tweaks/tips guide long ago.

 

Is your hdd filled up?

 

Nope. It's got more than half of it free.

 

How many processes are running when you bring up task manager?

When it is running slow, is the hard drive light always on?

 

Sometimes removing bloatware doesn't always remove everything. Try a clean install w/ VLite.

 

While that's true, he said that his computer was fast for awhile (after removing bloat) and only afterward did it start getting slower.

Have you tried cleaning out your registry with something like CCleaner?

 

Maybe a defrag might help, defraggler/jk defrag for free ones.

 

Some tips I use that haven't been mentioned yet that work are:

1. Defrag bootfiles using Gary's batch files found on this forum in the vista tweak thread.
2. Compact Registry with NTREGOPT
3. Possibly check for viruses or malware infecting your system which is causing the slowdown. I use Avira for my AV and SuperAntiSpyware and MalwareBytes as on-demand scanners.

 

Step one, find out WHAT is hogging the CPU. Go to the Sysinternals site and get a copy of process explorer.

Step two, see step one.

Gary

 

Yeah... see what's running that's hogging CPU and RAM. (Process Explorer is nice, but even the built-in Task Manager and Resource Monitor can usually tell you what processes are hogging your resources.)

Also, definitely run virus and spyware scans.

 

What AV software are you using? system up to date?

cheers ...

 

try running tune up utilities, ccleaner, deffragler...

 

Before even finding out WHAT is hogging the CPU? I am always amazed at some folks first fix always being to "run tune up, ccleaner or defrag", before knowing what the source of the problem actually is.

It's like taking penicillin at the first sign of a sniffle.

jisaac, I am NOT trying to single you out in this. I see lots of other folks with the exact same sort of response.

Gary

 

It's possible nothing is hogging up the CPU. He just has a slow down...but not that I disagree to check if something is hogging up the CPU/RAM. My guess is some sort of infection, but the OP hasn't responded to his own thread so I'm guessing he solved the issue.

 

It's more like changing you oil every 3,000 miles. Just good maintenance. It may not solve your problem, but making sure all of the routine maintenance is up to date won't hurt. Then if you still have a problem, you can track it down.

 

Sorry but I really disagree. None of those is part of what I would consider "good maintenance". First so called "tune up" applications are mostly snake oil. I would NEVER let one near my development machine.

Ccleaner is another waste time for most folks, it has caused issues for some and the whole concept of "smaller registry equals faster machine" has been throughly debunked. There are rare occasions where ccleaner has fixed some slowdown, but the operative word there is rare.

And defrag is automatically done on most Vista machines. (Big caveat on that last point: the auto defrag is done if, and only if, the machine is allowed to remain on and idle for a bit of time.)

Gary

 

My only REAL point was that the FIRST thing to do is see if something is hogging resources. And the knee jerk reaction from too many folks here is to immediately suggest running ccleaner, a defrag and/or some "snake oil" tune up app.

Gary

 

i vote for fresh clean installation of vista

 

Windows rot

 

Was a factor in Win98, less so in Win2000, even less so in WinXp and almost non-existant in WinVista.

Gary

 

No, windows still has that problem. A little less in Vista then XP, but still present if you don't maintain your computer. I use multiple programs to maintain my computer. It's still as fast as the day I finished installing everything on it. The Hard drive slows down the more I put on it. I use most of the Auslogics free products, ccleaner, autoruns, Avira for antivirus and Ad-Aware for spyware. Been using it for about a year now and no viruses or any other spyware next to tracking cookies. Try all those programs.

 

I use both tuneup and ccleaner and I have never had any issues with them. Also, tuneup does a lot more then just "maintenance". Tuneup has a cool start-up manager thing that is a lot better then msconfig. Tuneup also offers a lot of customizations that have nothing to do with "maintenance" crap.

 

tune up is awesome.. i always use it for everything it does

 

I'm pretty sure TuneUp has messed up something quite severely on Windows XP in the past for me...

CCleaner - registry editor can be dangerous.
Cleaning temp files has always been good for me.

And with 200MB or more of temporary files, how is removing them not a good thing?

 

ScuderiaConchiglia you have got to be less stubborn and start accepting that not everything you say is right. I've seen your posts in other forums and you appear way too stuck up.

 

if you don't need those 200MB right now as your disk is 100% else and you need another 200MB to save on, how is it a good thing?

some of those are cache-style files and allow faster performance of your apps. you praise yourself "let vista be, it manages itself very well".

und jep, ich sag das auch in der öffentlichkeit

 

I have been a software developer for 40 years. If you don't like my opinions, don't read what I write. But they are backed up by those 40 years of experience, including owning the first computer store in Cincinnati in 1976. I have and will continue to offer my opinions here on things I agree and DISAGREE with. Take 'em however you want, or not.

I'm more than happy to reconsider my opinion when presented with facts. Note I said FACTS, not some anecdotal "evidence" like "it feels faster", or "it seems like it takes less time", or "a friend of my uncle's brother's wife is a tech and she says.... Etc. Etc. There is way to much of that sort of thing permeating the internet. There are so many of these urban myths floating about that have been repeated so many times by so many folks without REALLY finding out with some rigourous testing.

Gary

 

well, you can have as much experience as you want in computer business, most knowledge is not needed after some years, or downright WRONG.

this does not mean i don't agree with you (nor does it, that i do). it just means old habbits are the biggest danger of new things (see slow vista adoption and hate rate).

and yes, i think more about such cleaning tools (ccleaner, defraggler, maybe ntregopt) as "letting the car check". they as well give you some idea on what can be wrong while you start with them.

i'm only in business since around 15 years (but from user, to supporter, to network and server admin, to software developer, to theoretiker and all i know all sort of point of views, and how they interfer sometimes).

anyways, it's not an agreement or not. but bragging with knowledge is just wrong. knowledge doesn't mean you're right, or better. just look at our economics right now. all "knowledgeable leaders of companies" who realize they all failed. knowledge is dangerous.

 

Instead of running multiple maintenance programs, a thorough look at the task manager will eventually solve the cause for slow-down.

 

I never said a small registry will speed a system. I use CCLeaner to remove unneeded files, cookies, installers, and excess files clogging my harddrive. And defragging is more efficient if you remove unneeded stuff first. I don't see much advantage to the registry cleaner function, and don't use it.

And yes, if you leave your Vista machine on, it will eventually defrag. But my laptop is a laptop: it's on when I use it, and off when I don't. And while I am not familiar with the Vista defrag, in every other version of Windows, it can't defrag open system files, including lots of the temp files, paging file, registry, etc., etc. An occasional manual defrag at boot will help.

As for snake oil, my internet connection will not digitize and transmit lipids of any species. It's all software. I have a system that runs well, while I know others who do no maintenance and have machines that end up dragging. I never suggested that any of this is a magic bullet that will solve all problems, or that it would fix this particular issue. But it won't hurt, and its a cheap and fast option to try. Nothing is lost, and there is a potential that it will help.

I'm sorry, but I only got my first computer in 1982, so I'm still kind of new at this.

 

As a precursor to a defrag, ccleaner is a real help especially if you are low on disk space. But it is often touted as being MUCH more than that. And it those OTHER functions that I question any REAL demonstrable need for.

Trust me, I never took issue with defragging a drive. That is why I put the caveat in about the fact that Vistas automatic defrag not being run unless the machine is allowed to go idle. (Which means that 99% of all laptops never get defragged automatically.)

My reference to snake oil was ONLY about the so called "tune up" applications. Crap like that infomercial "Finally Fast" software and its ilk. There are so many companies willing to steal hard earned money from unsuspecting users.

I would be the last person to suggest there is NO need for maintenance. But what I was suggesting is that what some folks are calling (or selling) as proper maintenance, is not.

Finally, in reference to my mentioning of my background and years at this stuff. That was ONLY done to counter the claim I was being stubborn and stuck up, which implied I didn't know what I was talking about. As I said in that reply, I am happy to change my stubborn opinions when presented with analytical facts. And that is done here pretty regularly by a lot of folks. But there is an entire group of others willing to just swallow and then repeat some anecdotal evidence as if it were cold hard facts. When confronted with that, yep I will admit to being a tad stubborn. ...big ol' grin...

Gary

 

actually, the cleaning of the registry of ccleaner helps, too. small registry isn't the "big thing", but wrong registry entry let windows uselessly search for stuff that isn't there (say tons of handlers for file-exts that don't exist anymore actually, etc. codecs that are registered but don't exist anymore, etc).

this would result in tons of registry queries + file queries to see if the files are there. that does slow down. not if you do it monthly or so, then you won't measure performance. but i've seen some xp installations that where never cleaned while running over 5 years. those had 10000's of old registry entries, all invalid. purging them helps.

it's the same like the tempfiles. they don't hurt your hdd or anything, but if you happen to look for something (actually when your os tries to), then it has to search longer. that's why ccleaner can speed up the system. and by much. (half the boot time than before, apps much faster, and espencially browsing in the explorer much faster, ie with 1-5gb of temp files (while limited to 50mb, no clue how it could explode that big) was idling around for minutes before loading the first page. afterwards, instant).

and ntregopt helped me on my worksystem to get the boot time down to half, even after ccleaner couldn't help anymore. yes, we have terrible setups, no i can't change that where i work sadly.

those tools help in worst cases quite much. but they may just as well not help at all, if the problem is somewhere else.

 

Gary:

Fair enough, I just took umbrage because you quoted my post and brought up issues that went on a bit of a tangent. I will agree that there are a lot of bad "performance enhancement" programs out there (as well as some good ones), and it takes a bit of reading up to understand what each one does, and then decide if it's a good thing or not for your system.