Laptop is very slow to startup. Cant find the problem

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colin79ie

colin79ie

PCHF Member
Jun 15, 2020
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My Lenovo laptop is very slow to start. It loads windows fine but then it takes an hour to be of any use. I think something is running in the background but I cant figure out what it is. A mouse click anywhere hangs for 5-10 seconds until it gets up and running properly.
Ive looked in task manager etc but cannot find the issue as yet.
The laptop is maybe 5 years old, was never lightning fast but is painfully slow now.
Any help or pointers appreciated
 
So other can assist lets get a speccy report.

Do not forget to post the make and model of the PSU if this is a desktop.

Download then run Speccy (free) and post the resultant url for us, details here, this will provide us with information about your computer hardware + any software that you have installed that may explain the present issue/s.

To publish a Speccy profile to the Web:

In Speccy, click File, and then click Publish Snapshot.

In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.

Speccy publishes the profile and displays a second Publish Snapshot. You can open the URL in your default browser, copy it to the clipboard, or close the dialog box.
 
the hard drive SMART values look OK.
the drive's capacity is down to 20% so you may want to start cleaning that up.
there are quiet a few scheduled tasks to perform at startup, so stopping those may help.
also starting in Safe Mode will test that as they don't get started then.
your BIOS hasn't been updated in 6 years, see if there is a newer one for your motherboard.
it used to have McAfee, so make sure it has been uninstalled.

the processor came out the end of 2013 and is only 1.7GHz, so yeah, as you said, it would never have been a fast unit.
I think that factor, age and the stuff listed above are all adding up a t bit of a perfect storm for the old girl.

personally, to breathe new life into it, I'd be swapping out the drive for a solid state drive and reloading Windows anew.
 
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4.00GB Single-Channel DDR3
Memory Usage: 81 %
Total Physical: 3.92 GB
Available Physical: 737 MB

something in your system is eating RAM and leaving nothing for the programs to run.

Suggest getting a matching RAM to have the system running Dual Channel and not Single Channel. Which can also sometimes cut the speed of the ram in half as well which is why you should always use RAM in pairs.

If you do not use it disable Hibernation
Open an Admin Command Prompt
Type
powercfg.exe /hibernate off
Click to expand...

To uninstall the left overs of McAfee
https://download.mcafee.com/products/licensed/cust_support_patches/MCPR.exe
 
Funny but at work we had a Lenovo notebook with the same symptoms : almost 1 hour to boot.

I sent it for repair and came with: HDD replaced.
 
Rustys said:
4.00GB Single-Channel DDR3
Memory Usage: 81 %
Total Physical: 3.92 GB
Available Physical: 737 MB

something in your system is eating RAM and leaving nothing for the programs to run.

Suggest getting a matching RAM to have the system running Dual Channel and not Single Channel. Which can also sometimes cut the speed of the ram in half as well which is why you should always use RAM in pairs.

If you do not use it disable Hibernation
Open an Admin Command Prompt
Type


To uninstall the left overs of McAfee
https://download.mcafee.com/products/licensed/cust_support_patches/MCPR.exe
Click to expand...
I've done the McAfee removl and the hibernation disable. In terms of what might be eating up the RAM, is there a way of identifying what it might be?
 
Press the Windows key + X
select Task Manager

On the bottom of that windows if you see More Details select that

Select the Performance Tab
then select Memory
 
Ok, I have seen that windows defender, Msmpeng.exe is hogging a lot . Some research has shown a few tips on scheduling etc, However, it has been suggested to use a different, less hungry antivirus/malware package. Any suggestions on a suitable free one that can replace the defender? I had a look on the resources section but the list is quite long and I don't want to install the wrong one and make it worse.
 
you're running Win10, so Defender shouldn't be a resource hog unless it has been told to scan more than the default settings.
and if Defender is being a hog, any 3rd party one will be just as bad.
what used to be good ones like AVG and Avast are now crap, and the big boys like Nortons and Trend will be no better than Defender.

reboot the laptop into Safe Mode and see what the memory hoggers are.
 
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