Using Win 7 excruciatingly slow - help or advice sought

My HD died awhile back and thought I'd put in a new SSD and see if I could try to recover files from it. Formerly XP Pro machine.

Thought I'd install Win 7 Ultimate as I'll be doing a new build soon.

Here is what's occuring:

• WEI is 3.6
• Boot up and shut down quite rapid
• Firefox starts fast
• waiting for sites to load very slow
• switching browser windows very slow
• clicking Start and Computer takes around a minute
• typing words in Google search bar takes upwards of 30 seconds to appear
• streaming siruisxm radio sporadic
• couple of BSOD - last one Bad Pool Header

I've read that many people have had success using Win 7 with hardware similar to mine but this kind of performance is ridiculous.

Not sure if other than ancient hardware it could be a driver or some other issue.

WEI
Processor 3.6
Memory 4.6
Graphics 5.9
Gaming GFX 6.9
Primary HD 5.9

Hello ecobuilder05 Welcome to the Seven Forums!

How ironic you having 4gb on an older system and one old XP case I tossed a fast install of the 32bit Ultimate on where everything worked well only saw 1gb of DDR 333 memory. The cpu on that was an old Socket A Atholon XP3000.

Your new SSD shows the same 5.9 score as the Sata II 1tb drive 7 in on here showing how the WEI is not all that reliable as an accurate assessment of what is best but a fast reference tool only. Web pages moving slow is often ISP as well as the particular site being busy depending on the time of day or night you arrive there.

As for the BSODs the memory dump file(s) will contain the more precise details necessary for debugging the cause which could be display driver related which would also explain the slow going with browsers windows and typing text in general. The System File Checker tool(typing sfc /scannow at the Start>Run command line) can be a help at times at verifying the main system files are present and not corrupt in the event the Windows install was incomplete.

The last thing of course is not getting all the drivers needed on for the main board and chipset as well as sata controllers, network, video, and sound in good working order. That again however brings up the BSOD problem.

If you can zip up the memory dump file found in the "C:\Windows\Minidump\" folder to attach that to your next post that would be a good idea. The BSODs are generally analyzed in the Crashes and Debugging section here at SF however.

Some of the best freewares would be the System Info for Windows(SIW) and Speccy for gathering up the general information. SIW also breaks down the list of softwares installed as well as the hardwares to research the updates for each thing.

The other often advised freebie is the Secunia Personal Software Inspector or Secunia PSI for short. That will alert you when something new is available whether a Windows, hardware, or other software update(s) can be downloaded and installed. That one is often advised since it helps with security by keeping things updated.

Those are good programs. The SIW will show the make and model for looking updates from either the board or card manufacturers or right from the chip manufacturers.

With the board there the Asus or Intel support site while for the card you would either go back to Sapphire or direct to the AMD/ATI downloads for the lastest Cat. 12.8 version which I suspect would now allow for some old game titles to run while anything after the 10.4 wouldn't.

The Secunia PSI is great for finding things while I keep from automatically starting up with Windows here. The constant popups for every little thing can be annoying as well as intefere with some programs at times. It's still a good one to have onhand however.

As far as the dump files you zipped up I think you will need to see those analyzed for you in the other section since the BlueScreenView program was unable to open them for a fast look. I still use that regularly however when finding it's a good one for showing which driver is at fault when you already know where a problem stems from. But it still has it's limits.

The Bad Pool Header indicates a possible system file corruption problem. One MS Answers thread saw the reply back from the thread starter that the drive was wiped to see a clean install of 7 solve that in a hurry! That's for sure! But I don't think you will be headed in that direction this soon!

If the ide, usb, and other controller drivers are all updated you now only need to isolate the cause of the BSODs themselves especially if you see any more of them. As far as the hardwares you have to look at what you were running 7 on compared to simply tossing a fast temp install on an old boat! I had to do that for a week when the first board on the present build was cooked by a faulty supply! Ironically all of the old XP drivers worked like a champ for the temp 32bit Ultimate install at the time.