New
#1
Why is my computer so slow?
I admit I have a fairly light, standard performance computer.
It's fairly new (just under a year) but it's ridiculously slow. I don't have a ton of programs installed. The heftiest ones are Adobe Acrobat and Photoshop. I'm using Microsoft Security Essentials and so I don't suspect my AV as the culprit. I've had my computer scanned by MSE and Malwarebytes and nothing turns up so I don't think it's malware bloating it. I've tried going into MSConfig and disabling programs that I don't need at startup. I've defragged the HD already, and I've used CCleaner several times to clean up my registry. I'm using a 16 GB USB drive with ReadyBoost to speed up the computer. I'm not using Windows Aero. Yet I still get a 2 second delay trying to open things like Chrome or Windows Explorer.
The specs are as follows:
Lenovo SS09366814
Intel Atom CPU 230 @ 1.60 GHz 1596 Mhz, 1 core, 2 logical processors
and I have 2.0 GB of RAM.
When I bought my computer it came with Vista. I recently got a free upgrade so now it's Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit. Back when I had Vista it was also kinda slow.
Is there any way I can make my computer non-laggy? I always have to be careful when I use it. If I try to do something like open 7 tabs in Chrome, open Photoshop, open Windows Explorer, and run iTunes, my computer freezes for sure. The CPU usage gadget on the right of my desktop is always at 50% and and 100% if I'm trying to run anything. I have no idea what's sucking up my resources like this.
What should I do? Should I buy and install more RAM? My dad suspects that maybe getting a dedicated graphics card would help speed it up. I was looking at Game Booster to maybe help speed up the normal everyday working of my computer.
Thanks in advance for any help!