Slowness problem


  1. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #1

    Slowness problem


    I've already posted a message dealing with one aspect of my problem. What's new is that I have managed to re-lay a mirror image from before the point when I thought the problem had arisen, yet the slowness is still there. So now I'm wondering if I might have a hardware problem of some kind.

    This is what happened.

    A month ago my HP Pavilion (dv7-3111ea) laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium was working really well. It was about 10 months old.

    I bought a Seagate external HD with Memeo Backup already installed. I already had an Acronis continuous backup program installed (as well as an Acronis scheduled backup program), but I had forgotten about them. The 60-hour Memeo backup I carried out did not work. There may have been some conflict issues between Acronis and Memeo. Also, my anti-virus program is Kaspersky but, somehow, Windows Defender and Windows Firewall were both activated. I remember switching both off but it's possible when I was given a reminder about them I picked the wrong option.

    After the Memeo failure, my computer had slowed notably. I contacted the manufacturer but they were no help. Eventually I uninstalled both the Memeo Backup program and the Seagate Dashboard program. Afterwards I found that my computer would work well and at normal speed for a while, then unaccountably it would become very slow, with CPU usage fluctuating around 95%. For example, I could watch an online recorded TV program such as The Daily Politics with normal streaming, then after about 20 or 30 minutes, the picture would become jerky. I contacted Memeo again, and they told me to try talking to Microsoft because they could not understand how I was having difficulties if their programs had been uninstalled.

    Restoring my system to an earlier point was problematic. Most of the restore points available were AFTER the installation of Memeo and the two ones from BEFORE were a bit too old. I would lose the installation of some new programs.

    However, I had made some Acronis backups. By now, however, my computer was going so slow that to recover one of them would have taken a month. So I bit the bullet, and restored to May 2010 using a Windows mirror image.

    My system is still slow!!! CPU usage is around 45% (and rarely dropping below 20%) when I have just one IE page open but when I open a second, it shoots up to 100% and the page opening takes a minute.

    I attach a list of open services and processes. (By the way, is there a way of exporting a list of processes as there is of services, rather than having to write out the list laboriously?)

    Is it possible that I have some kind of hardware problem?
    Slowness problem Attached Files
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       #2

    Hi Robert,

    A few things to start checking:

    1. Does the laptop still seem excessively slow when the Seagate USB drive remains unplugged?
    2. In terms of %CPU uage, what is the biggest user of CPU? Take a screen capture of TaskManager (similar to the image below) and post it here.
    3. Is Windows updated? Kaspersky updated?

    Regards,
    Golden
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Slowness problem-capture.png  
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thank you for responding.

    The Seagate external HD is not connected. The slowness happens all by itself, and with the same pattern. Trying to watch an online TV feed, everything is normal for a while (10-20 minutes), then the slowness kicks in (CPU usage fluctuating around 95%). If I close down the TV feed, things drop back to around 50% and there it stays. But if I close the laptop lid for a while, when I reopen the machine, CPU usage is down to single figures.

    Windows has not been updated because I had slowness problems with one update a few months ago, and I had to uninstall. Kaspersky is kept up to date.

    I attach screen shots of the Task manager (normal and slow). One of the IE figures is now a lot higher but it went up straightaway, as soon as I opened The Daily Politics. The streaming stayed normal for a while, then it became slow.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Slowness problem-screenprint.png   Slowness problem-screenprint-2.png  
      My Computer

  4.   My Computer


  5. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Could all this be caused by a temperature problem? My laptop is on a table with a top made of something like formica. Would it be better to put it on some sort of metal tray to conduct heat away from the machine?
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 258
    Win 7 Ultimate x64
       #6

    Robert Jenkins said:
    Thank you for responding.

    The Seagate external HD is not connected. The slowness happens all by itself, and with the same pattern. Trying to watch an online TV feed, everything is normal for a while (10-20 minutes), then the slowness kicks in (CPU usage fluctuating around 95%). If I close down the TV feed, things drop back to around 50% and there it stays. But if I close the laptop lid for a while, when I reopen the machine, CPU usage is down to single figures.

    Windows has not been updated because I had slowness problems with one update a few months ago, and I had to uninstall. Kaspersky is kept up to date.

    I attach screen shots of the Task manager (normal and slow). One of the IE figures is now a lot higher but it went up straightaway, as soon as I opened The Daily Politics. The streaming stayed normal for a while, then it became slow.
    Hi Robert - I'm wondering - in your "snips" of the task manager - where is your "system idle process" time - in your first taskbar picture, nothing shown seems to be taking any CPU time at all - everything is zero (which seems impossible). Try clicking on the CPU "heading" label at the top of the list to bring the most active processes to the top of the list. If you notice my task manager snip you will see that in my system the "system idle process" time is 99% of the CPU time (meaning that 99% of the CPU time is free). Clicking on the CPU "heading" label should bring the most active processes to the top so you can see whats taking up the most CPU time. Maybe you could do this and repost your snips. I see we are both using Kapersky.
    Slowness problem-capture.jpg
      My Computer

  7.    #7

    You can install Speedfan to monitor temps.

    It's always a good idea to elevate the back of a laptop to get more circulation underneath.

    Never block underside air intakes by placing on pillow or bedspread.

    You can buy a cooling pad for cheap.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #8

    To thehappyman: Yes, sorry, I hadn't ticked the all-sources. When I do, I get the system idle reading.
    To gregrocker: I've bought a cooling mat and so far so good. Here's hoping. I've also downloaded a speedfan and I'm keeping an eye on it. It really does look as if the problem was temperature.
    I have a new question, however. Wondering whether I should re-lay down the mirror image of my laptop HD made a few days ago (which I had backed up to an internal drive for a desktop in a caddy), I checked to see if I could boot up from that drive in the caddy, and I was given the option of booting Windows normally or repair the system (which I presume meant my laptop setup). So, if I re-lay this image, won't that mean that my laptop won't boot up, either?
    Thanks to you both.
      My Computer

  9.    #9

    Reading back over your thread, i would consider clean reinstalling to get a perfect install.

    Here are tips based on hundreds done here: re-install windows 7

    Before starting reinstall I would test your RAM and HD using tools given in the troubleshooting tips given earlier.
      My Computer


  10. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #10

    Suggestions
    (1) Resource monitor > CPU tab may give a better picture
    (2) Get rid of (stop) unnecessary processes and check what you have at startup
    (3) Make sure you have gotten rid of all remnants of the memeo backup program
    (4) Run another anti malware (Malwarebytes) with a full scan.

    When totally frustrated - backup & clean install.
      My Computer


 

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