New installation of Windows 7 Ultimate, Computer running slow

I just recently got Windows 7 Ultimate so I decided to bulldoze my Windows Home Premium with it. I first realized that my computer was running kinda slow when I restarted my computer for the new OS I had just installed to set up profiles and etc. and the loading screen just for the DELL computer startup took approx. 2 minutes to complete. I didn't sit down and time it but my best guess is that it took around 7 minutes for the Windows loading screen to finish and do its pretty little swirly Windows animation. And this is all just the startup.

I really wanted to re-install Windows and cleaning up all my files (I didn't save any of my files from before the re-instillation) so I could start new, plus all I lost were a few downloadable applications. Now my computer runs UBER SLOW and I have absolutely no idea why. I have tried checking for performance issues under: Control Panel>Find & Fix Problems> Check for performance issues to no avail. Everything says it is working according to the run through. My computer takes a good 2 minutes to open Google Chrome. What I really don't understand is that sometimes it, for example on Google Chrome, has its bursts of "goodness". This 1-2 minutes of running fine is very rare and comes around sporadically.

If anyone knows anything on what I might be able to do, that would be great, I have all the time in the world to do this and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Just on a side note: My computer, when it was running Home Premium, said it has 4.00GB RAM (3.82 usable). Now after this installation says 4.00GB RAM (2.98 usable).
I'm not sure if this is a contributing cause but it may have some sort of explanation.

Thanks for reading,
-moneybagman

**EDIT**
Changed from a x32 OS to a x64 OS and my RAM is back to normal, 3.80

Mate, welcome to Sevenforums!

First, make sure you have all updates AND drivers. The newest drivers from Dell website.

See this to potentially make things faster: Optimize Windows 7

Did you use any 'cleaning' programs or tune-ups?

It would appear that the Shared system memory is taking a bit more from the RAM than it did in the past. Less RAM can deffinately slow down your system

With 64bit, you can Install more RAM, but if you only have 4GB installed, the shared system memory will still have to take from that pool of RAM. The BIOS is responsible for allocating memory to the on-board graphics.

Hello moneybagman, welcome to Seven Forums!


Have a look through the information below for some ideas and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

   Information

As a start and to rule out format errors up front, boot the Windows 7 installation media to diskpart and run the clean command, once the clean finishes, exit diskpart and use the Windows 7 installer to create and format a single 100GB partition to do the install to.

If that does't work, after another clean, use diskpart to create, format and mark Active a single 100GB partition to see if that works, use Step #2 in the SSD/HDD tutorial for reference.

Once the clean finishes, exit diskpart and use the Windows 7 installer to create and format a single 100GB partition to do the install to and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

After you have copied out or made back-ups of the data you need to external media and want to start fresh with a clean installation or clean install with an upgrade version of Windows 7 have a look through the information below and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

It may be a help to over-write the HDD Master Boot Record (MBR) before you start any other procedure using the diskpart clean command, rather than the clean all; it takes just seconds to complete so you will have "unallocated" space to use either the Windows installer to create and format the partition(s) or use diskpart to create them, however you choose.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

DISKPART : At PC Startup

If you want to completely wipe / over-write the entire Hard Disk Drive of any possible format errors, malware infection, for security purposes or just to get the best possible place to install Windows to, have a look at these tutorials.

Secure Erase / Wipe : Definition and Methods

Additional Secure Erase / Wipe Information