Win 7 Ultimate suddenly running very sluggish - looking for help

netrate · 21 Oct 2022

This has been happening for about 2 weeks now. Suddenly Win 7 takes a a lot longer to load the desktop, start the wifi, run programs - such as browsers, skype etc (photoshop takes forever now) . Everything seems to take more time than usual. Even checking my windows file explorer is much more sluggish and pacing is slow.
I wondered if there are some free performance checking tools I can use or suggestions on how to trouble shoot this. I have been using win 7 for years and no performance issues until now.

SSD 240 - hard drive is half capacity
16 gig ram - I tried shuffling the ram into different slots already to see if that made a difference - it didn't.

- - - Updated - - -

I just did a performance test and it says my disk data transfer rate has dropped!?! What does that mean? I haven't changed anything, I have an SSD.

Fox Computers · 22 Oct 2022

Hi there,

There are several things we can try in order to remedy the issue.

First, I recommend checking what programs are set to startup in Windows after you turn your computer on. It is possible you installed something recently that is now set to startup every time you turn your computer on.

Be sure to make a system restore point before proceeding with the following steps, so if any changes cause issues you can revert back.

Press “Win + R” on your keyboard. Type “msconfig” in the dialog box then click ok. MSConfig will then open up. Once it has opened up click the "Startup" tab. You should then see a list of programs. If you recognize a program that you don’t think you need to start up when Windows boots, clear the checkbox next to it. For example, you might not want Skype to start up every time you turn your computer on. Just be careful with what you uncheck, try to avoid Microsoft programs. These might be necessary for Windows to boot correctly.

Let me know if this helps. If not we can try other things

Fox Computers

netrate · 23 Oct 2022

Yes, I have already done all that you have suggested prior to posting. Startup programs are minimal. Thanks for the reply, still looking for a way to fix this.

Megahertz07 · 24 Oct 2022

I see in your hardware specs that you also have Win 10 on same drive.
- Does Win 10 run without issues?
- From Win 10 did you run a AV on the Win 7 partition?

Open a CMD window as administrator and type:
chkdsk c: /f
It will say your disk is in use and ask if you want to schedule to next start = yes
Restart

Fox Computers · 25 Oct 2022

If you do have Windows 10 on the same drive as observed by Megahertz0, I will refrain from making any further suggestions as I am not familiar with such setups and fear giving any advice would be irresponsible. Hope you are able to get the issue resolved!
Fox Computers

netrate · 26 Oct 2022

I have removed Win 10 from my system and it is only Win 7 on there. I haven't had the Win 10 drive on my system for over 6 months leading me to believe this isn't caused by that.

Megahertz07 · 26 Oct 2022

Did you run check disk?

Open a CMD window as administrator and type:
sfc /scannow

netrate · 27 Oct 2022

I will report back from the scannow

sfc /scannow :

EDIT : Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations

netrate · 30 Oct 2022

I have run CrystalDiskInfo and the drive also checks out. It seems to be getting worse. Even pulling up File Explorer must take close to 30 seconds to populate.

Megahertz07 · 30 Oct 2022

Did you try a clean Boot?
Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup