Asus X55A Windows Reinstallation... RAM Question

[bpatters69]

Hello All,

I have an Asus X55A laptop. The laptop has 2GB of RAM and a Celeron processor. The PC is about two years old. The PC was so loaded with spyware and who knows what else that I ended up doing a clean windows install. I could not use Asus factory reset which accomplished by hitting F9 at start up as the hard drive was not responding. The hard drive would get to the Windows startup screen and just sit there.

So, not sure if it was the right thing to do or not but I inserted a Windows Home Premium DVD, booted the PC and did the following. Upon seeing the windows install screen, I hit Shift + F10 to bring up what I call a DOS screen (yes, I am old). Next I selected hard disk 0 and then I typed in clean. This removes the partition and was the only way that I could install windows. If I did not do this, Windows would not allow me to install.

I then installed Windows without any issue and I was able to activate by using the OEM Windows Key. I installed Windows Home Premium 64 bit. I then loaded all of the drivers for the devices. Windows has loaded several more updates as I have been using the computer over the past few days.

Here is the issue that I am having. The RAM usage seems high to me. When I look at the task manager, the RAM usage is 70% or higher. Sometimes it gets up to 80 or 90%. I am not running a lot of applications. I open Internet Explorer and that is about it. When the OS first loads, the PC runs reasonably well but after a few minutes, it starts to get sluggish. I am using Windows Firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials.

Questions

Is this just RAM? I have ordered 4MB so I will install the 4MB to see if that makes a difference.

When I removed the partitions from the hard drives and installed Windows, does either process format the hard drive? Could it be residual spyware?

Are there any other tests that I could run?

Should I have installed 32 bit?

Thanks, Bill

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
I wouldn't expect 2gb's of ram to do much of anything on 64bit
3gb's is recommended for 32bit.

High cpu can be windows checking for or downloading and installing updates which on a clean install there would be literally hundreds of them

A new install would do all the formatting so just clean would be fine.

While you were at it doing a reinstall a ssd would of been a better choice to use.
You get more performance from a ssd than probably ram but not at 2gb.

 

[bpatters69]

Thanks Thrash. What is an SSD?

Solid State Drive? Yes, that would be good but not sure I want to shell out the $$ for a 2 year laptop.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi yes,
Any money in a low powered machine is risky but that's why it's the best option outside of buying a newer more expensive one.

Sounds like the 2gb's of ram laptop was more for win-7 basic or starter version and or win-8 or 10 which come with 2gb of ram not 3-4gb for 32 or 64 bit win-7

250gb ssd's are running at about 100.us and last I saw was at 80.us at Newegg.com for either a Samsung 850 evo or Crucial BX100

 

[bpatters69]

If I keep the RAM at 2Gb would it make sense install Windows 7 Home 32bit?

If upgrade to 4GB would it make sense to use 64bit?

The Laptop came with Windows 7 Home so I was just trying to replace what was already on the machine.

Thanks

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
As far as I know there is no "7 Home" version only 7 Home Premium 32 or 64 bit.
Or the other 2 called 7 Starter and 7 Home Basic I believe
At 2gb's of ram if you're calling it Home I will assume you have the Basic version which I would stick with unless you install more ram
Again 3gb's Minimum for 32 bit home premium
4gb's Minimum for 64 bit.

And if you are clean installing also buy a new ssd/ solid state drive as well with the prior home basic system I'm sure it's low end and slow to begin with and ssd will improve that immensely

 

[UsernameIssues]

Questions

Is this just RAM? I have ordered 4MB so I will install the 4MB to see if that makes a difference.

When I removed the partitions from the hard drives and installed Windows, does either process format the hard drive? Could it be residual spyware?

Are there any other tests that I could run?

Should I have installed 32 bit?

Thanks, Bill

Sure - install the 4GB and see how it goes with the current 64bit OS.

I don't know if the hard drive was formatted during the install, but I have seen infections create a hidden partition that survives some attempts at removing partitions. I'm sure that there are tools to remove such infected partitions - but I just use a new hard drive.

There are dozens of "offline" antivirus scanners designed to scan a hard drive while the OS is not loaded/running (is offline). Using a few of those might give you some peace of mind about your computer. https://www.raymond.cc/blog/13-anti...-compared-in-search-for-the-best-rescue-disk/

I have always avoided the Celeron processor. It would be interesting to see if an SSD improved performance so much that the Celeron processor was no longer an issue.

 

[bpatters69]

The Windows version is definitely Windows Home Premium. I have installed the 64 bit version.