Solved How do I fix a slow operating system

[Ermine]

Hello everyone

I am an absolute newbie at Windows 7, my wife got a ‘off lease’ computer for Christmas that is driving me nuts.

Dell Optiplex-760
Windows 7 Pro SP1
Intel Core Duo E7300 @2.66GHz
64bit OS with 2 GB ram
1 HD split (66.3GB / 74.4GB) lots of free space

I noticed right off the bat that it seemed to run very slow, the first thing I did was Windows updates. It took two days to get all the updates and install them which, to me, seems excessively slow as my 13 year old XP (SP2) system from a fresh install can do it in less than a day.

Normally, with XP, when I have a problem that I can’t figure out I go to PC Pitstop.com and run an online test which usually at least points me in the right direction. After spending an entire day setting up IE 11 to allow Active X and their applet to run the new machine took about 70 minutes to run the test and the web page times out after 20 min. so no results.

Next I tried defragging, it was 16% fragmented and took about 8 hrs. to defrag down to 0%, (two passes I think). That got the run time of the test down to about 35 min. Sill too long.

I’ve tried MalwareByts and CCleaner to no avail. Because it seemed, to me, to be an OS problem, I installed a simple hidden object game which worked great, and then FireFox and things got interesting.

When the game is shut down it opens the default browser and directs it to the page the game was downloaded from, it opens and downloads the page in a matter of seconds, I wish it was that fast on my XP machine. However if I click on the desktop FireFox icon it takes about 90 sec. to boot up, and the same for IE.

If I had this problem with my computer I would just reinstall windows xp but this one came without a disk and I don’t know how to do it without.

My wife and I would greatly appreciate any help with this.

Thank you.

 

[oscer1]

Hi I think you would be better off adding more ram minimum I would use for a 64 bit os is 4gb. Can follow this to reinstall the OS http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

 

[DavidE]

If you have a readable OEM sticker you can do a clean re-install.
This tutorial by gregrocker has everything needed, including where to download the official installer for your licensed version.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

 

[Ermine]

Excellent! Thank you guys.

 

[oscer1]

Your welcome if have more questions just ask

 

[Ermine]

So I should be able to download and burn the .iso on my old machine (the new has no burner and DL's slowly) and then using an external DVD drive load it into the new machine and use the product key (that I activated it with) is the impression that I get from what I've read (clean install) so far. Is this correct?

I was hoping they didn't install an OS on a machine that can't handle it, but then again you would think they would test their install of the OS before shipping too.

Is it necessary to upgrade to 4GB?

 

[oscer1]

Yes and not necessary to go to 4 GB but should. Improve speed

 

[ignatzatsonic]

see comments in bold:

So I should be able to download and burn the .iso on my old machine (the new has no burner and DL's slowly) and then using an external DVD drive load it into the new machine and use the product key (that I activated it with) is the impression that I get from what I've read (clean install) so far. Is this correct?

That processor tells me it's a fairly old PC. Does the Certificate Of Authenticity sticker containing the Product Key in fact refer to Windows 7, not Vista or XP?

If it refers to Windows 7, then yes, download the ISO for the specific Windows 7 version mentioned on the sticker and burn it to a DVD.

You boot from the DVD and it acts as a normal Windows install disc.

Looks like you have a 150 GB hard drive. I'd delete all partitions down to unallocated space during the install and let Windows make a new C for you.




I was hoping they didn't install an OS on a machine that can't handle it, but then again you would think they would test their install of the OS before shipping too.

Again, does the OS on the machine match the OS on the sticker? Or did "they" upgrade it from XP or Vista? You need a Windows 7 Product Key.

Is it necessary to upgrade to 4GB?

I'd do the clean reinstall and re-evaluate. I run a fairly lean system and often use less than 2 GB of my installed 4 GB. You can easily find out how much RAM you are in fact using at any given moment via Resource Monitor. Another 2 GB stick will probably cost you around $20.

4 GB is generally considered the minimum for smooth operation, but I wouldn't call 2 GB crippling for an ordinary home user who does nothing intensive.

 

[DavidE]

You could also create the installation media on a USB flash drive.
That might be preferable as there is no built in DVD drive.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31541-windows-7-usb-dvd-download-tool.html?filter

 

[Ermine]

It's an 'off lease' Computer so I would assume it's at least 5 Yrs. old, the sticker on the side says 'Windows 7 Professional for refurb PC's'.

USB would be much simpler, if I can figure out how to get the BIOS to boot from it.

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm still reading the infor for doing all this and then I'll have to try to get the wife to stop playing her game for awhile Let you know when I get a chance to do it.

 

[DavidE]

Pressing F12 at startup should bring up the menu where you enter BIOS setup.
The manual is available here:
Product Support | Dell US

 

[Ermine]

Hello Everyone,
Sorry for the delay, we had a family emergency and have been out of town for the last while.

I finally figured out how to make a boot-able W7 Professional 64bit installation USB using my old XP 32 bit machine, and it definitely sped thinks up.

However the games my wife likes that I mentioned earlier no longer work properly. After running the games, anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of hours later, they crash the machine and it has to be restarted, about 1/3 of the time she gets The blue screen of death (BSOD?). I've tried running them in compatibility mode to no avail.

When I installed the OS from the USB drive I could not find a way to format the HD. Is there a way, and do you think it would make a difference? Or am I way off track?

Thanks, Tom