Solved Windows 7 Slowdown

[Cheemag]

Hello again.

My Windows-7 seems prone to slow down to a crawl if I neglect to clear out temporary files and so on regularly (CCleaner, Glary Utils etc).

My XP machines do not seem to suffer from this problem.

Is it my install of Windows-7, or is this a common problem?

By slow down I mean that I can double-click on a programme icon and nothing happens until after a minute or more the programme launches; not all applications do this, some will launch normally.

When this happens, there is no resource hogging according to Task Manager.

 

[windude99]

Hello again.

My Windows-7 seems prone to slow down to a crawl if I neglect to clear out temporary files and so on regularly (CCleaner, Glary Utils etc).

My XP machines do not seem to suffer from this problem.

Is it my install of Windows-7, or is this a common problem?

By slow down I mean that I can double-click on a programme icon and nothing happens until after a minute or more the programme launches; not all applications do this, some will launch normally.

When this happens, there is no resource hogging according to Task Manager.

First, don't use any of those optimization programs (ccleaner, glary utilities). Second, you could try system restoring as shown here:http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html
If that doesn't help, try going to start and typing in msconfig and press enter. Next, go to the startup tab. Disable everything except your antivirus and firewall (if you have something like comodo Firewall)

 

[A Guy]

Temp files should not slow you down. Try a clean start and see if there is an application conflict.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

A Guy

 

[Cheemag]

Hello again.

My Windows-7 seems prone to slow down to a crawl if I neglect to clear out temporary files and so on regularly (CCleaner, Glary Utils etc).

My XP machines do not seem to suffer from this problem.

Is it my install of Windows-7, or is this a common problem?

By slow down I mean that I can double-click on a programme icon and nothing happens until after a minute or more the programme launches; not all applications do this, some will launch normally.

When this happens, there is no resource hogging according to Task Manager.

First, don't use any of those optimization programs (ccleaner, glary utilities).

Why not?

Second, you could try system restoring as shown here:http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

System restore is turned off. I rely on a disc image to restore the system to a previous point.

If that doesn't help, try going to start and typing in msconfig and press enter. Next, go to the startup tab. Disable everything except your antivirus and firewall (if you have something like comodo Firewall)

I don't think it's that, but I'll try that next time I use the Windows-7 machine. Thing is, it's intermittent - went all day yesterday without this happening. There's no malware there either according to Malwarebytes and Avast.

Thanks

 

[Cheemag]

Temp files should not slow you down. Try a clean start and see if there is an application conflict.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html

A Guy

How do you mean, a clean start? That system where it's started with minimal services? (safe-mode?)

Thanks

 

[F5ing]

Don't know how that happened, but I think A Guy meant to link to this:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

 

[Cheemag]

Sibbil Wrote:

>Don't know how that happened, but I think A Guy meant to link to this:

>Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup

That seems to refer to file associations, which isn't the problem.

The problem has just reoccurred. Apps taking minutes to come up, failing to shut down.

Both the file-cleaner programmes always lock up when they get to the deleting temporary files bit, which tends to indicate that there's something wrong in that department.

I've rebooted now and run one of the cleaners again - all went well. the temporary files were deleted and the machine behaves normally again.

 

[Cheemag]

Hello again.

First, don't use any of those optimization programs (ccleaner, glary utilities). Second, you could try system restoring as shown here:http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html
If that doesn't help, try going to start and typing in msconfig and press enter. Next, go to the startup tab. Disable everything except your antivirus and firewall (if you have something like comodo Firewall)

And then ?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

When the PC is actually running slow, look at Task Manager and/or Resource Monitor. Look at running processes, RAM usage, and CPU usage to try to get some indication of what is actually using a lot of resources---RAM, CPU cycles, services, etc.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

And then ?

And then reboot and see if the problem persists, over time, if not immediately. You need little to nothing running at startup. Things have a way of creeping back into the startup list, so look there periodically.

 

[A Guy]

Sorry, I had the wrong tute in my notepad memory. Corrected now

A Guy

 

[JMH]

Cheemag,

There are many reasons why a PC " behaves" this way.

These annoying " gliches" may be caused by an overloaded hard drive, overworked CPU, Malware, running 2 AV 's, unnecessary data, Browser addons or you may have unnecessary programs running in the background etc....

*Current accepted wisdom with Win 7 is to NOT use a cleaner.

If you ever think your Registry needs to be cleaned, repaired, boosted, tuned-up, cured, tweaked, fixed, or optimized it shouldn't.

In other words, injudicious use of "Registry cleaners" CAN & DOES cause problems.

* Did your computer come preloaded with Anti Virus Software?
If so what was it & how did you remove it?

* Please list ALL of your Current Security software.

* Have you checked in Event Viewer?
Type eventvwr in search.
Go to the Windows Logs > Application / System > in the left hand column.
Note anything in red that relates to the problem.
Please record the event ID, and the Source Code and research Google for answers.

* Some further reading for you...

Use Advanced Tools to Troubleshoot Performance Problems in Windows 7 - How-To Geek

 

[karlsnooks]

Cheemag,
Let's go at things one at a time.

First, let's rule out some evil malware.

Essential here is run an "offline" malware removal tool.

Please run Windows Defender Offline, WDO. Link in my signature.

Please use that link and not some other, as that link goes directly to a microsoft site to help you with WDO.

I recommend installing to a USB instead of a DVD. Both are explained there.

When you run WDO, the WDO will automatically perform a quick scan.

When the quick scan finishes, then run a full scan over all of your drives. A full scan is not quick but is very thorough.

If WDO doesn't solve your problem, then let us know and we will go to step 2.

I would like to say that I have a magic wand to wave. Instead, we simply keep working thru a procedure until one or more steps solves your problem.

 

[Cheemag]

Cheemag,

There are many reasons why a PC " behaves" this way.

These annoying " gliches" may be caused by an overloaded hard drive, overworked CPU, Malware, running 2 AV 's, unnecessary data, Browser addons or you may have unnecessary programs running in the background etc....

The hard drive has over 900 defragged GB free, so it isn't that.

I've checked the CPU load when this happens, there is nothing hogging it.

Only Avast! running.

About 6 browser addons in Firefox 12.

As far as I know, there are no more background processes active than there were before this problem became evident.

*Current accepted wisdom with Win 7 is to NOT use a cleaner.

If you ever think your Registry needs to be cleaned, repaired, boosted, tuned-up, cured, tweaked, fixed, or optimized it shouldn't.

Someone suggested using: cleanmgr/sageset:1

* Did your computer come preloaded with Anti Virus Software?
If so what was it & how did you remove it?

No. I put Avast! on myself.

* Please list ALL of your Current Security software.[/UNQUOTE]

Avast! antivirus

Malwarebytes Pro

Windows Defender is also running. I didn't ask for it - perhaps there is a conflict here ?

UAC is off.

* Have you checked in Event Viewer?

All that there is refers to this:

"The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."

* Some further reading for you...

Use Advanced Tools to Troubleshoot Performance Problems in Windows 7 - How-To Geek

Thanks. I'll see how it goes with Windows Defender switched off.

 

[DavidE]

If you haven't already done this, you can set up exclusions for Avast and MBAM to make sure you don't have a conflict with these on your PC.

Here is an MBAM forum link with instructions
FAQ - Common Issues, Questions, and their Solutions - Malwarebytes Forum

The instructions are for Avast 6, but i expect Avast 7 is similar...

 

[gregrocker]

Try swapping out Avast for Microsoft Security Essentials which of the two is gradually pulling ahead in favor here, and because this sometimes solves problems.

If you haven't already established a Clean boot then do that now, and other steps given here to Clean Up Factory Bloatware.

Then work through these Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7

 

[JMH]

Try swapping out Avast for Microsoft Security Essentials which of the two is gradually pulling ahead in favor here, and because this sometimes solves problems.

I concur!

Suggest you remove Avast via
http://files.avast.com/files/eng/aswclear5.exe

Download Microsoft Security Essentials via link provided above.
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

 

[karlsnooks]

Try swapping out Avast for Microsoft Security Essentials which of the two is gradually pulling ahead in favor here, and because this sometimes solves problems.

I concur!

Suggest you remove Avast via
http://files.avast.com/files/eng/aswclear5.exe

Download Microsoft Security Essentials via link provided above.

+1!

 

[Cheemag]

Try swapping out Avast for Microsoft Security Essentials which of the two is gradually pulling ahead in favor here, and because this sometimes solves problems.

I concur!

Suggest you remove Avast via
http://files.avast.com/files/eng/aswclear5.exe

Download Microsoft Security Essentials via link provided above.

+1!

Advice noted, but the problem hasn't recurred since I deactivated Windows Defender, which I suspect was interacting with either MWB or Avast! We'll give it another few days before making more drastic changes. However I will download MSE and run it offline.

Thanks again.

 

[karlsnooks]

MSE does not run offline.

Your main problem is caused by AVAST not playing correctly with Win 7 which includes Window Defender.