Windows 7 Speed & Performance Harshly Fell

[ishmael9100]

Thanks a lot for your help, gregrocker. 2 days ago I visited the Dell website and I downloaded all of the latest versions of my drivers that were made in 2010. So I doubt it has anything to do with my Display driver. I will revisit and download drivers. My performance is a lot faster than usual at the moment. Today, I deleted the Recovery partition on my Hard Drive because I had already created a Recovery Disk for Windows 7. My computer came with Vista installed and I upgraded to Windows 7 because for me, Windows Vista was slow. I have 150GB of Hard Disk space all together and the Partition was taking up 14GB so I thought I might as well get that back. Deleting the Partition seemed to have sped up Windows. I have just downloaded the Data lifeguard diagnostics and I will let you know what happends. Again, thank you for all the help you've given me so far!

 

[ishmael9100]

I ran the Western Digital Diagnostics scan and everything seemed fine. Everything passed and there were no problems. Results can be found here (I tried putting the photo inside of the forum but it showed up as a red X)

 

[Petey7]

As long as things are running fine, then I'd relax for the time being and write back if there is any change.

 

[ishmael9100]

As long as things are running fine, then I'd relax for the time being and write back if there is any change.

Thanks, Petey. I will report back any issues relating to this thread if something happends. Im not ready to mark as solved. So ill keep this open. Thank you to all that has helped!

 

[gregrocker]

If you don't use the Dell utilities you might consider for the future deleting the Dell OEM partition as well since it always seems to increase performance.

You'd then have the way clear for wiping the HD to do a clean reinstall using the Win7 install DVD, when the time is right.

The installer is nearly driver-complete with newer arriving quickly via optional Windows Updates. I would then only import Dell drivers if performance dictates, starting with display and chipset.

Keep any eye on msconfig>startup to uncheck freeloaders on your RAM/CPU. I only allow AV and gadgets to start with computer. The rest are wasting resources and/or spying.

Try also swapping out Avast for the even leaner MS Security Essentials, which installs in 30 seconds, updates then becomes invisible unless there is a threat.

 

[Aphelion]

I will report back any issues relating to this thread if something happends. Im not ready to mark as solved. So ill keep this open. Thank you to all that has helped!

Did by any chance Avast do an update... (besides data libraries) when your slowdown started. Avast runs a background process that is known to slow some systems down.

Or... are you sure Avast wasn't doing a full system scan at the time.


Ap

 

[ishmael9100]

I will report back any issues relating to this thread if something happends. Im not ready to mark as solved. So ill keep this open. Thank you to all that has helped!

Did by any chance Avast do an update... (besides data libraries) when your slowdown started. Avast runs a background process that is known to slow some systems down.

Or... are you sure Avast wasn't doing a full system scan at the time.


Ap

Hey ap, Im not quite sure if it done an update or not. All I remember is W7 dramatically slowing down for no reason.

 

[ishmael9100]

If you don't use the Dell utilities you might consider for the future deleting the Dell OEM partition as well since it always seems to increase performance.

You'd then have the way clear for wiping the HD to do a clean reinstall using the Win7 install DVD, when the time is right.

The installer is nearly driver-complete with newer arriving quickly via optional Windows Updates. I would then only import Dell drivers if performance dictates, starting with display and chipset.

Keep any eye on msconfig>startup to uncheck freeloaders on your RAM/CPU. I only allow AV and gadgets to start with computer. The rest are wasting resources and/or spying.

Try also swapping out Avast for the even leaner MS Security Essentials, which installs in 30 seconds, updates then becomes invisible unless there is a threat.

Okay, thanks. I will try MSSE as i've already tried it once. I will try and see how they both work together. If not, then I'll take off Avast.

 

[gregrocker]

I'd run only MSE for awhile. No need for both, and you want to see if performance improves without Avast which may have a defect.

 

[ishmael9100]

I'd run only MSE for awhile. No need for both, and you want to see if performance improves without Avast which may have a defect.

I uninstalled avast and kept MSE and there were no changes in performance. So I put avast back on. Another thing I noticed is that my Laptop Fan is running at insane speeds blowing out steaming hot air which is not normal...any ideas?

 

[gregrocker]

Sounds like you are overheating. The leading cause is dust buildup. Try accessing the inside of your laptop enough to blow the dust out with a can of compressed air. If you feel confident, you can disassemble it a bit to get more access to do this. Otherwise ask for help from a tech friend or at your local shop.

Install Speedfan to monitor temps and give fans variable speeds if possible. Post in Hardware forum for more specific steps to control heat buildup.

Meanwhile elevate the rear of the laptop by about 1/2 to 3/4 inch for better air circulation.

 

[Faladu]

I'd try running a tweaking utility like Boostspeed and TuneUp utilities (get the trials), and see what they uncover.
I bought both and they make our systems purr, TuneUp keeps an eye out and it's system tray icon will add ! if there is something to look at, 3 PC License of TuneUp Utils 2010 at Target of all places for $20.
Boostspeed is $30 for all your PCs, cheap running well insurance.
Windows is notorious for degrading with use, defrag the hard drives, just general use will fragment and degrad performance of any Windows PC over time especially if no cleaning is being done.

 

[gregrocker]

Win7 requires no tweaking other than normal system settings. It will work against you.

As those of us who beta tested it for over a year discovered with increasing amazement, it is nearly a perfectly balanced OS.

The only regular maintenance I do is monthly cleaning and ordering the HD using state-of-the-art CCleaner and Auslogics Disk and Registry defraggers.

Keep everything out of the msconfig>Startup list except AV and gadgets, run a lean mean AV like MSE, and watch your Event Viewer>Admin View to google repeat errors to resolution.

 

[ishmael9100]

Sounds like you are overheating. The leading cause is dust buildup. Try accessing the inside of your laptop enough to blow the dust out with a can of compressed air. If you feel confident, you can disassemble it a bit to get more access to do this. Otherwise ask for help from a tech friend or at your local shop.

Install Speedfan to monitor temps and give fans variable speeds if possible. Post in Hardware forum for more specific steps to control heat buildup.

Meanwhile elevate the rear of the laptop by about 1/2 to 3/4 inch for better air circulation.

Yeah, I have Speedfan on here. Its a great software but it doesn't detect my fans. Im on my laptop now and the temperature seems fine. Its not hot or anything. I doubt its dust because I cleaned out the dust last week and its running fine. I think its probably because I have had it on for quite a while.

 

[ishmael9100]

Win7 requires no tweaking other than normal system settings. It will work against you.

As those of us who beta tested it for over a year discovered with increasing amazement, it is nearly a perfectly balanced OS.

The only regular maintenance I do is monthly cleaning and ordering the HD using state-of-the-art CCleaner and Auslogics Disk and Registry defraggers.

Keep everything out of the msconfig>Startup list except AV and gadgets, run a lean mean AV like MSE, and watch your Event Viewer>Admin View to google repeat errors to resolution.

CCleaner - another great software. I run it everyday. It does an awesome job at cleaning any unwanted files. Usually when it cleans, I recover at least 101MB - 2GB of unwanted files. I've never heard of Auslogics software but I will give it a try. I also have TuneUp Utilities (Full Version) because it does a good job at keeping my PC clean.

 

[Faladu]

Perfectly balanced greg? Auslogics makes boostspeed by the way.
I won't recommend it, unless I myself am using it.

 

[gregrocker]

Perfectly balanced greg? Auslogics makes boostspeed by the way.
I won't recommend it, unless I myself am using it.

Yes, indeed. Those of us who beta tested it on multiple machines for over a year learned over time that the old familar tweaks and service edits started becoming unnecessary, and then started working against us.

It was with sheer fascination that we watched a comparatively feather-light OS become instantaneous, bug free and ultimately perfectly-balanced.

Auslogics is a leading tech company in Australia and IMO make the best defraggers by far. They pay for making them free by selling the Boostspeed program which I used for years until it gradually became unnecessary as Win7 was perfected. .

In the same way, Black Viper has been put "out of business" by Win7 which one might say is now itself the Black Viper. He pointed the way to editing services to the bone, resulting in Win7's Manual fast triggers.

 

[ishmael9100]

Perfectly balanced greg? Auslogics makes boostspeed by the way.
I won't recommend it, unless I myself am using it.

Yes, indeed. Those of us who beta tested it on multiple machines for over a year learned over time that the old familar tweaks and service edits started becoming unnecessary, and then started working against us.

It was with sheer fascination that we watched a comparatively feather-light OS become instantaneous, bug free and ultimately perfectly-balanced.

Auslogics is a leading tech company in Australia and IMO make the best defraggers by far. They pay for making them free by selling the Boostspeed program which I used for years until it gradually became unnecessary as Win7 was perfected. .

In the same way, Black Viper has been put "out of business" by Win7 which one might say is now itself the Black Viper. He pointed the way to editing services to the bone, resulting in Win7's Manual fast triggers.

Wow! Some very interesting information there.

 

[Aphelion]

It was with sheer fascination that we watched a comparatively feather-light OS become instantaneous, bug free and ultimately perfectly-balanced.

In the same way, Black Viper has been put "out of business" by Win7 which one might say is now itself the Black Viper. He pointed the way to editing services to the bone, resulting in Win7's Manual fast triggers.

Well, not perfectly balanced... real-time operations are still (cr@p) not up to par.
(but does look promising)

The audio system is in shambles, a convulted ill-performing mess that often stops working or unloads drivers when a device isn't present as expected, all you have to do is take a look at the sound forum.

The overall feel is good, no doubt about it but there are still sections that could use work.

Real-time performance
Interrupt handling
Audio system

Ap

 

[gregrocker]

I should probably stroll over to Audio as I haven't had an issue I can recall with Audio on hundreds of installs once the correct driver is snugly in place.

My real time is a real good time.