Maximum use of resources. 1

[audiopro]

I am finding my WIN10 computer very slow these days and would welcome some advice on how to sort it out.

When I run a couple of memory intensive programmes, the machine slows down to a crawl.

If I have Facebook and Photoshop open at the same time, Task monitor reports 60%+ CPU usage even when it is processing very little. I appreciate that applications like Facebook are very demanding with regards to resources but I have an XP box which handles both of these programs without breaking into a sweat.
If I open more than 3 websites up, at least one of them fails to respond. Even the Tek-Tips website takes ages to load and I am informed it is fine so what could be wrong?

I have done all the malware checks and very little is activated at start up so I have no idea why it is so slow.
What can I do to make this new computer work at a reasonable speed and not like a 20 year old antique?

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[goombawaho]

What are the specs of your computer? Either brand/model or motherboard/processor/memory if home built.
How much RAM? I wouldn't have less than 8GB RAM
Hard drive - SSD or spinning hard drive? An SSD makes a huge difference if your motherboard supports SATA 3.

Those are the two most important hardware bits. After that it's what's starting up on your computer. You can use a program like Process Explorer to view all running processes and Autoruns to turn off selected programs from starting when Windows starts. Just be careful if you don't know what you're doing because you can make your system non-bootable.

What malware checks have you done? I use ADWCleaner first (then clean what it finds, then reboot). Then I use ESET Online Scanner.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[kjv1611]

Another thought: What security software are you using? Is that any different between your Win10 PC and the XP PC?

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[Beilstwh]

Personally the best bet to speed up your machine is memory, especially if it slows down when you have multiple processes running. I just upgraded my laptop from 4 gig to 16 gig using name brand chips for $65 US. And as long as you ground yourself while replacing the memory cards, it is very easy to upgrade your own machine. There are instructional videos on youtube for just about any computer.

Bill
Lead Application Developer
New York State, USA

 

[audiopro]

I use Malwarebytes Anti Malware and F-Secure on both machines.
Spec -
ACER AMD E1-1200 APU
5GB RAM
There is nothing too demanding running on the machine from start up.
The WIN10 box has been slow from Day one.
The WIN10 box is a much higher spec than the XP box but with a much poorer performance which brings me to the conclusion that WIN10 is the problem.


Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[Beilstwh]

5 gig for windows 10 is kinda low. it's not really happy under 8gig. It will run but it's a real dog.

Bill
Lead Application Developer
New York State, USA

 

[goombawaho]

I would argue that an SSD is a much better "improver" of performance than memory ASSUMING you are above 4GB of RAM. I have done about 10 SSD upgrades from traditional hard drives for customers and even computers that only support SATA 2 were much more responsive. I was shocked at the last one I did - it was transformational.

You didn't mention the hard drive type (brand/model) and I'm still not clear on the PC model.

Personally, I would get the SSD first then get up to 8GB of RAM after you see the performance increase.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[rclarke250]

AMD E-1200 APU is bottom of the barrel, That APU is slower than an old Athlon II, and Celeron (penryn core) SO, slower than a cpu from 7 years ago. Now, if both machines are running the same hardware, then yes, the XP machine would be faster, XP needs a lot less resources than Win10 does, not even close.

 

[goombawaho]

Yeah - I just looked that up. Maybe a case of buying too cheap of a computer to spend much on upgrading it. The PC I upgraded with an SSD that made such a huge difference was the following. Can't say whether upgrades will help the OP's PC.

HP P6-2176S
Intel Pentium CPU G640 @ 2.80GHz
4GB RAM
Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Moved from WD Blue 500GB 7200 RPM to a 128GB Intel SSD 520


"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[audiopro]

WIN10 takes the CPU up to 98% even when loading a couple of websites, what resources is WIN10 running which causes this?

The same websites load in a fraction of the time on much lower spec machines using XP.

I realise that a faster machine with more memory would speed things up but the machine is chugging yet it is hardly doing any work.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[kjv1611]

rclarke250 nailed it, and you verified with your last question, stating cpu utilization. sometimes some websites can put a hurt on some low to midrange cpus, but in this case, it sounds certainly that the CPU is the issue.

It's just a lousy processor and low-end system. I've seen at least one brand new system before that was that bad or worse. The folks purchased it for a family member b/c they got it "free" on black friday. Well, it was a waste of even "free" for being so bad and being brand new. In your case, it may be best to just cut your losses and move on from this one. Either that, or if you want to kill some time maybe try running a low-resource-usage Linux distro on it.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[goombawaho]

Google your exact model number and SLOW and see what you get.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[audiopro]

I have 3 of the same machine in my office. Two of them run on XP and cope with very processor intensive tasks controlling CAD packages and vinyl cutters and they never complain at all. The third one, running WIN10 couldn't cope so was used only for general office work and gave us no end of trouble.
I took it home and set it up on my home network and the problems continued.
Computer 'experts' have always blamed the machine but my experience has concluded that it is WIN10 itself which is at fault here.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[rclarke250]

Well, you can blame Windows 10 for needing a better computer than you have, or you can blame the computer for not being good enough to run Windows 10. And running a Vinyl cutter doesn't take much cpu or memory, I run a 3d printer on a 8 bit Arduino cpu, it is just gcode commands to the stepper motors, the basis of any CNC based machine. As for the CAD program, depends on the Cad program, Tinkercad runs in a browser. Load Photoshop on there, and tell me how well you do, or Encode a movie.

 

[audiopro]

The same CAD program really struggles on the WIN10 computer and that is what I am basing my findings on.
I use Photoshop and Power Director on the XP machines without issues but they are very slow on the WIN10 box.
I suspected that WIN10 was resource hungry and therefore needed a higher spec machine but I thought I would check with you guys to see if I was missing something.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[cdogg]

WIN10 takes the CPU up to 98% even when loading a couple of websites, what resources is WIN10 running which causes this?

Download the Sysinternals Suite if you don't have it already and launch Process Explorer (procexp.exe). This is a lot like task manager in Windows, but it shows you a lot more detail. You might be able to deduce which app(s) are causing the headaches.

Aside from hardware upgrades/replacements, I would suggest you take a good long look at Device Manager. Make sure all major components (hard drive, GPU, etc.) are not flagged or running on outdated drivers (visit the PC vendor's website to verify you are on the latest). Also as a test, disable all apps that startup in the background at bootup (even better, uninstall them for now). This is especially important for Antivirus, Anti-malware and firewall applications. You may not think they are causing any issues, as stated above in one of your earlier posts, but I still recommend disabling them all temporarily. If doing so helps, you can re-enable them one at a time to narrow down the cause.

-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[audiopro]

I only run antivirus from startup, all other apps are disabled. The machine has been running slower after each update.
I have the same programs running on an identical machine but using XP as the OS and the XP machine is a lot faster.
I have done quite a lot of experimenting with the machine to work out what is wrong and it all comes back to WIN10 and it's overbearing processes.


Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[kjv1611]

Win10 does require more horespower than WinXP, no question. But how old is the hardware you're talking about. The Operating Systems require more resources compared to older versions of the same OS for I'd suggest 2 main reasons:
[ol 1]
[li]They are built for "current" hardware - not 5 or 10 year old hardware.[/li]
[li]They simply do more stuff. XP was "better" in this same sense over Windows 95 and 98, for example, in how it can install new hardware. Windows 10 has further improved in that area.[/li]
[/ol]

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[goombawaho]

overbearing processes"
Only for a wimpy computer like you have - let's be clear. Never buy bottom of the barrel computers.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[audiopro]

I agree that a faster computer would work better but that is just common sense.
A faster computer would simply mask the inadequacies of a poorly written OS.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk