my hp laptop runs slow

[techbrain1]

hello,
please am suddenly experiencing a slow operations with my laptop.
it takes along time to execute when i click on something.it freezes and i will have to
shut it down and put it on to start working again.
at certain times ,the screen becomes dark but upon shutting down and rebooting the screen comes back.
please what could be the possible cause and the solution to what am experiencing with my laptop.
thank you and counting on your support.

 

[ChrisHirst]

First guess:
CPU overheating

Possible causes:
Heat sink compound has dried and the fan is not transferring heat efficiently.

Fan ducts are blocked.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.

Never mind this jesus character, stars had to die for me to live.

 

[SamBones]

A couple things to check...

Check all of the software you have installed, especially antivirus or security related tools. I once had a laptop that had two separate antivirus/anti-malware tools and they were apparently competing with each other for resources. Removing one made it noticeably faster.

Get into Task Manager and see which app is consuming a lot of CPU or disk IO. That might help find your culprit.

Also, in Task Manager, see how much memory you have free. Laptops often have smaller amounts of memory and end up swapping/paging a lot to keep working. That slows any computer down. If this is the case, just adding some memory (if you can) might speed it up a lot.

Also, upgrading your disk to a faster disk (i.e. SSD) can speed up a lot of operations.

Good luck!

 

[kjv1611]

techbrain1,

Thanks for sharing what details you have noticed instead of just one detail.


slow operations with my laptop: This part is vague, can be all sorts of things.

Slow response from applications and/or files: Again, can be a lot of things - is it EVERYTHING or just some programs and or types of files?

Freezes and have to reboot: Can be lots of things: Does it happen all the time, or just after certain actions? If all the time, is it usually after a particular event, or after some amount of time?

at times, the screen becomes dark but upon rebooting, the screen comes back: This one gives more insight, I think. Does the screen totally go blank in a second, or does it slowly darken over time? Either way, I think this may very well point to hardware issues. Chris stated it could be the CPU overheating, which I agree if the screen goes immediately black. However, if the screen is dimming slowly over time rather than instantaneous, the problem may be a power problem. Another source can be the graphics card/chipset or the LCD monitor itself. One easy test to narrow all this down if you have an external monitor, you can connect to that instead of your built-in laptop LCD, and see if the screen symptoms are the same.

If it turns out that it's a screen issue only, then you may have yet at least one other issue going on. For the freezing, requiring reboot, etc, it could also be:
1. Hard Drive going bad: which reminds me: Regardless of issue, if you have any important data, now would be a good time to backup whatever you can. If possible, remove the drive from your laptop, connect to another computer via an adapter or dock, and copy your files onto another drive.
2. Motherboard - Maybe? I don't think it's likely the culprit
3. Some major software issue: OS files majorly corrupted and/or virus/malware infection: One way to test whether software involved can be to reboot to Safe Mode (can use F8 on versions prior to Windows 8, and sometimes on some Windows 8/8.1/10 computers but not often) - If you can boot to safe mode, and the computer act half-normal, then it may be software. Could in theory still be the CPU overheating, but you should usually be able to get it to go whacky again even in safe mode if it's the CPU.

So my suggested actions at this point:
1. Remove hard drive, and back it up somewhere else. If that is not an option, boot from a Linux Live CD/DVD/USB Flash drive with whatever you want to use. Ubuntu has long been an easy one to work with. You can use the Linux OS then to backup the files - if you've never used Linux, it may take a little getting used to, but if you're tech-savvy you should be able to get by enough to get your files. And there are lots of online resources/instructions to help.
2. Once backed up, put drive back in laptop, if removed.
3. Next, try to boot to safe mode, if it loads ok, try doing whatever you want to try to see if you get the same issues.
3. Look and listen carefully to anything that seems out of the ordinary since the last you remember "ordinary" operation.
4. Report back with whatever you find.
5. If this is an older PC, consider whether you want to spend all this time anyway.



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

 

[xwb]

Could it just be registry bloat? There is free software around like auto tuneup which will tidy up your registry. You need to be patient an wait for it to install. I installed it on one of these "slow" machines - took over 30 minutes. After tidying up the registry, the boot time magically changed.

 

[strongm]

The idea that a cluttered registry can slow Windows to a crawl is pretty much a myth, and one perpetuated by people wanting to sell you registry cleaners. Performance increases after registry cleaning are predominantly anecdotal, and there are no convincing benchmarks from proper testing that indicate otherwise (indeed, quite the contrary). Here's Microsoft's Mark Russinovich on the subject

... even if the registry was massively bloated there would be little impact on the performance of anything other than exhaustive searches

Microsoft discontinued their own registry cleaner years ago, and actively advise against registry cleaning.

 

[Yuix]

Check to make sure your PC isn't bottlenecking itself, check the ram and cpu.
I'd do some TLC on the laptop as well, check through control panel and see if anything you don't need is on it, if you are unsure, always check on the internet and forums if you need it or not, I'd be more than happy to help.

Instal an application called "Malwarebytes" run it and make sure you have no malware running your performance down.
If you can open the laptop up and clean out the fan and airways. Use disk cleanup as well and defragment.

Take this as a last resort option please: If you can, I would find out your windows feature key with handy tool called "

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html"

so you can activate windows, create an ISO with the tool rufus and to download the ISO use the tool windows ISO downloader, you'll need a USB stick around 5GB plus. (Make sure you download the correct ISO of windows you are currently running on your laptop) and then back up any documents and files you need.

Then completely wipe your PC and reinstall windows and your computer would be near enough brand new.