Netbook slow, help needed.

[Andrzejek]

I don’t know if that’s the right forum to ask this question. If not, please point me to the right place.

Windows 7 on a little Acer One Aspire netbook, with nothing really loaded. I use it only to check my e-mail and visit a few web sites.

It is getting very slow. When I check the Performance in Task manager, I can see that my memory usage goes way up, but I don’t see anything out of ordinary in Processes tab. (or I may not know what to look for)

I did uninstall some Google search tool box (IE add-in?) some time ago and that did improve the performance of that little laptop big time. But now it is slow again.

I have Avast (anti-virus free software), but any scan does not show anything, no viruses and such.

It takes forever to “disk clean up”, and it takes a long time to log off and shut down this computer.

If I reboot it several times, and wait a while, the memory usage and CPU activities eventually go way, way down and everything is fast again.

Any advice will be appreciated.


Have fun.

---- Andy

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

 

[DSummZZZ]

I would start looking at what services are running and set ones you may not need to disabled or manual. One of the worst is the Windows Update service, especially when there is no internet connection.
Also, any other add-ons you have running in Exploder? Those 'helpful' little pieces of garbage - although not necessarily malware or viruses, can be constantly phoning home to "make your web browsing experience better".


-Dave Summers-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.dave-summers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[guitarzan]

Regarding the Processes tab in Task Manager, make sure you click the button on the lower left "Show Processes from all users". Then, sort the list by the "Memory" column to see if anything in particular is hogging up your memory (or sort by CPU).

 

[Andrzejek]

@DSummZZZ,
The problem is - I don't really know which services are useful and which ones are junk :-(
I will pay more attention to Windows Update service, disable it and see what happens. the same with other other add-ons in IE.
I wonder if I should skip/drop IE and try Google Chrome instead?

@guitarzan,
I already do that, I even tried to end task (Windows Explorer) and lost all icons on my desktop, oppps :-( But I got them back after reboot.

Thanks for the suggestions...

Have fun.

---- Andy

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

 

[DSummZZZ]

You should drop IE and use anything else. Personally, I prefer FireFox.
However, and forgive me for being harsh, but it sounds to me like you're not the one to go tinkering around. You should probably hire someone.
Explorer is Windows. So if you don't know to leave that running, you're only going to mess things up.


-Dave Summers-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.dave-summers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[Andrzejek]

I agree.
I am looking for somebody or someplace with more knowledge that can take a look at it. Not that easy…
In the mid time, I can see a lot (seems like a lot) of windows updates running because I have a lot “Do not turn off your computer” and “Step 1 of 4” and “Configuring your Windows” stuff


Have fun.

---- Andy

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

 

[Andrzejek]

A short visit to BestBuy and a suggestion of using (download and install) CCleaner did the trick – the little laptop is a lot faster

Have fun.

---- Andy

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

 

[DSummZZZ]

Glad to hear you made some progress.


-Dave Summers-

Even more Fox stuff at:

http://www.dave-summers.net/foxprolinks.htm

 

[billyjoemc]

Try to download CC cleaner and clear junk from your pc.

 

[Rick998]

I have an Acer Aspire One netbook. It came with 1Gb RAM, i.e. half of what's required to run Windows 7 at a decent pace without excessive hard disk use (swap file usage).

I replaced the 1GB memory module with a 2Gb one (£17/$20) and it's now much, much faster.

Have a look on YouTube (search for "Acer Aspire One upgrade") for videos showing how easy it is to upgrade.

Hope this helps...

 

[dbrent1]

You can prevent windows from installing updates but it's not recommended. Every now and then use ccleaner or like rick, upgrade your notebook

 

[Andrzejek]

@ Rick998,
My Acer came with 2GB memory module. I knew 1GB was not enough.

I also installed AVG to scan and tune it up.

What still puzzles me – I start the Acer and I do nothing (except start Task Manager to watch CPU / memory use). For first couple of minutes not much is going on, but then memory usage goes all the way up for several minutes. Drops down a little, then goes up again. Eventually drops down to half, and then drops down almost to nothing.

I do look at the processes, but nothing really jumps out at me.


Have fun.

---- Andy

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

 

[Rick998]

There's two utilities I use in situations like this - SysInternals' Process Explorer and What's my computer doing.

Hope this helps...

 

[cdogg]

I had a similar issue on my laptop recently, where right after bootup it was fine for a few minutes, then it would get really slow off and on for a few minutes at a time. Task Manager showed a ton of memory being used up when the slowness occurred (fluctuating between 85-95% out of 2GB). Thought I had some kind of infection, or perhaps it was overheating, but in the end, it turned out to be something with the wireless network adapter. The Broadcom driver package downloaded from the laptop manufacturer's website had the option to install advanced networking features which included some kind of utility I didn't need. Of course, I selected it without thinking.

Well, in one fell swoop during troubleshooting, I removed the software utility (Start -> Control Panel -> Programs and Features), rebooted, and while waiting for it to come back up, I power-cycled both my router and cable modem. It immediately resolved the issue. Not sure which step was the solution, but thought I'd share in case it makes a difference for you.



-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.

 

[Andrzejek]

Eventually I gave the netbook to somebody who knows more about PCs than me. Turns out to be 1. Some optional Windows updates (I guess this little computer was trying to run those updates, but they needed to be run manually) and 2. Update BIOS (downloaded from the manufacturer).

Now everything is back to normal again


Have fun.

---- Andy

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.