8 year old laptop has slowed down

DUBLINIRL

I have a 8 year old windows 10 laptop with 256gb hard drive (not solid state), 8gb ram, i5 processor and it is very slow.

I've checked the list of start up programmes and removed all but the few necessary ones.

When I start it up, then restart it, then log in and leave it for 20 minutes it is faster to use but still very slow. I'm usually using this laptop for browsing and using Microsoft office products.

I've run disk defragmentation and disk cleanup.

I've changed the settings from the most features to best performance.

Is there anything more I can do to get this laptop working faster and requiring less time at startup to get going that doesn't involve replacing hardware?

Murt2024

Sounds like your Hard drive is starting to fail, check disk usage in task manager. Best thing to do is upgrade to SSD, it's a 30 euro upgrade and reinstall Windows. It should pick up the license.

No other way around it really. An SSD will be huge. Make sure you get a decent brand. A 240 GB crucial is only 24 euro. Don't get any cheap products.

Crucial BX500 240GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD - Up to 540MB/s - CT240BX500SSD1 https://amzn.eu/d/fUZwSLZ

niallb

Search for "Services" in your search box and run it as Administrator.

Look for a service called "Sysmain"

If it's running, stop the service, then set it to "disabled".

Restart after making this change and see if it makes a difference.

thereiver

You need at least 10 gig free to run windows efficiently delete some files necessary to free up space

DUBLINIRL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122620035#Comment_122620035

I have almost 100gb free.

DUBLINIRL

@Murt2024 SSDs are now shockingly cheap!

the whole year inn

Can you format the harddrive and reinstall Windows.

The new ssd harddrive is an an easy cheap aswell

DUBLINIRL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122620110#Comment_122620110

It's doable. What issue would this solve? I've uninstalled unused programmes.

yappersmiths

I believe the SSD might be good to increase the overall read/write speed of the computer.

You can also check if its temperatures are still good (below 80 celsius). Maybe the inside's a bit dusty, or the thermal paste is already dried up. If so, deep cleaning and replacing the thermal paste is recommended.

the whole year inn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122620115#Comment_122620115

A fresh install never hurts, it will make your computer faster.

You could spend hours troubleshooting this problem , you could get treesize and see if there anything taking up storage. delete unwanted profiles , uninstall apps, delete temp files, , but the fresh install of windows will do all this ,its simple and quite quick just make sure to backup all your important files.

thereiver

Run chkdsk it deletes old temp files that slow down the os

thereiver

Look at task manager you may have unnecessary services running taking up ram

10-10-20

Temporally uninstall your antivirus (not just disable the services) and see if the boot times improve.

smuggler.ie

New SSD - no questions, HDD is bottleneck #1 - will increase performance if you wont "cheep out" on it. There is reason why BX500 is cheaper than MX500(same/similar might apply to other brands), but its still faster than HDD.
RAM - 8GB is fine. Can go double if want or feel need at later stage.
CPU - i5 is average-to-good and you wont do much about it - it will remain bneck even if you install all the rest in gold wraps - its 8y old so… i5-6xxx ? 7xxx at best. Still OK i guess

Fresh install - all crap build up over last 8 years is gone… along with all the software / activation /settings. + you have to take care of your data that still reside on old drive
Clone - you get all you had , just on new fast drive. require external drive enclosure for clone operation

Your call

The Nal

8GB RAM is slow enough these days.

You can upgrade to 16GB RAM here. Will make a huge difference.

https://eu.crucial.com/

28064212

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122632412#Comment_122632412

That's absolutely not what chkdsk does

OP, just do the fresh Windows install. You won't be able to adequately judge what the machine is capable of until you do

Murt2024

SSD is the only way!!!