Acer Aspire running very slow

Hi,

I got my laptop just under a year ago and it seemed ok but I've recently had problems with it running ridiculously slowly. I thought it was a problem with the Internet at first because it seemed to work for 1 or 2 minutes then stop doing anything, but it is taking ages to do anything, even something like changing the desktop background in fact I have to give up with the majority of things as they get stuck on 'not responding' and don't go any further. Anything like MediaPlayer won't even open.

I've not got loads of files - just a few photos and a few word files pretty much on there, as well as my music and have checked and there is plenty of space left on the hard drive, plenty of RAM so it doesn't seem to be a capacity problem.

I've removed any programs that I didn't think I needed or which might be causing a problem including the Macafee and Norton that came with it, the AVG free I had installed and something called Pukki which I thought may be the problem as it appeared just before the problem started but it didn't make any difference.

I also ran the malware detector - windows defender that is on the laptop and it didn't detect anything. I have tried to run the Malwarebytes software and also Avast but the laptop doesn't seem to have enough 'energy' to complete the command, i.e. I can get to the Malwarebytes homepage but when I click to download the free version it gets stuck on 'not responding'

Is my only option to restore factory settings? Although I'm not sure my laptop will be able to complete that process the way it is now!

I did have a problem with the screen going blank on login about a month or so ago but I managed to solve that using Youtube, although I don't know if it could be connected to the problems I am having now. I think a possible reason at the time seemed to be a worn out graphics card (not that I really know what that means) but it seemed to run ok after that until this sudden slowness a couple of weeks ago.

Help please!

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matthewharrison

Hey, mind sharing some specs of the laptop?

Wondering what model number the laptop is? What version of Windows are you running?

Try using CTRL+ALT+Delete and running task manager to view the performance of your CPU, and see how much Disk space is being used.

Do you find the fan to be running a lot more than usual?

jess84

Hi not completely sure the model number - not at home at mo as using someone else's computer but looking at Currys website the E5-571 looks like it is the one I've got.

It's Windows 8.1. Not noticed the fan running more than normal. Had a look yesterday at task manager and very little disk space being used and CPU didn't seem high.

Cheers

matthewharrison

When you checked the performance, did you have anything running or was the computer just sitting idle?

MrPalma

presscontrol+alt+del and go to task manager

then click to show more details and go to processes,click on CPU and save a screenshot,then memory and save another screenshot and later click on disc and save another screenshot

(to save a screenshot press PrtSc then press ctrl+v on paint and save)

send these pictures in the forumso we can see what is using more your resources

jess84

Thanks I will do that tonight and reply from a work PC tomorrow.

Cheers

jess84

CPU 2.jpg memory 2.jpg

CPU.jpg

CPU 2.jpg

memory.jpg

memory 2.jpg

disc.jpg

vsaloustros

Maybe your cpu is too slow for win8... i see it's at 1,7 GHz.

Memory seems fine...

Post your laptop model. It will make it easier to get help.

Download ccleaner too

MrPalma

i3-4010u is a very good processor for windows 8, it's intel 4th generation,and is pretty good

my i5-4200u also drops do 0.78Ghz and it's no a problem

i can't tell you why your windows is slow, all the pictures you showed seens fine, low CPU/RAM/HDD use and i'm very surprized

Was the computer still slow when you took the printscreens?

matthewharrison

This is strange...

Try putting your power plan on high performance & see if it helps, maybe your power plan is set too low & not allowing your computer to fully access the CPU.

jess84

Hi I tried setting the power plan to high performance (it was set on 'balanced') but it hasn't made a difference unfortunately.

I took some more screen prints while it was stuck on not responding in case they shed any more light - when I took the screen prints before it was when I had just turned the laptop on and not asked it to do anything. I did notice when I restart or shut down the laptop I get a message 'Task Host Window is stopping background tasks' - this came up before but I thought it meant task manager and I had just forgot to close that but presume it means something different?

The laptop model is the Aspire E1-572. Thanks very much.

CPU 12 Apr.jpg

CPU 2.jpg

Memory 12 Apr.jpg

Memory2 12 April.jpg

Disk 12 Apr.jpg

CPU 2.jpg

That message you get isn't anything to worry about. Some background stuff sometimes doesn't close right when you're shutting down & this is the computer just telling you that it's forcing them to shut down more or less. It happens to me from time to time, used to happen on my old computer all the time.

From what I'm seeing in the pictures it doesn't seem like it's software related, so it might be a hardware issue. There are a couple possibilities that I'm thinking of:

HDD - Your hard drive may be showing signs of failing. If this is the case then a fresh install of windows isn't really going to fix anything. I'd recommend trying the hard drive in another computer if possible. Something else you could do to determine if its hardware or software is split your hard drive into 2 partitions & try installing a fresh installation of windows onto the second partition. This method does require you to have approx. 10GB of free space. From there you can boot to the new installation & see if the problem persists and if it does then it's probably hardware related. Doing it this way just means you won't loose all the files & stuff you currently have on your computer, and if it did work it's easy to copy them from the old partition to the new one, you just delete the old one once done & you have all your space back.

Overheating - Maybe your fan isn't running normal? Another thing I've dealt with on one of my computers before was the thermal paste on the CPU going bad. The thermal paste is really important because it transfers heat from the CPU through the heatsink stuff to be cooled down by the fan. Without it the computer can overheat & possibly become slow. Mine did get slower when I had the problem but it would also shut down on it's own due to it being too hot, had some kind of safety shut down for high temps.

RAM - Maybe the RAM stick is faulty, even though it's showing up it might not be working as it should.

I'm just an average joe that does enough computer work to fix my own lol, so I can't say for certain what the problem is, but if it was me I'd be trying to eleminate those things first.

jess84

Hi thanks very much for your time and advice but that just sounds a bit too technical for me to attempt, and I don't want to do any damage to invalidate the warranty or anything. Looks like I'm going back to Currys!

DefectedSound

I doubt it's a slow CPU. She said it used to be faster than it is now.

DefectedSound

Hi,

Yes, its still under warranty so I would'nt worry to much about it as long as it is a hardware issue they will get it fixed. Would it not be easier to contact Acer tech support?