Aspire V5 Slow Internet

Jessmanica
Jessmanica Member Posts: 1 New User

I just bought an Aspire V5-122P notebook and it is incredibly slow.  The apps and internet pages take a long time to load, and I can't open more than one tab in Google Chrome or they start to freeze.  The internet connection on  my other devices is fine.  Is this normal of this model, and is there anything I can do to help speed it up?

Answers

  • seroton10
    seroton10 Member Posts: 3 New User

    Yes, in the beginning the machine seems very very slow. I find it's mainly caused by the McAfee virus scanner, which in the beginning wants to do a full scan of your hard disk, and to update itself and the virus definitions. Also, there are probably a bunch of OS updates to be downloaded and installed. Give it some time (leave it running with the power cable plugged in) when you're not using it, then it should go away eventually.

  • Vince53
    Vince53 Member Posts: 805 Practitioner WiFi Icon

    Jess, it is true that a new rig has to install updates, do scans, etc., but it will tell you when it is doing all that. And while I immediately deleted my MacAfee Anti-virus in favor of Windows Defender, MacAfee didn't do that to me. Try using the Explorer browser that came with your Widows 8. The two systems are designed for each other.

     

    Meanwhile, how is your machine doing off the internet. Is everything slow. or just the internet? If you are using wireless, is it possible that you are accidentally connected to a neighbor's wi-fi instead of your own?

  • SuryaEternal
    SuryaEternal Member Posts: 15 New User

    Have you tried resetting your laptop? It's probably the software fault, but it can be also caused by virus, Anti-Virus and background processes.

  • jescott418
    jescott418 Member Posts: 38 Troubleshooter

    Don't know what CPU you have but if its like mine. Its a A6 or possibly a A4 APU from AMD. Neither is very good when put against multiple tasks running like Windows updater or a virus scanner. After all these notebooks are rather weak and basically can do one task really well and that's it. Part of the problem is they have a decent enough graphics chip on the APU but a really slow CPU that basically runs at 1Ghz and in some cases can run up to 1.4Ghz. Its a quad core chip but not a lot of applications have ever properly used anymore then 2 cores. I like my V5 well enough but your WiFi slowdowns may not be WiFi related. It may very well be the rest of the hardware.

  • jescott418
    jescott418 Member Posts: 38 Troubleshooter

    Yes the Mcafee Security suite was awful for using up CPU. I checked task manager when it was scanning and it was averaging 80%!! Also even though you may have  uninstalled the Anti Virus portion make sure the site scanner was uninstalled. McAfee included one that basically monitors sites in your browser and seach results. It can slow down your browser page loading significantly.

  • devinraycooper
    devinraycooper Member Posts: 1 New User

    I have the acer aspire V5 122p as well and im having the same issues... I have a computer from years ago that works at triple the speed this one does. ive had it over a month and its been like this from day one no matter what program im in it constantly bogs. how could a company in 2013 put out a machine this slow. kinda regret not going with a tab for less money that I got my 7 year old. im jealous that he can surf the net and use apps at faster speeds than me. Any help on how to solve this issue from experts who actually own this same device instead of suggesting universal fixes that dont work at all with this device?

  • deathpanda
    deathpanda Member Posts: 6 New User

    I don't reccomend a reset. Mine is at 51% now and it has taken over 5 hours....

     

     

    PS: Uninstall all the bloatware and mcafee, use microsoft defender as default instead.

  • deathpanda
    deathpanda Member Posts: 6 New User

    When my V5 is done resetting i will do a clean windows 8 install from a disc instead. Darnnittt you Acer!

  • BlueMuzzelFlash
    BlueMuzzelFlash Member Posts: 2 New User

    I am having the same problem too! Should I delete this virus software or not?

     

  • Stix2002
    Stix2002 Member Posts: 4 New User

    Some of the screen slowness can possibly be as a result of old BIOS versions.

     

    Most of my screen slowness and mouse freezes have gone away since updating the BIOS today to 2.09 from 2.04.

     

    There is also a problem with Windows 8.1 (and not Acer) that causes mice to freeze during game play that supposedly has been fixed but I am not so sure about Microsoft's updates since they aimed the fix particularly at gamers using Windows 8.1

     

    Also, my experience with McAfee and Norton is to trash them as one of the first steps I do when I but a new computer. Windows 8 and 8.1 has Microsoft Defender and Security Essentials built in, so adding anything else will slow your machine.

  • seroton10
    seroton10 Member Posts: 3 New User

    I was the first respondent on this thread, and I'd just like to share my experiences so far. In general I am happy with how my V5-122P performs now.

     

    The changes I've done since my first post are (in the given order):

     

    1. Replace the HDD with a Samsung 840 SSD drive.
    2. Update to a recent BIOS (version 2.09).
    3. Remove the McAfee suite and installed Windows Defender.
    4. Upgrade the Acer-supplied Windows installation to Windows 8.1.

    Replacing the HDD with an SSD did of course improve performance, but it didn't make the sluggishness go away, and I was still not satisfied with the machine after the upgrade. Replacing the McAfee suite with Windows Defender (as recommended by several others) was a much larger improvement. I can't really assess the benefit of the BIOS and Windows upgrades, but the end result of all changes is very good, I find.

     

    Looking back, the SSD upgrade probably isn't worth the investment in general; given the rest of the hardware it's overkill. In my case, given the way I treat the thing, the major benefit it provides is the robustness/shock insensitivity.

  • mikeywa
    mikeywa Member Posts: 1 New User

    Yep. Overall extremely slow and cumbersome if you don't know W8. Remedies: Use the Mcafee removal kit. Make sure all remnants are gone and inactivated. Replace with Avast or use Windows defender. Use free Revo unistaller to remove any programs you don't need. Use Ccleaner to clean it all up. Set Windows update to notify - not just do it automatically. Do the update once (takes an hour or two). Minimize start-up programs and get rid of any un-needed apps from the start menu. If you want to go directly to desktop, make it do that via start-up tasks. Now quite satisfactory. Not supersonic but quite adequate for normal work purposes. 

  • Cory-Acer
    Cory-Acer Administrator Posts: 1,449 Community Administrator

    Hi everyone,

     

    We see some issues with customer's who uninstall McAfee while it's in the middle of performing it's scan have issues. Obviously 7 minutes to load a page is not normal, and there's an issue other than the hardware causing that. I would recommend reviewing the article linked below. If needed, run a recovery, let McAfee do it's updates and it's initial scan and then see how the system is performing and decided what needs to be removed. If you're still having issues, I would contact Acer support so they can take a look at it.

     

    http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/33013

     

    Hope this helps,

    Cory

     

     

  • wilson088
    wilson088 Member Posts: 4 New User

    http://community.acer.com/t5/Ultra-Thin/Slow-wifi-on-Acer-V5-552/td-p/249610

    check this link similar issue slow internet, seems to be a problem with AMD quickstream try removing it!

  • specterm
    specterm Member Posts: 5 New User

    I find it very hard to believe that 20 seconds to open a web browser on this laptop is normal.  Im using google chrome with extensions adblock and ghostery.  On my home pc I can open webrowsers in less than seconds.  This thing..  up to 13 to 20.  I downloaded open office and it too takes forever to open.  

     

    The system specs on this laptop are not bad. I have removed macafee completely.  I removed any bloat ware that the thing was shipped with.  Nothing helped.  I have updated to windows 8.1 and made sure all windows updates are current. 

     

    The cpu maxes out on this a-lot.  basically everytime I ask it to do anything it goes to 100percent.  

     

    currently "Windows Modules Installer Worker" is over 40%

    and another process that I noticed that gets peaked is "service Host:Local System(Network Restricted)"

     

    Im trying to test ubuntu on this and see if it is as bad.  

  • s2090
    s2090 Member Posts: 5 New User

    I notice this an issue I have experienced myself. If you have just started your Acer Aspire V5 for the first time or whether this is a fresh factory restore then you will need to let your computer update it's important updates from Windows.

     

    A lot of users note that uninstalling Mcafee resolves the issue however some Mcafee software must be removed from the computer all together. You may need to delete to two programme files in your programmmes (x86) folder on your hard drive.

     

    Uninstall any bloatware that came preinstalled.

     

     

     

  • 9_Limited
    9_Limited Member Posts: 4 New User

    McAfee is far less effective and far more resource heavy than Windows Defender. The first thing I did when I bought my laptop was download Windows Defender's latest update, download Malwarebytes Anti-malware (costs nothing for the free version which is what I use), then disabled wifi (to protect my system from outside access). I proceeded to uninstall McAfee, install Malwarebytes, and activate Windows Defender, leaving wifi off throughout, at which point I then ran a full scan with Windows Defender and then with Malwarebytes. My system was found to have no issues at this point and I then turned wifi back on, I haven't had any issues since. Hopefully this will help your system like it did mine, best of luck.