Help! My Acer is running slow - Aspire E 15 (E5-576-392H)

I have an Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-576-392H)

It has performed really well for almost 2 years, but recently often runs slow with the 6GB Ram memory showing as 80-90% utilized in Task Manager. I also often see Disk at 100%, yet the list of applications below shows few apps and very little usage. What do I need to do to speed up this laptop? I am willing to add RAM if it is possible. I do not fully use the 1,000 GB HDD since I store my files on MS One Drive. Ideas would be welcome. I use Google Chrome or Firefox and regularly clear the browser cache.

//Edited the content to add model name on title.

Accepted answers

All comments

JackE

Uninstall, don't just disable, any non-Microsoft anti-virus scanners. They're no longer needed for most folks as Microsoft Defender and MaliciousSoftwareRemovalTool are quite good and updated regularly. Jack E/NJ

ttttt

@AlanBird

Usually changing from a HDD to a 2.5" SATA3 SSD will usually greatly improve a PC's performance. If your PC can use a M.2 NVMe SSD that will be even better.

For comparison :

Typical 7200 RPM HDD sequential read = 115 MB/s
2.5" SATA3 SSD = 550 MB/s
High end x2 M.2 NVMe SSD =1,700 MB/s
High end x4 M.2 NVMe SSD= 3,400 MB/s

Yellow101

Computer is too slow can be caused by many different reasons, like the Internet, RAM, CPU, hard disk or other hardware. Some other reasons like the out-dated software, some unnecessary services in computer are enabled could be the causes as well. Different reasons need different solutions. For example, we can upgrade the hardware like replacing the hard disk to SSD, installing the new RAM with larger capacity, disable some unnecessary services, etc.. And different computer system gets different measures to improve its performance. Guidance here I found could solve this problem effectively. You can follow the methods inside one by one to find and solve the problem.

https://www.reneelab.com/pc-speed-up.html

Quick Links

Top Members

Weekly

Puraw 85

roberthansjorg 62

Axxo 35

Diya1811 20

MnT 20

Swift Series Intel^® Evo™

Game Pass

Acer Corner

Gaming on Chromebook

Swift Series Intel® Evo™

Game Pass

Acer Corner

Gaming on Chromebook

Swift Series Intel^® Evo™