Glacially slow Win7 - where it is now

[rans6andrew]

A while ago some of you offered good advice regarding my glacially slow Win7 netbook. Thanks.

I finally got around to parting with some hard earned and changed the hard drive to a SSD type. Before doing this I had removed all of my non OS files from the machine and then done a "return to factory" backup from the D drive partition. Initially this appeared to have done the trick but I soon found that the usual OS updates started to happen and I couldn't bring myself to stop them. As they are always described as "important" by Microshaft and I have no way to tell which, if any, I need to have I just let it get on with it. While this was going on the machine was nearly as slow as before ...... I then found that the original version of Firefox was not up to dealing with the features of many of the newer websites so I upgraded FF and I was back to where I was last November. The World Wide Wait was at its slowest. I tried changing browser. IE was no faster, Cyberfox was a little quicker but not by much.

Today, I have swapped out the hard drive for an SSD. Samsung have a free to download programme which takes the pain out of cloning the original hard drive. You do need to arrange a second drive bay, a disk caddy does the job, it takes about an hour to transfer the contents to the SSD. It took me a while to open the case and swap the hard disk for the SSD and then the moment of truth.

The machine powered up a bit more quickly than I am used to but then immediately required a re-boot to finish the transfer process. After the second boot up it didn't seem to be much faster than it was yesterday but I suspect that there was still some stuff going on relating to the setting up of the SSD. It then installed some new drivers, not sure what for and called for another reboot. Now it has been on and working for a couple of hours it has settled down. It is a little quicker now, it even managed to play a music video from ewetoob without struggling although it was slow to start playing. Once it started I opened another browser (Cyberfox) tab and it let me read the BBC news without the music sound track getting interrupted or pausing. I don't know if the video side of it played smoothly as it was not in view.

So for now the machine is quick enough to be worth using. I don't suppose it will be long before the software expands to drag it down again. I can't help wondering whether Linux Mint with Firefox would offer a faster browsing experience at the expense of some programmes which are Windoze only, like the GPS update software and some CAD stuff I use.

Has anyone made the change from Win7 to Linux Mint, both with Firefox, and can offer evidence of speed improvement or not? Ta.

[Saab Dastard]

Have a look at the CPU comparison here:

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Atom+N450+%40+1.66GHz

It's a very, very slow processor - that's your problem.

SD

[rans6andrew]

as usual the problem is not the CPU. When the machine was new it was plenty fast enough for the task, namely being small and light enough to take as luggage/accessory when touring by microlight aircraft. It was enough of a computer to do the Met, Notams, GAR and email duty plus download photo's from a digital camera. It had (still has) good battery life. It was never intended to break records for computational grunt. The problem is the endless stream of upgrades pushed out by the software community which cripples every computer bit by bit.

I'm not ready to bin the whole lot yet. I just want to be able to use it for the purposes it was bought for. I have fitted the maximum RAM and changed the disk drive since the machine was new.

So, would Linux Mint be another step in the right direction?

[MG23]

So, would Linux Mint be another step in the right direction?

Probably.

Have you checked the CPU usage? I've seen several Windows 7 machines that are using an entire core just 'checking for updates', and never finish doing so.

[Procrastinus]

If you want a really light weight OS that does all one usually wants, try Lubuntu. I have it on a Dell Mini and it works very well as it has a smaller 'footprint' than Mint.
You can always scrub it out if you don't like it!

[Saab Dastard]

It's a single-core CPU, which you have stated on the previous thread is often at 100% CPU utilisation.

As I say, that's your problem.

SD

[andytug]

The CPU going to 100% in Win 7 updates is a known issue but can be fixed.

https://blog.krissmilne.tech/windows/windows-7/windows-7-stuck-on-checking-for-updates

Linux Mint is a good replacement for Windows, if you just want to use internet (Firefox) and Office (LibreOffice) stuff. There are a few things that don't work, although I've successfully got Netflix to work on it (needs out of date 32 bit version of Chrome. Fine on older kit too, just don't expect Netflix etc to play in HD....

[Loose rivets]

You do run CCleaner, don't you?

[rans6andrew]

since fitting the SSD on Sunday the machine has settled down a bit. I have Cyberfox open with 7 or 8 tabs, I have Inssider running (network monitoring programme) and have a task manager open. When the task manager is brought to the front the cpu usage shows 10-12% for a few seconds and then settles down to 2%. Memory usage is showing 45%. I have been in and stopped the windi update process although last evening it was showing only 0% flicking 1% occasionally. As before, yewtoob plays music videos without struggling so things seem good, for now.

[boguing]

As LR implies, you've got something else going on there. If running CCleaner to a) get rid of unwanted programs, then b) clean the registry and finally c) run the cleaner, doesn't fix it then I think I'd go for a clean installation. I've put SSDs into four older laptops now, and they're all much much faster than any new machine with an old fashioned hard drive.

[RCV212]

I have been in the Linux camp totally for about 5 years now. I have Ubuntu 16.04 on my Desktop, and my relatively low powered Toshiba laptop uses Mint XFCE 18. Both boot from SSD's which are the dogs in terms of relative performance. A lightweight distribution such as Mint XFCE should be a bit quicker than W7, although it is the use of an SSD that makes the real difference!
The Atom processor will be a limitation for more complex work too! But should be fine for web browsing, email, and even streaming video. My machines are dual cores with much more power, but when opening up applications the CPU does peak quite high so that's not unusual. My OS's are both 64 bit, however you'll have to use the 32 bit if you only have a single core CPU.

You will need to make sure you set up Mint (or whatever you use) and the SSD properly, see here;
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/first-mint-xfce

Something for a rainy day I would say...

PS. My laptop shown below is modded from standard XFCE, with the task panel moved to the top, and the 'Docky' dock installed, along with some Mac wallpapers.

[Biggles78]

rans6andrew, check the Device Manager and see if there are any item marked with a yellow exclamation mark. You may need a driver update to handle the new SSD. Reinstalling the latest Chipset driver for your computer may fix the slow speed that it is running at. If you have trouble finding the Chipset driver then please post the manufacturer and model of your NetBook and we can have a gander of the Net and try and find it for you.

[jimjim1]

Vista and 7, may apply to others.

I have been much puzzled by windows PCs seeming to slow down gradually over time. I tried various things, CCleaner for example, but nothing really helped. Then one day I set up an extra user account so that a friend could use my PC. When logged on as the new user the machine was as-new fast again.

I therefore created a new user account for myself and moved all of my files over. Job done. Machine fast again. I have repeated the process on one or two other occasions on different computers with the same result.

One thing is that if you have any applications installed for "This user only" then you might have more work to do. I just left the old account on the machine in case I ever needed to use it. I never have.

It is very easy to try out, just create an account and log in. Log out of the old one of course, don't mess aroung with user switching. I recommend a reboot I suppose.

Please post any results.

Also:-
After being plagued by the fan running nearly constantly along with high CPU I turned off automatic updates. That stopped the fan running almost entirely. I didn't have actual performance problems since it is a fairly fancy PC for its time (2 cores x 2 hyperthreaded so total of 4 virtual cores) but the fan and heat were annoying.

Good luck.

[Guest 112233]

Its a bit late now: But having got Win 7 to use the processors properly - not one at 100% and finally got the sys to update from late Oct I will post on here tomorrow morning the list of to do things to do re win 7

My set-up is a Dell 1310 native processor X64 supported just and 4 GB of RAM the rest is bog standard - posted this on a Lubuntu X32 Atom lappie.Acer One

Back first thing.

CAT III

[Guest 112233]

Rands6ndrew: this may or may not apply in your case but may help others with the omni present Win 7 update problem.

The Vostro laptop is running Win 7 SP1 - The CPU is a core two duo T5670 1.8 GHZ 4GB of RAM and a SATA 160 HDD. Very modest Kit.

Problem 1 Is Win 7 seeing 2 Processors - run MSCONFIG in CMD and highlight the boot tab. Click advanced options. You should see the No of processors tab. Is it set to 1 or 2 ?
It was one by default - being a dual core I set the value to 2. Click apply and OK to save the setting.

Re boot the PC

Problem 2 Win 7 Updates.

Create a restore point (CATIII forgot this !)

If you have not already done so, download the WindowsUpdateAgent-7.6-x64/x32 utility as appropriate. Run it and then from control panel, run windows update in the normal way.

It takes time - More than an hour. If like me, you have not had updates for a No of months; a large No of (138 ) may be flagged as essential updates. When I let the updates download without intervention, the update failed causing many problems. Leave the optional ones for later.

The secret is to interrupt the update [allowing downloads to complete] after 30 or so installs and to let windows update its system in the usual way. Then re boot - I know this is counter-intuitive, but it works.

[Repeat this sequence until all the updates are in place - Someof the updates are large, a cumulative update for Jan; for example. if you are affected by this one please be patient.]

With luck you get an updated Win 7 PC. (Win 7 is actually quite robust)

CAT III