[RedSuedePump]

Hi,

 

I had an old desktop that I bought in 2007 with Windows XP which I subsequently upgraded and had W10 installed before giving it to my daughter.

 

She complained to me the other day that it was running a bit slow, so I assumed the standard solution in these situations is to do an operating system reinstall.

 

Sadly, I don't have any discs from the W10 installation, but I did see on Youtube that under settings, you can now do a reinstall within Windows under settings/Update & Security/Recovery. I went for the version that deletes all of the files in order to try to tidy things up a bit.

 

There's no devastating improvement in the performance of the computer, so I'm beginning to wonder if the hardware is inadequate for the Windows it's running. What's the best way to check this?

 

I'm also thinking about ditching Windows on all of my computers and switching to Linux. Could I reload Windows at no cost later if it didn't work out with Linux?

 

TIA

 

RSP

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Hello RSP,

 

Go to pop out for a while but will get back to you within a couple of hrs should you have been able to do the following for us in the interim 

 

 

Download then run Speccy (free) and post the resultant url for us, details here, this will provide us with information about your computer hardware + any software that you have installed that may explain the present issue/s. 

 

To publish a Speccy profile to the Web:

1. In Speccy, click File, and then click Publish Snapshot.
2. In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.
3. Speccy publishes the profile and displays a second Publish Snapshot. You can open the URL in your default browser, copy it to the clipboard, or close the dialog box.

[phillpower2]

Hello RSP,

 

Go to pop out for a while but will get back to you within a couple of hrs should you have been able to do the following for us in the interim 

 

 

Download then run Speccy (free) and post the resultant url for us, details here, this will provide us with information about your computer hardware + any software that you have installed that may explain the present issue/s. 

 

To publish a Speccy profile to the Web:

1. In Speccy, click File, and then click Publish Snapshot.
2. In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.
3. Speccy publishes the profile and displays a second Publish Snapshot. You can open the URL in your default browser, copy it to the clipboard, or close the dialog box.

[RedSuedePump]

Hello,

 

Think I've done it right:

 

http://speccy.pirifo...HKPjvXFDMCnJ8gH

 

Regards

 

RSP

[phillpower2]

Best Answer

Antivirus

BullGuard Antivirus

Antivirus: Enabled

 

 

Is this the free version of AV.

 

Memory slots

Total memory slots: 4

Used memory slots: 1

Free memory slots: 3

Memory

Type: DDR3

Size: 4096 MBytes

Channels #: Single

DRAM Frequency: 666.8 MHz

CAS# Latency (CL): 9 clocks

RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD): 9 clocks

RAS# Precharge (tRP): 9 clocks

Cycle Time (tRAS): 25 clocks

Command Rate (CR): 1T

Physical Memory

Memory Usage: 62 %

Total Physical: 3.88 GB

Available Physical: 1.44 GB

Total Virtual: 6.97 GB

Available Virtual: 3.08 GB

 

 

 

 

You have high memory usage + the RAM that you have is only working at 50% of its capable speed, one definite cause is the fact that you only have the one stick of RAM which means that it is only working in single channel mode and one other possible cause of the high memory usage is the BullGuard AV.

 

Would recommend upgrading the RAM by adding a second 4GB stick of same spec and if only the free version of BullGuard uninstall it and use Windows Defender which is basically Microsoft Security Essentials built into Windows, doing the latter will not only free up resources but also avoid the possibility of conflicts.

 

NB: You need to get Windows fully up to date asap and if not done so already install the drivers for the MSI motherboard which you can download from here  be sure to create a new system restore point first.

[RedSuedePump]

Hi Phil,

 

Thanks, that's helpful. I'll talk to the computer shop about a RAM upgrade.

 

The Bullguard is a paid for licence, but she only uses the computer to play Minecraft and Roblox and watch Youtube vids.

 

There's no confidential data on the drive (to my knowledge) and she doesn't use it for banking or anythiing sensitive.

 

Would it make sense to uninstall the Bullguard?

 

Regards

 

RSP

[phillpower2]

Hello RSP,

 

Even with the recent price rises upgrading the RAM was/is still the most cost effective way of improving system performance for folk that have a 64-bit OS but less than 8GB of RAM, for best results when having 8GB of RAM 2 X 4GB sticks is the way to go so that it runs in dual channel mode, in this instance it will improve the present RAM speed from 666.8 MHz to what is normally labelled as 1333MHz, please note that when adding more RAM you should when possible try and obtain the exact same brand and spec of memory and should you happen to add a 4GB stick of 1600MHz RAM it will only function at the same speed as the present 4GB stick of 1333MHz.

 

Regarding the BullGuard, make a note of the product key, uninstall it and test while only having Windows Defender protecting the computer, if things are better you could always try reinstalling BullGuard after you have upgraded the RAM to 8GB.