Very slow laptop

SusieT

I have been having problems with my laptop slowing down to the point of stopping completely for up tp perhaps 30 seconds at a time, sometimes even the cursor does not move
It is a Lenovo thinkpad E520 running windows 7
It is not overheated - or at least does feel more than slightly warmer underneath, and the fan is not making a lot of noise.
It helps to switch it off and restart, but when I do that it tells me background programs are still running do I want to force a restart (not sure if this is relevant but thought it worth including)
It is the same when I just have Word or Exel open, so may possibly not be internet related.
I have run Malwarebytes and it came up with one PUP that is now quarantined.
I have run CClener that was fine for the files but came up with a huge list on the registry clean that I am not sure if I should say yes to fixing or not. The list is huge so if anything is likely to be useful from it please let me know what part as pasting it all will give a mile long poat
It seems to run at around 90% or more memory screenshot below of both the usage and the main things running at the time)
If anyone has any ideas or wants any more information or anything run I will answer as best I can, but I am not a technical person and learnt the above from doing a search on here.

grumpycrab

Lots of possibilities here... (and lots of advice on its way too...)
I'd start with the Windows Update troubleshooter. May be worth manually closing all the Google Chrome tasks first (even if the link opens a new one - perhaps you have the Google Chrome Background Updater running? ignore that for the moment)
Windows update Troubleshhoter -> http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9830262

PS. After that Resource Monitor should give more details on the memory hungry stuff.

were

so you have 2 GB memory, Been running for 15 days?

Use and download Process explorer from MS, and it may show malware.

Reboot and force a restart

SusieT

thank you both, will run those suggestions and post back
I should have said, yes it was running for 15 days, but I wanted to keep it going until whatever the issue was would show itself, as closing and restarting will fix it for a while

were

The problem is that if a bit of software has a memory leak, longer you leave it running more memory it will consume, and 15 days can be a long time in the computer world. Only developers of the application can fix memory leaks.

https://www.pctechbytes.com/windows-7/memory-leak/

look at enlarging the swap file too.

Also you have to fully shutdown, not go into hibernation or fast startup

keith969

2Gb memory really is not a lot these days. You will probably find 4Gb helps, and its not expensive: http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Lenovo/thinkpad-edge-e520

BadBehaviour

Problem is not enough RAM, not viruses or anything like that. Increase it to at least 4GB.
It looks like you're using almost all the RAM and that's why your laptop is so slow. 2GB is really not enough these days especially if you multitask and keep a few tabs open in the browser.

rmg1

You might also want to look at what's running at startup.
You can use CCleaner for this (it's one of the options down the left but I can't remember the exact name of it).

If you post the list here, someone will be able to tell you what's safe to switch off.

J_B

You don't happen to have the dreaded Trusteer cRapport (on-line banking 'security') installed, do you?

SusieT

Windows update troubleshooter result was
Service registration missing or corrupt
Problems installing recxent updates
Both showing as fixed, and with a nice green tick.

I have got process explorer running, but have absolutely no idea what to look for on it
So far I have whats in the picture below, all that was (theoretically) running at the time was this tab on Chrome, and Process Explorer.
I am about to restart it (always do a full shutdown), so that will hopefully kill off whatever is slowing it down. I have also ordered more memory, but have so far not found anything about a swap - more googling required Many thanks

were

why so many chrome entries?

How much free space is there left on your hard disk?