When is it time to get a new laptop?

Sea_Shell

KingL2 said:

facade said:

 ignore any nonsense about being up to date,}

...It depends on your version of Windows, e.g. Win 10 (Home) has no option to opt-out of updates - you get updates whether you like it or not (if you go online). 

Other versions (e.g. Win Pro) have an opt-out/delay-all-updates option...

I thought you got a choice, insofar as you can shut down without updating, or with, if they pop up as available?

Sometimes I ignore them for a little while until I have more time.   Would they eventually take away the option to ignore, if left?

KingL2

If you have Home version, you can chose to defer updates for upto a week, but you have to go through all the menus to select that option. 

Not sure if you can refuse to install updates after it forced you to download them.  What version do you have? I think that the choices vary between Home/Pro/etc.

Marvqn1

clareski said:

Marvqn1 said:

Your laptop's spec should be sufficient to run Windows 10 properly.

Is the laptop also slow when its turned on and it starts Windows 10 or is it only slow when using applications?

Have you ran a scan with Malwarebytes?

Also, is the laptop running an anti-virus software that could be slowing down the laptop?

Its quite slow on starting up but I have changed the settings on Startup (all new to me) and it seems quicker.  It seems slow switching between tabs on Edge.
Not done a scan - do I just google Malwarebytes and run it?

Yes, they have a free version of Malwarebytes.

https://www.malwarebytes.com

facade

KingL2 said:

facade said:

 ignore any nonsense about being up to date,}

...It depends on your version of Windows, e.g. Win 10 (Home) has no option to opt-out of updates - you get updates whether you like it or not (if you go online). 

Other versions (e.g. Win Pro) have an opt-out/delay-all-updates option...

I think it is the case that after updating more updates become applicable but Windoze only checks periodically.

What you want with a laptop is all the crippling updates done and out of the way until next Tuesday.

It took 3 cycles and most of an evening to get all the updates onto my laptop that hadn't been on for a couple of months, whereas my PC runs 24/7 so every Wednesday I get the little yellow dot and have to restart it to finish the install that it did overnight when the Tuesday patches appear.

Pescur

clareski said:

I have had my current laptop for around 8 or 9 years.  It is an Acer Aspire E15, label reads:
Intel Core i5-4210u 1.7GHz with turbo boost up to 2.7GHz
Intel HD Graphics 4400, up to 1792 MB Dynmic Video Memory
4GB DDR3 L Memory
1000 GH HDD     (I have no idea what any of this means).

I use my laptop for doing monthly finances on Microsoft Office, and general browsing.  I have a tablet that I bought to replace the laptop, but really need it for MS as easier to cut and paste etc.  Most of my day to day browsing and banking is on my phone.

The laptop is very slow - I don't know if this is due to the age or storage.  I have a lot of photos which I also have stored in the cloud  via Google and Amazon, and currently with Dropbox.  I have copied onto an external hard drive too just to make sure I don't lose them.

How can I find out if the slow start up/browsing etc is fixable or not?   

Thanks

The answer is surely when it is broken.

I still use a laptop from around 2007, I got an SSD, memory is maxed out and I have "tuned" windows

When laptops go slow it can be the amount of memory, these days just one  a browser thread can use 480mb and currently it is using 18 threads (not all at that much).

I reckon if you got hold of Mini Wizard Partition tool and split your hard disk into partitions, one for OS and others for data, you would then be able to image copy the windows partition to an SSD, but I would recommend a fresh install of windows and to remove any bloatware. Alternatively you can keep your install, disable all antivirus add-ons remove any bloatware apps completely Use task manager to see what is running, go into services as admin and disable any app services that are persistent to removal.

For example I disable any update services, I disable three apple software services (bonjour, Ipod service and Apple Mobile device)  Come to think of it I disable loads of services but I know what they are and they I don't need them.

Removing stuff you don't need will help and "should" remove services.

I also remove EVERYTHING from Startup, you can use CCleaner to get a view of what is going on (remember to disable it auto starting up and to disable auto updates).

One of the biggest reasons for slow down on a laptop is two antivirus products, both set to check every file.  Best to just use Windows Defender.  Next biggest is probably updates checking if there is an update and downloading an update automatically if they find it.  I disable ALL auto updates.

I suspect you have memory all being used up, a swap file using the hard disk, 20 apps trying to use the internet to see if there are updates and when an update is downloaded then 3 different antivirus products trying to scan every byte of the download as it is written.

You can pick up an SSD on eBay for very cheap price but also standard hard drives which can be used for testing outcomes.

I got a caddy that replaces DVD drive and I put a 2nd HD in there.

Do not do any special favours for EDGE see this video for why

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JNg4Ox2Hvc

You don't have to do everything I do but you should create a "build" of windows where you have disabled all the !!!!!!, then image it to another hard disk or to an image, keep data on a separate partition.

 

Your laptop is totally fixable, even creating a new user should show some improvement but you really need to tackle all those bad apps, start-up, updates and even checks for updates.