Issues with a Windows 10 laptop
Thread poster: Ines Burrell
Ines Burrell
Ines Burrell  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:07
Member (2004)
English to Latvian
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Feb 27, 2017

Dear colleagues,

I hope somebody can offer me some advice.

I have a roughly two year old Lenovo Y70 Touch laptop - i&7, 4 cores, 16GB RAM. And right now this is the slowest machine I have ever worked on.

If I leave the laptop to its own devices for 10 minutes, when I come back, it takes me 15 minutes to coax it out of its shell - the programmes do not want to respond, web pages load as they did in the 1990. Once it gets working, it is almost fine, apart fr
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Dear colleagues,

I hope somebody can offer me some advice.

I have a roughly two year old Lenovo Y70 Touch laptop - i&7, 4 cores, 16GB RAM. And right now this is the slowest machine I have ever worked on.

If I leave the laptop to its own devices for 10 minutes, when I come back, it takes me 15 minutes to coax it out of its shell - the programmes do not want to respond, web pages load as they did in the 1990. Once it gets working, it is almost fine, apart from the occasional 'Chrome (or other programmes) is not responding' messages. I am used to them by now.

I have restarted the darn thing 4 times today. It seem to do fine after a restart, but not for long.

My computer guy keeps telling me that I need to reinstall the OS, apparently all Windows computers need a reinstall every year. Mine has been reinstalled four times this past year! And every time for the same reason - if it was getting any slower, it would be walking backwards.

I do not seem to have any viruses, at least my anti-virus cannot find any. I though I had resolved the problem by telling my hard drive to 'never' go to sleep (this seems to be a popular cause for my type of issue) but my joy was short lived. It was not a long term solution.

I checked the processor with and Intel Processor Diagnostics Tool. No issues there.

Part of the problem might be the amount of processes I run at the same time. I have about 10 Chrome tabs, Studio, TO3000, Word, pdf reader, Excel and calculator open all at the same time. But it is a 4 core machine! It should handle it, right? It should not seize up every three to four months. And it should not come to the point where working on my phone is faster than on the laptop.

I will have to send it off for repairs. It has some other minor problems as well, and I expect they will be repaired. But all they will do about the tortoise effect is reinstall the OS. Again! I would so love to have a machine I do not have to load up with all the same software several times a year.

So the question is - what other things could I ask the technicians to look at? It does not look like I will be able to sort this on my own after all.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ines
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Andriy Yasharov
Andriy Yasharov  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 15:07
Member (2008)
English to Russian
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Hard drive check Feb 27, 2017

You may need to check the hard drive for any potential issues. Replacing a regular hard drive with an SSD is also a good idea. At least it worked for me.

 
Dušan Ján Hlísta
Dušan Ján Hlísta  Identity Verified
Slovakia
Local time: 14:07
English to Slovak
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replace Feb 27, 2017

I am afraid that there is only one real solution - new computer/notebook.

 
Natalie
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Poland
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Hi Ines Feb 27, 2017

Have you checked the disk for system clutter, tmp files etc? And processes running in the background?

I would recommend RegCurePro (or another similar program).

Natalia


 
John Fossey
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Canada
Local time: 09:07
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Speeding up Windows 10 Feb 27, 2017

It shouldn't need an OS replacement, I operate under similar conditions and have never needed an OS reinstall since XP days. But I do occasionally need to carry out maintenance to keep the thing operating optimally. As you add various programs they start to interfere with each other, requiring detective work to find out.

Try turning
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It shouldn't need an OS replacement, I operate under similar conditions and have never needed an OS reinstall since XP days. But I do occasionally need to carry out maintenance to keep the thing operating optimally. As you add various programs they start to interfere with each other, requiring detective work to find out.

Try turning off Windows Indexing - see http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/simple-ways-to-increase-your-computers-performace-turn-off-indexing-on-your-local-drives/

Googling Windows 10 performance will bring up a host of useful advice.
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Luca Tutino
Luca Tutino  Identity Verified
Italy
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English to Italian
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Various possibilities (though I think the hardware might be defective) Feb 27, 2017

If you reinstalled your OS so many times and the system is still having the same problem, your system is clearly defective somewhere.

Unless you installed the OS from the same defective DVDs each time - Did you try with different installation sources? You should be able to download a new OS installation image, install it and then register it with your PC license number (look under the PC). If it keeps getting slow with a different installation source, then the cause cannot be the O
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If you reinstalled your OS so many times and the system is still having the same problem, your system is clearly defective somewhere.

Unless you installed the OS from the same defective DVDs each time - Did you try with different installation sources? You should be able to download a new OS installation image, install it and then register it with your PC license number (look under the PC). If it keeps getting slow with a different installation source, then the cause cannot be the OS.

You should also try to rule out the possibility that a single defective software (or even a virus) is hijacking your system. But I guess you (or your technician) did this already when you reinstalled. Anyway, if you did not do it yet, when your PC is slow you should also try to restart in "safe mode" (it is not difficult: see in your instructions or online). If it stops showing any sign vaguely similar to those that you described, then it should not be a fault from the OS, but either an external program or a defective component.

Did you check the RAM? You can find instructions for a deep check online. It takes a bit of time but replacing the ram would be relatively easy.

Another "lucky" fault would be the HD. It is easily replaceable. This is actually the first thing I would do: you could first run chkdsk (see online - it takes quite some time but is absolutely feasible by yourself). Then, if necessary, try to start the PC from an external HD or USB (not very easy but absolutely feasible). If it works well with the externally installed OS, then it could be an internal disk problem.

If nothing else works, it is probably the motherboard which is defective, and you should have your PC replaced under warranty.

I never heard that the OS should be reinstalled annually. Just to give you an idea: I run as many concurrent programs as you do (often many more) and have no problem with my I3 core notebook from 2011. I reinstalled my OS in 2015, but only because I changed my HD with a solid state disk. Thankfully I still have Win7, but I am quite sure that your problems are not caused by Win10 (alone).

In this case, try to bypass your current technician (the one that told you to reinstall windows 4 times). You might want to write directly to Lenovo's customer service.

I hope it helps!

NB: Edited because I originally wrote "keeps" in place of "stops" in the "safe mode" suggestion!

[Edited at 2017-02-27 17:48 GMT]
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Anton Konashenok
Anton Konashenok  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 14:07
French to English
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Are you reinstalling it correctly? Feb 27, 2017

There are, roughly speaking, two different ways to reinstall the system: keep the user files on the disk and just refresh the OS, or wipe the disk completely and install the OS and all application software from scratch. What you need is the latter, not the former (refreshing your system will only solve a small fraction of your problems, if any). Obviously, you need to back up your personal files first and restore them after reinstallation of the system.

[Edited at 2017-02-27 17:40 GMT]


 
Luca Tutino
Luca Tutino  Identity Verified
Italy
Member (2002)
English to Italian
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Indexing Feb 27, 2017



Not unless you have an internal SSD though. With an HD you might get the opposite outcome.

from online-tech-tips.com:

1. Really fast CPU (i5, i7) + a regular hard drive = keep indexing on



 
John Fossey
John Fossey  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 09:07
Member (2008)
French to English
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Worked for me Feb 27, 2017

Luca Tutino wrote:



Not unless you have an internal SSD though. With an HD you might get the opposite outcome.

from online-tech-tips.com:

1. Really fast CPU (i5, i7) + a regular hard drive = keep indexing on





I mentioned that because it worked for me, even though I have a 1TB HD. Turning indexing off made a noticeable difference in operation. It's really a question of trying things until you find out what works.

[Edited at 2017-02-27 18:50 GMT]


 
Ines Burrell
Ines Burrell  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:07
Member (2004)
English to Latvian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for suggestions! Feb 27, 2017

The OS reinstall was done properly, from scratch. And I do believe I will not be going back to the same guy, because the time has come for the fancy product support to do something. Up till now I went along with the OS reinstall because this way I lost the use of computer only for a few hours. My brand new spare (just an i3, but it is a spare) is arriving tomorrow and then this one can go for a serous MOT.

The fact that all the problems resurface after OS reinstall means that simple
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The OS reinstall was done properly, from scratch. And I do believe I will not be going back to the same guy, because the time has come for the fancy product support to do something. Up till now I went along with the OS reinstall because this way I lost the use of computer only for a few hours. My brand new spare (just an i3, but it is a spare) is arriving tomorrow and then this one can go for a serous MOT.

The fact that all the problems resurface after OS reinstall means that simple cleaning might not do the trick - I do not believe I am that messy that I leave a path of destruction behind that needs sorting out every three months. I am good, but not that good.

I am running the RegCurePro though, it might just let me limp long enough till I get my hands on the new backup computer. Backup computer is not a bad thin in any case.

By the way, I believe I have a hybrid SSD and HD, God only knows what would happen to it if I messed with indexing.
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Luca Tutino
Luca Tutino  Identity Verified
Italy
Member (2002)
English to Italian
+ ...
Registry cleaning programs are like snake oil Feb 27, 2017

Burrell wrote:

I am running the RegCurePro though, it might just let me limp long enough till I get my hands on the new backup computer. Backup computer is not a bad thin in any case.



I tried a register cleaner only once many years ago, but my conclusion is that automated messing with the register should be avoided at all costs. My impression is that not much is changed: the chance to create new problems is much higher than any hope to cure the old ones.


 
Rolf Keller
Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 14:07
English to German
Methodical procedures Feb 28, 2017

Burrell wrote:

The OS reinstall was done properly, from scratch.


What do you mean by "from scratch" exactly? All bits on the hard disk were erased?

First action: Use google for problem reports on your laptop model. Never skip this step.
Second action: Try to identify an obvious symptom.

Symptoms (some of these don't grow in the course of weeks, but in the course of hours. But check for them anyway):

1 RAM fills up in the course of time
Utilization can be checked by Windows Task Manager.

Cause: faulty piece of application Software. Or malware.

2 CPU runs slowly in the course of time
Cpu clock speed can be checked by Windows Task Manager.

Cause: Cpu protects itself by activating throttle mode in order to avoid high temperatures.
Fans do not cool suffiently OR cpu radiator is mechanically loose.

Check cpu temperature & fan speed by a Lenovo tool or a non-Microsoft tool.
Check fan settings in the BIOS.
If cpu gets hot although the fan is running fast, check for obstruction (dust etc.)

3 CPU is running to capacity
Utilization can be checked by Windows Task Manager.
This problem can be investigated further by Microsoft Process Explorer.

4 Hard disk fills up in the course of time OR is too fragmented.
Can be checked/corrected by Windows means.

5 Too many hard disk data transfers per second.
Can be checked by Windows Task Manager.

Cause: faulty piece of application Software. Or malware.

6 Hard disk becomes slow in the course of time.
Cause: Faulty hybrid hard disk firmware. Could be updated.


 


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Issues with a Windows 10 laptop






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