Laptop with i7-4710HQ slowing down over time - why?

[Light-Yagami]

Hello everyone,

 

You've read the title. I just need some ideas thrown around since I don't know where to start troubleshooting..

symptoms: laptop takes a while to open file explorer (and other programs), load webpages, in general doesn't feel as snappy as it used to

some info to help:

 

No thermal issues (TP replaced multiple times), No storage space issues, windows install 3 years old (fresh install with SSD upgrade back in 2017), no apparent hardware issues, no battery installed, CPU locked to 3.5ghz with XTU, 16gb ram. CPU and GPU performance seem pretty much the same as new, tested with Unigine Heaven, R15, R20. 

 

Maybe some software updates for 4th gen CPUs to combat security loop holes? Lack of hardware support for new codecs? Is it possible that I need a fresh Windows install? Is there something I can do to avoid it?

 

Thanks for the help

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, Light-Yagami said:

windows install 3 years old

Windows 10 home I assume?

[Light-Yagami]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

Windows 10 home I assume?

sadly

[Radium_Angel]

7 minutes ago, Light-Yagami said:

sadly

Have you considered shutting down much of the telemetry? Might help.

I had a win10home PC just the other day, that while had good specs, was quite the slug (disclaimer: I refuse to use Win10 in any capacity) and after killing off all the telemetry and things like cortana, the system was *much* more responsive.

 

Just a thought, I can suggest some programs to help with that, if you are so inclined.

 

Beyond that, I assume you have checked the health of your drive?

[Light-Yagami]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

Have you considered shutting down much of the telemetry? Might help.

I had a win10home PC just the other day, that while had good specs, was quite the slug (disclaimer: I refuse to use Win10 in any capacity) and after killing off all the telemetry and things like cortana, the system was *much* more responsive.

 

Just a thought, I can suggest some programs to help with that, if you are so inclined.

 

Beyond that, I assume you have checked the health of your drive?

All very fair and sound suggestions. I have pretty much all my telemetry turned off, but I'll go ahead and check once more. Sometimes the bloody thing resets it after a major update.

I have a Samsung 850EVO installed, and I don't think it has more than 10 cycles on it, so.. It shouldn't be a problem. Considering it's rated for what.. almost 2000?

 

I'll listen to anything you have to say, no harm to try something different. A pair of fresh eyes is always welcome. 

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, Light-Yagami said:

try something different.

Allow me to suggest a few security/privacy programs to look into:

https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

https://www.geckoandfly.com/25083/free-tools-disable-stop-windows-spying-tracking-you/

(I like win10 privacy and spybot anti-beacon, of which there is still a basic version which is free)

 

All three of those programs have an undo feature, if you don't like what it is doing to your system, which is handy.

 

Also, geek uninstaller 

https://geekuninstaller.com/

For all that app crap that comes with win10 home.

 

Give some of those a try, see if you notice a difference, and if not, we'll look elsewhere...

 

[Light-Yagami]

8 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Allow me to suggest a few security/privacy programs to look into:

https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

https://www.geckoandfly.com/25083/free-tools-disable-stop-windows-spying-tracking-you/

(I like win10 privacy and spybot anti-beacon, of which there is still a basic version which is free)

 

All three of those programs have an undo feature, if you don't like what it is doing to your system, which is handy.

 

Also, geek uninstaller 

https://geekuninstaller.com/

For all that app crap that comes with win10 home.

 

Give some of those a try, see if you notice a difference, and if not, we'll look elsewhere...

 

I'll give the geekuninstaller a try, I have some stuff running in the background that "can't be deleted" cause it "doesn't exist" anymore. Just Windows things. I'll let you know if there's any difference

[Light-Yagami]

@Radium_Angel

 

I've deleted a bunch of loose ends, closed some background services, wiped a bunch of stuff of the SSD.. 

 

It starts up 5 seconds faster now (18s compared to around 23s before - ) and it seems to have more life to it. Getting rid of unnecessary files and programs really seemed to help quite a bit. Especially disabling the adobe stuff on startup.

 

In any case. Thanks for the help! Have a nice day