HP 15-bs158c laptop is running slow - despite having 12 GB of ram and a 8th gen core i5. - What gives?

[Duo01]

I bought the laptop from a retailer back in 2018 and it ran great - up until about a year and a half ago. I reset it in 2019 for performance issues and it ran well for a few months and then has had performance issues again. The disk was always at 100% and I reset it 3 days ago - keeping my personal files. Even opening edge is a tedious and annoying process. My PC takes 2-3 minutes to boot and my family members computer which has 1/3 the memory mine has and a worse core boots in 3 seconds. I've tried Resetting (as mentioned above) (though I haven't done a clean install before, should I do that?) I scanned for corrupt system files, even ran a malware scan. Nothing. I really don't know what's wrong with it. I would use my secondary laptop, but as I posted on here not too long ago the power jack broke and I need to send it somewhere to get repaired. I'm stuck using this laptop and with performance issues, it makes it hard to do my work.

Should I do a clean install?

Could one of the components be damaged? 

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. HP support has helped me LITTLE.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Does it have a ssd?

 

This feels like a system without a ssd, getting a ssd will make a massive difference.

 

 

[WhitetailAni]

Is it an HDD or SSD?
If it's an HDD, you should get an SSD ASAP. Windows isn't designed to run on an HDD and it can speed up the experience by a lot.

[Duo01]

I use a hard drive (which is 2TB).

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Duo01 said:

I use a hard drive (which is 2TB).

Yea thats your problem. Get a ssd and it will make the system super fast.

[flibberdipper]

Just now, Duo01 said:

I use a hard drive (which is 2TB).

And there's why it feels about as responsive as someone who's been dead for several decades.

[Duo01]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Yea thats your problem. Get a ssd and it will make the system super fast.

Alright, thank you.