Why do Laptops/PC's get slower by usage?

[Vinayak Somvanshi]

Hi all,

Why do Laptops/PC's get slower by usage? I was just curious.

BR. Vinayak

[bellabichon]

Lots of reasons, but a big one is as modern SSDs fill up, their transfer speeds decrease which can result in the system feeling less snappy and responsive. 

[Vinayak Somvanshi]

My one started being slower after playing a crack game. Than uninstalling it and then scanning mcafee antivirus. So can the game make my pc slow.

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, bellabichon said:

Lots of reasons, but a big one is as modern SSDs fill up, their transfer speeds decrease which can result in the system feeling less snappy and responsive. 

Also just general crap collecting on the device. From leftover files from programs, more background tasks running,...

 

Also another big reason is people not at all maintaining their devices. What do I mean by that? I mean opening them up and blowing them out with compressed air. So many systems I've got in where this was one of the big reasons that it was simply slow due to overheating and a simple clean was all it needed (in some cases a repaste for older devices).

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, Vinayak Somvanshi said:

My one started being slower after playing a crack game. Than uninstalling it and then scanning mcafee antivirus. So can the game make my pc slow.

Mcafee is literally worse than the standard windows defender. It also eats up A LOT of resources compared to the standard free anitvirus windows comes with called windows defender.

 

So get rid of mcaffee. Also install malwarebytes to see if any malware is left behind.

 

I hope you learned your lesson that a cracked game often comes with some extra malicious programs.

[Vinayak Somvanshi]

OK, Noted

[mariushm]

Even if they're not cracked, some games install applications that remain running background as a service, to scan for cheats and hacks in multiplayer sessions for example. 

Usually those services are suspended / paused when the game is closed. 

 

As for why something slows down over time ... 

 

Temporary files are created and forgotten about, the SSD gets fuller with data so there's less free disk space to use as fast write cache.

You may have search indexing enabled - basically a program runs in background and scans file content so that when you type something in the search box it can give meaningful results... you can disable that feature/service

Your web browser is initially a blank state, fresh. As you browse pages, there's stuff added to history, there's cookies stored, there's content cached, when you access some site again browser will scan its cache to reuse stuff instead of downloading it. 

Thermal paste gets old, dries out ... as it does, over long period of time, the heat transfer from the cpu to cooler/fan may not be as best, so the fan either spins at higher rpm or the cpu / motherboard designs to reduce a tiny bit the frequency of the cpu to keep the cpu cool, yet as silent as possible - it's trading performance for silence. 

heatsinks and fans can also clog with dust, hairs etc, which reduce the cooling efficiency ... that also can force the processor to reduce its frequencies, work slower, but cooler ... so you'd notice the system running a bit slower (and maybe hotter)

 

[Levent]

If you were to keep using the same state of software all of its life while keeping in mind the limitations of the SSD/HDD, it would not get slower. It is mainly the software and SSD/HDD that degrades the performance.

[Vinayak Somvanshi]

15 hours ago, mariushm said:

Even if they're not cracked, some games install applications that remain running background as a service, to scan for cheats and hacks in multiplayer sessions for example. 

Usually those services are suspended / paused when the game is closed. 

 

As for why something slows down over time ... 

 

Temporary files are created and forgotten about, the SSD gets fuller with data so there's less free disk space to use as fast write cache.

You may have search indexing enabled - basically a program runs in background and scans file content so that when you type something in the search box it can give meaningful results... you can disable that feature/service

Your web browser is initially a blank state, fresh. As you browse pages, there's stuff added to history, there's cookies stored, there's content cached, when you access some site again browser will scan its cache to reuse stuff instead of downloading it. 

Thermal paste gets old, dries out ... as it does, over long period of time, the heat transfer from the cpu to cooler/fan may not be as best, so the fan either spins at higher rpm or the cpu / motherboard designs to reduce a tiny bit the frequency of the cpu to keep the cpu cool, yet as silent as possible - it's trading performance for silence. 

heatsinks and fans can also clog with dust, hairs etc, which reduce the cooling efficiency ... that also can force the processor to reduce its frequencies, work slower, but cooler ... so you'd notice the system running a bit slower (and maybe hotter)

 

Hi,

about the thermal pate my laptop is just 6 months old so do I need to change the thermal paste?

BR. Vinayak 

[whm1974]

16 hours ago, Vinayak Somvanshi said:

Hi,

about the thermal pate my laptop is just 6 months old so do I need to change the thermal paste?

BR. Vinayak 

Shouldn't. Only six months old? Doesn't need it.

[Zodiark1593]

On 7/15/2021 at 12:32 AM, Vinayak Somvanshi said:

My one started being slower after playing a crack game. Than uninstalling it and then scanning mcafee antivirus. So can the game make my pc slow.

A few years ago, I was installing a new SSD in my grandfather’s laptop with the same software configuration and was wondering why it didn’t seem any better than the old HDD. 
 

After some digging, came to find that Mcaffee was to blame, even when it wasn’t supposed to be actively scanning. After uninstalling that piece of crapware, the laptop felt a heck of a lot faster than any pc it’s age (this is the original Llano A6 APU) ought to be. 
 

Lesson: Don’t underestimate the impact of your software config on performance. A bad config can cripple even the fastest NVME systems and ruin user experience. Standard mid 00’s PC behavior (ie, waiting on the PC) in this day and age is not an acceptable user experience. 
 

Lesson 2: Overaggressive or badly written security software does the industry a disservice, as heavy performance hits (enough to adversely impact user experience) can outweigh supposed reductions in risk and deter its use, defeating the purpose for all but the most paranoid. 

[Vinayak Somvanshi]

Ok, Thanks all for replying.

 

BR. Vinayak

[Intergalacticbits]

This is obvious I know but sometimes your web surfing can get a whole lot snappier just but deleting your browser history every few months.

If your using an older pc with a HDD in it. Defrag it right after you delete the browser history too and also cycle the pc after the defrag (if your the type to never turn it off after using it).

I've found that these things can make a noticeable difference in an older pc that still uses a HDD.

 

[Vinayak Somvanshi]

My PC uses SSD.

BR. Vinayak

[wgaca]

Excluding the obvious reasons, even if you reinstall the latest version of windows on an older laptop it will feel slower, the main reason for that is that software becomes more demanding with every new update as the hardware gets better and better.

Part of it might also include updates that purposely slow down older hardware.