Slow Computer?

[!WhoAmI!]

My dads old Gateway DX4860 is acting slow, like really slow. He bought it at least six years ago refurbished, not that it matters. First off, it wouldn't even load properly, I managed to fix this by dusting off the cpu cooler with that air in a can and re-applying some thermal paste. It loads into windows just fine now but it now has a tendency of having lag spikes here and there, the computer would lock up for like 10 seconds before going back to normal. Is there anything I could possibly do to try and fix this? (I personally think it may be his OS I don't know.)

 

His computer specs:

 

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

i7 2600k at 3.4 GHZ

8gb of ddr3 ram

2tb Seagate hardrive

 

I forgot the motherboard model but I assume it wouldn't really matter, but its by Acer and its LGA1155

[MrDrWho13]

Look at task manager under "performance" and see which of the little graphs are hitting the top. I expect it's down to a slow HDD. If that's the case, you can buy a 250GB SSD for Windows and his programs, using the current HDD for storage only. That would massively increase the speed.

[Alexzz_]

try to move the harddrive to another system and see if the same thing happens. the harddrive might be having some problems.

[!WhoAmI!]

2 minutes ago, Alexzz_ said:

try to move the harddrive to another system and see if the same thing happens. the harddrive might be having some problems.

how so the operating system wouldn't post if I'm correct

 

[Alexzz_]

2 minutes ago, !WhoAmI! said:

how so the operating system wouldn't post if I'm correct

 

with my last post i meant that you should move the harddrive to another computer that is functioning and then replace the working computers harddrive with the seagate 2tb, then boot up the functioning computer and see if it becomes slow.

[!WhoAmI!]

1 minute ago, Alexzz_ said:

with my last post i meant that you should move the harddrive to another computer that is functioning and then replace the working computers harddrive with the seagate 2tb, then boot up the functioning computer and see if it becomes slow.

I highly doubt it would be the harddrive considering it was working fine recently.

[Alexzz_]

Just now, !WhoAmI! said:

I highly doubt it would be the harddrive considering it was working fine recently.

well harddrives can crash at any moment, but if you dont think that is a problem then i reccomend running aida64 to see if the pc is at its thermal limit, that is something that could cause the slowdown. but you mentioned replacing the thermal paste ect. so i dont think that is the problem. if you think it is the os specifically have you tried updating it to another version yet?

[!WhoAmI!]

Just now, Alexzz_ said:

well harddrives can crash at any moment, but if you dont think that is a problem then i reccomend running aida64 to see if the pc is at its thermal limit, that is something that could cause the slowdown. but you mentioned replacing the thermal paste ect. so i dont think that is the problem. if you think it is the os specifically have you tried updating it to another version yet?

Well, he was offered windows 10 when it was free but he's like *what is this new technology*. He hates windows 10 I'm dead serious. He doesn't think he would need it.

[kelvinhall05]

Either the HDD is old and/or dying, or the Windows install has a shitload of viruses. Try downloading and scanning with Malwarebytes, and if that comes up with a bunch of viruses, reinstall Windows.

[!WhoAmI!]

2 hours ago, kelvinhall05 said:

Either the HDD is old and/or dying, or the Windows install has a shitload of viruses. Try downloading and scanning with Malwarebytes, and if that comes up with a bunch of viruses, reinstall Windows.

I actually fixed the coming right when you said that, it had a shitload of viruses. 3 viruses called "Trojans" (one deadly virus lmao). Luckily, with my dads Malwarebytes, I successfully removed them.

[kelvinhall05]

47 minutes ago, !WhoAmI! said:

I actually fixed the coming right when you said that, it had a shitload of viruses. 3 viruses called "Trojans" (one deadly virus lmao). Luckily, with my dads Malwarebytes, I successfully removed them.

Cool. If the problems still occur, reinstall Windows. Like, format the drive, boot-off-a-USB reinstall Windows