Too many background processes sluggish computer

[Super_Facts]

Recently my computer has been overloading background processes if I leave it for more than a few hours. I come back and everything is sluggish or totally unresponsive and i have so many background processes running my RAM (8 gigs) is at 98% and wont behave normally until i restart it. Not sure if there is a way to totally fix this without wiping my computer and starting fresh.

If I have to do that I would like to not have to reinstall windows.

[Enderman]

Highly recommend to clean install windows.

Sounds like you haven't done that in a while.

Any quick "fix" you do is simply delaying it longer.

[Tabs]

Just for the sake of clarification: Is it definitely background processes that are using the ram? If so, which processes?

 

If you can screenshot task manager when it's in a high-usage state we might be able to give you advice other than @Enderman's suggestion of "nuke it and repave".

 

In the end, if software you have installed now is causing problems and you reinstall it, the problem may come back.

 

Also @Enderman seems to suggest that people reformat as a first fix instead of a final solution, which is particularly unhelpful in most cases.

[Enderman]

6 minutes ago, Tabs said:

Also @Enderman seems to suggest that people reformat as a first fix instead of a final solution, which is particularly unhelpful in most cases.

Fixes the problem though, and often takes less time than trying to find every small thing that is causing performance issues.

Also half the time the problem is that the person cloned their OS drive or upgraded windows, in which case a clean install is the only fix.

It's also good practice to clean install windows every year or so, which many people don't do, and this would be a great time to do it.

[w1nger1]

18 minutes ago, Super_Facts said:

Recently my computer has been overloading background processes if I leave it for more than a few hours. I come back and everything is sluggish or totally unresponsive and i have so many background processes running my RAM (8 gigs) is at 98% and wont behave normally until i restart it. Not sure if there is a way to totally fix this without wiping my computer and starting fresh.

If I have to do that I would like to not have to reinstall windows.

First you have to find out what's is actually eating up your memory.

Reinstall might be a solution to clean some unwanted software.

But if it is cause by any software you actively using, it might come back to haunt you.

[Guest]

Control alt delete

 

task manager

 

startup

 

select applications and press disable. Make sure you know what you’re disabling though. Steam remembers my log in but I don’t need it to be on when I turn on my computer. Uplay and origin don’t need to be on. When I’m done playing EA and Ubisoft games, I quit uplay or origin to close it completely.