If I leave my desktop PC for half-an-hour or so, when I come back it takes around twenty minutes to get up to speed. It's not in 'sleep' mode, but it's almost as if it is. Task manager will show the disk running at 100% and the browser running at 2 or 3 MB/s. The memory will be around 80% with the browser around 2000MB.
The C: drive is using around 70GB of 400GB available.
I've recently run Malware and Ccleaner to no avail.
Any suggestions welcome.
The PC's an AMD Athlon (tm) 11 X2 250 processor 3.0 GHz x64 based processor.
Windows 10 pro
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To check it's not going to sleep first (which I think it is not) go to Power Options (Right click on Windows logo at bottom left, select "Power Options" and then under "Power and Sleep" have "When plugged in, PC goes to sleep after... set to "Never".
In fact I think you have something running which is waiting for the PC to be inactive before starting. Updates can do this, so can backups, malware scans and anti-virus stuff. Also, so can search indexing and certain downloading.
Next time it happens, go to Task Manager and click on the Disk Usage total figure to sort everything by disk usage, and see what are the top two or three.
-Ditto network usage.
-Ditto CPU.
Perhaps leave Task Manager running before you leave the computer to get a head start when you get back to it.
Perhaps we can work something out from that.
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>> Updates can do this, so can backups, malware scans and anti-virus stuff. Also, so can search indexing and certain downloading.
And, of course, malware. CCleaner isn't much help these days. You mention running "malware", did you mean Malwarebytes?
Panda Cloud Scan is pretty good, also.
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I have used adwcleaner in the past - gets rid of adware etc - worked for me years ago.
Must be worth a shot.
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>>In fact I think you have something running which is waiting for the PC to be inactive before >>starting.
>>And, of course, malware. CCleaner isn't much help these days. You mention running >>"malware", did you mean Malwarebytes?
I think No FM2R may be on to something. The PC's behaved itself all day - typical, ain't it?
I wasn't aware I could click on the disk usage figure, but of course it hasn't shown anything revealing today.
I did mean Malwarebytes. I've also run adwcleaner - it found six threats which it's dealt with.
I'll have to wait until it does it again and see what's the cause from task manager.
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It's dropped back into treacle mode this evening. Task manager shows the greediest items to be:
System
Wsappx
AVG Service (32 bit)
Service Host:Windows Event Log
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It probably is not caused by wsappx. Not that it is impossible, but it is unlikely.
A simple question first; is there any chance that AVG started a virus scan because it thought the PC was inactive and then you were dealing with it's drain on resources when you unexpectedly came back?
How often is this happening now? Often enough to be sure it'd happen in a set period? Because there are a couple of tests we can do if you can allow/cause it to happen.
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If it were me, I'd get shot of AVG. That was the cause of my old laptop running like it was in a vat of treacle.
Over the years AVG has become so bloated, and IMHO it doesn't offer any more protection than Windows Defender does.
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Well I thought I'd let this, and the other slow PC threads chug along, till the time was right to provide the real answer.
Save your work, format the disk, and reinstall windows, and once done, stick to the windows AV and firewall and stop dicking about with all the useless resource hungry antimalewarebitesdefender third party rubbish.
At the end of the day, windows always has and always will be in need of regular reinstalls. Its the only cure that going to be a reliable fix (till the next time windows needs to be reinstalled, in about two years)
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Windows is a whole lot better at staying quicker than it used to be, times have moved on.
Having said that the reliable way to cure the problem would be to scratch it all and start again.
But that may be a sledgehammer to crack a nut. IMO it's always worth trying a few simple steps to improve the issue first.
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>>Save your work, format the disk, and reinstall windows, and once done, stick to the windows AV and firewall and stop dicking about with all the useless resource hungry antimalewarebitesdefender third party rubbish.
The reason I ditched Windows AV was because it was 'hanging' on updates, causing the PC to run slow.
It's taken me ages to type this, I'm going away from the PC, I may be some time!
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>> The reason I ditched Windows AV was because it was 'hanging' on updates, causing the
>> PC to run slow.
And you since installed AVG and a load of other useless crap which is causing the PC to run slow.............
>> It's taken me ages to type this, I'm going away from the PC, I may
>> be some time!
Download the latest MS windows 10 and install that. The latest MS media will have all the latest updates installed, - properly not lashed together over a period of time as is the MS way. *
But hey, you keep smashing it lots of times with your tiny hammer. when one BIG SLEDGEHAMMER one is needed.
*Just done that to resolve an issue on someones machine. It came so updated, its only needed one small call home to catch up.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 13 Nov 18 at 11:00
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>> At the end of the day, windows always has and always will be in need of regular reinstalls.
My PC running XP was something like 11 years old when I got rid of it. Never ever had a reinstall. The main reason for getting rid of it was that MS no longer supported XP.
In fact, I've not done any reinstalls on any of my PCs, and they have still been fine.
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I'm not suggesting what you're saying is a bad thing.
Maybe mine don't need doing because I do regular housekeeping. Defrags, clearing out the recycle bin, and the like.
Approx every 12 months I also take the cover off the desktop PC and give the internals a once over, removing any dust build up on the fans and heat sinks with a small paint brush, along with wafting air duster over the mother board and graphics card.
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>> It probably is not caused by wsappx. Not that it is impossible, but it is
>> unlikely.
>>
>> A simple question first; is there any chance that AVG started a virus scan because
>> it thought the PC was inactive and then you were dealing with it's drain on
>> resources when you unexpectedly came back?
>>
>> How often is this happening now? Often enough to be sure it'd happen in a
>> set period? Because there are a couple of tests we can do if you can
>> allow/cause it to happen.
It was OK for 8 days, but fell back into 'treacle' mode Sunday evening. It was virtually unusable all day Monday and it's limping along now. Task manager seems to indicate it's definitely 'system' and 'AVG Service (32 bit)' causing the problem.
Last edited by: bathtub tom on Tue 13 Nov 18 at 08:42
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If you are set on using AVG why not just remove it for a day or so and see how it runs then put it back if it proves to not be the culprit? I think Windows Defender is enabled by default in Windows 10 so it's not as though you'd be without any protection.
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He said he ditched Windows AV was because it was 'hanging' on updates, causing the PC to run slow.
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Oh yes, so he did, sorry!! :-)
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He also said
" seems to indicate it's definitely 'system' and 'AVG Service (32 bit)' causing the problem. "
So before it was Windows AV, now its AVG? Seems to indicate a deeper underlying issue to me. Hmmm?
Nowt worse than random tinkering.
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>>Task manager seems to indicate it's definitely 'system' and 'AVG Service (32 bit)' causing the problem.
Then you really ned to try the system without AVG. I deleted AVG years ago because of a performance issue, but you'd have thought it would have improved by now.
Uninstall it, but either install something else, such as Windows Defender, or take your internet cable out beforehand.
If it makes a difference, then I guess you're moving in the right direction.
And Zero, whilst you may be right, I have never found a full install necessary and frankly neither could I possibly be bothered to do it.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 5 Sep 19 at 10:36
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>> And Zero, whilst you may be right, I have never found a full install necessary
>> and frankly neither could I possibly be bothered to do it.
Whatever
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 5 Sep 19 at 10:36
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>> Whatever
I've not found a reinstall necessary post the slug that was Vista. Subsequent issues have been either hardware, eg dust in chip's cooling flow, or resource hogging software.
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BT, you are not far away from the cyclomaniac, he'll fix it for you.
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I'm back. It was running so slow yesterday, I abandoned it in frustration. I've been out until now, but it seems to be working at a reasonable speed. I haven't changed anything. I think next time it happens I'll take a video of task manager and post it on you tube or somewhere. Do you think that may assist in finding the cause?
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It can't hurt.
Are you able to predict when it will happen?
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>> Are you able to predict when it will happen?
No.
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If, for example, you uninstalled AVG and the system ran quickly, how long would it be before you felt that you'd probably made a difference? A day, a week etc.?
I think I asked this already, but in case it is a failing disk, you do have a recent backup?
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>> If, for example, you uninstalled AVG and the system ran quickly, how long would it
>> be before you felt that you'd probably made a difference? A day, a week etc.?
I reckon it would apparent immediately. When it goes slow it takes minutes to respond.
I've never backed up, as there's nothing on the PC that would be disastrous if I lost it. The most annoying loss would be bookmarks. I had a mother board fail on a PC several years ago, I simply went out and bought this one, although it's a pain researching for a replacement when you haven't got one.
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If you use something like Chrome then register a GMail account if you don't have one, log into it from that Chrome browser and it will save your booksmarks.
You can do similar with IE & Edge, and I assume with Firefox.
You can also export your bookmarks to a file and put it on a USB stick or email it to yourself.
Once you've done that, I'd take AVG off and see what happens. Viruses are unlikely if you have Defender switched on and are even less of an issue if you don't care about your data.
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>> I'm back. It was running so slow yesterday,
MS put out a lot of updates last night. I usually put my PC into hibernation instead of shutting it down. Last night it gave two more options as well as the usual ones i.e. "install updates and shut down" and "install updates and restart"
Maybe that was the reason last night? I know it slowed down my PC slightly and I could hear the hard drive chuntering away busily doing something while I was using it.
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With W10, which seems to have a mind of its own, if a m/c slows down my approach is to look at the event list for anything untoward, run the manufacturers own disk diagnostic software, and if nothing shows up, leave well alone for a day or two (leaving it running to allow it to "clear it's throat").
The great majority of the time, it then self-corrects. (many of the issues centre around the background update installation, particularly major ones).
W7 is an entirely different kettle of fish (and my W7 m/c has been running on the initial install for 9+ years, albeit with a bit of intervention)
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>>MS put out a lot of updates last night.
I can see MS installed nine updates today, but this latest problem started Sunday. The previous MS updates were 10/10
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Just because the updates were 'done' on a specific day does not mean that the files were downloaded on that day. They could easily have been down loading on the previous day(s), giving you the slow problem. The update may only have taken place when you turned off the machine/ rebooted after all files were ready for installation.
I have the impression that some updates are dependent on the previous updates having been done in the 'right' order. Not sure that is fact, but have seen similar situations to your on my 'TV laptop', where prior to updating the machine is slow sometimes before update.
Do you leave machine on permanently?
In some versions of W10 there is an option that lets MS use your machine to store update other local? or non local machines. Look in settings- update - advanced - delivery optimisation.
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>> In some versions of W10 there is an option that lets MS use your machine
>> to store update other local? or non local machines. Look in settings- update - advanced
>> - delivery optimisation.
'Allow updates from other PCs' was turned on, it ain't now. I don't know that would affect my PC as there's no other devices connected to my PC and I'm not aware of ever giving anyone remote access.
I suppose it could have been the nine updates downloading, but over more than two days?
I usually turn the PC off at night, but as soon as it started going slow I left it on and shut down my browser. Usually after updates have been downloaded I get a different message on shutdown to the effect that updates will be activated before turning off power - I didn't see that message.
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What speed is your broadband connection?
Sorry if you have already mentioned it?
If it's slow, then maybe that's a reason the updates are taking a long time, and subsequently causing your PC to run at a crawl.
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I'm getting just over 4Mb/s
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>>>Allow updates from other PCs' was turned on, it ain't now. I don't know that would affect my PC as there's no other devices connected to my PC and I'm not aware of ever giving anyone remote access.<<<
Allow updates of other - (ie to not from) = uploading
You can look at this by update - advanced- delivery optimisation - and a furhter level of advanced settings.
You may have now lost this option to look at it as you have now turned off "Allow updates" etc.
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SIL (web developer) agreed to reload windows. Took him all day, really glad I didn't attempt it, but he did get a free dinner out of it.
PC now restored to full speed, I just need to sort out all the little bits and pieces I'd added over the years.
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Another slow PC query - No FM2R
