Computer running like shit

[Emma Raducanu]

I only store photos on my phone and computer. I've used both for some general web browsing.

Both pieces of technology are less than 2 years old and both run like shit.

The only dodgy sites I've used are the occasional browse of porn and even more occasional browse of pirate bay.

Pretty much don't use them for anything else. Might my things be clogged with viruses and 'things'?

[St_Eddie]

Download a trial version of AVG and run a full scan of your computer (leave it running overnight, if need be).  Your computer is probably clogged up with viruses and malware (porn and pirated material will tend to do that).  I'd also recommend making the most of your free trial by utilising all of the other features of the programme.  I was able to reclaim 200GB of hard disk space, as well as clearing my PC of some nasty unwanted elements, by using AVG.  Once the free trial is over, you can still use AVG to scan downloaded files, prior to opening them.  It's an indispensable piece of software; like binary manna from the digital gods.

_{DISCLAIMER: I don't work for AVG.  Honest, Guv'.}

[canadagoose]

What are the specs of your computer, and what kind of phone is it? Just out of interest.

[Emma Raducanu]

computer is windows 10. bog standard £300 laptop dunno specs. phone is £100 moto g with enough space for about 4 apps before it's begging you to delete stuff, so guessing I'm stuck with a badly peforming phone, but it definitely runs worse than it used to. Frustratingly so.

[DrGreggles]

D/L Malwarebytes and scan with that too.

[Emma Raducanu]

Using the AVG trial at the minute. Seems pretty good so far

[biggytitbo]

Doesn't windows 10 have it's own anti virus programs, or at least there is an excellent free one from Microsoft.

[olliebean]

I disabled Windows 10's built-in antivirus, because it was making my computer run like shit.

[Mass_Panic]

I've found Windows defender pretty good and definitely less intrusive than all the other free antivirus out there at the moment. But Windows 10 sucks. No one else seems to complain about it, but it's like going back to the dark ages. I thought I had a decent enough computer and yet it takes several minutes to boot. And then it takes AGES for the little icons on my taskbar to populate - I don't know what the fuck it thinks it's doing every time it loads up. I've disabled everything in the startup.  I'm guessing you probably need a PC with more than 8 gigs of ram to run it well? As for phones, pretty much every phone I've had for over 2 years breaks or starts to run like hell - planned obsolescence innit.

[hedgehog90]

Get rid of AVG and just use built in Microsoft AV.
Seriously, if you install AVG with all the default settings it will only make things slower and lead to all sorts of whacky shit.
It's awful.

Also, less likely to be viruses in this day, probably just some badly coded software you've installed that hogs resources or runs in the background.
Check your installed programs, uninstall the rubbish and limit which programs run on startup.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Avira seems pretty light. It might be better now but I ditched avg about 10 years ago when it changed from a good free virus scanner into a bloated mess reminiscent of Norton (aka 'Doing a realplayer'), a few years later I had to bin avast for doing the same thing.

Why do they have to go from doing one thing well to lots of things badly? This is what happened to photocopiers.

[St_Eddie]

Get rid of AVG and just use built in Microsoft AV.
Seriously, if you install AVG with all the default settings it will only make things slower and lead to all sorts of whacky shit.
It's awful.

I respectfully disagree.  Either way, I think that it would be wise for DolphinFace to at least allow the AVG scan to complete (and possibly use its other features) and then delete it.  It can't hurt to do so and would in fact, ultimately benefit DolphinFace's computer.  Once the features have been made use of, then by all means delete it.

[Eianz]

(antivirus spam bot)

[Wilbur]

Get rid of AVG and just use built in Microsoft AV.
Seriously, if you install AVG with all the default settings it will only make things slower and lead to all sorts of whacky shit.
It's awful.

Also, less likely to be viruses in this day, probably just some badly coded software you've installed that hogs resources or runs in the background.
Check your installed programs, uninstall the rubbish and limit which programs run on startup.

This.

AVG is worse than the problem it purports to fix. Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy let alone recommend it.

[Wilbur]

I respectfully disagree.  Either way, I think that it would be wise for DolphinFace to at least allow the AVG scan to complete (and possibly use its other features) and then delete it.  It can't hurt to do so and would in fact, ultimately benefit DolphinFace's computer.  Once the features have been made use of, then by all means delete it.

I have about 12 specific removal tools for the various different flavours of AVG as the uninstall doesn't work properly.

[Uncle TechTip]

Spam bot

This guy signed up today. I'm thinking don't click on the link.

[St_Eddie]

This.

AVG is worse than the problem it purports to fix. Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy let alone recommend it.

Huh.  It's worked wonders for me.  I won't dispute what you say though.

[Blumf]

On Windows 10, are you running it on a SSD or old fashioned spinning rust HDD? Because Win10 is fucking unusable on a HDD, near constantly hammering the disk for no apparent reason.

[Pseudopath]

Win10 is fucking unusable on a HDD, near constantly hammering the disk for no apparent reason.

Indexing for the search function (that never works) and sending all your data to Microsoft, innit?

[canadagoose]

On Windows 10, are you running it on a SSD or old fashioned spinning rust HDD? Because Win10 is fucking unusable on a HDD, near constantly hammering the disk for no apparent reason.

Especially if you've got less than 6GB of RAM. 4GB is plenty for Windows 7 but for some reason Windows 10 "prefers" more. OP, could your laptop maybe do with a RAM upgrade?

[Sebastian Cobb]

You can get 4gb of used ram for a tenner from cash converters these days.

There's the chance it might not work, but the sticks I have bought did.

[Johnny Textface]

You can adjust the settings for best performance?

[Glebe]

[tag]Personal Computer letters page "has really gone down in tone".[/tag]

[Consignia]

You can adjust the settings for best performance?

Yeah, just hit the turbo button.

[St_Eddie]

Yeah, just hit the turbo button.

FUN FACT: Pushing the turbo button on certain old computers, so that the LED came on, actually had the effect of slowing your PC down because nothing within the world of technology can ever be as simple as it initially appears.

[Twed]

Would have been cheaper to have just forced all the programmers who used the CPU clock for timing to relearn their wrongheaded ways.

[colacentral]

Bet you've made a mint in bitcoins for someone in China.

[olliebean]

Especially if you've got less than 6GB of RAM. 4GB is plenty for Windows 7 but for some reason Windows 10 "prefers" more. OP, could your laptop maybe do with a RAM upgrade?

W10 works fine on my 10 year old Dell with only 3GB of RAM. Windows Defender fucked it, though - maybe that's what needs masses of RAM?

Mind you, I keep seeing people complaining about how much RAM the new Firefox uses, and I've never had a problem with that either, so maybe I've got some special magic sort of RAM in my PC.

[canadagoose]

W10 works fine on my 10 year old Dell with only 3GB of RAM. Windows Defender fucked it, though - maybe that's what needs masses of RAM?

Mind you, I keep seeing people complaining about how much RAM the new Firefox uses, and I've never had a problem with that either, so maybe I've got some special magic sort of RAM in my PC.

Quite possibly - I don't think I've used W10 without any kind of AV, and they do tend to have a slowing-down effect. Or maybe you're more patient than the rest of us.