It seems that lately, my nemesis has been slow computers. I've had three people in the last week or so ask me to look at their computers to see why they're running slower than they used to.

I do the usual things, scan for viruses (with two-four different programs), look for processes taking more than their share, check system specs, disabled startup applications through msconfig and autoruns, defragged, that sort of thing. But each time I end up with no explanation for why their system is running slowly.

In most cases I can tell that it should be running faster than it is. The last computer I worked on had decent specs, but for some reason it just chugged on most things.

What other things would you guys look at to see what might be causing a problem?


Secondary question: do any of you Chrome users know of a way to get better control over file downloads? Basically, I want Chrome to automatically attempt to download any file that's not a web site. For example, I love that Chrome can read PDFs natively, but I don't want it to open the file when I click a link. I want it to download it first, then open it when I double-click the file. I deal with a lot of PDFs, and doing the whole right-click, save as, chose location, etc is annoying when sometimes you have to download 10-20 files.

So far I haven't seen anything to help with this issue.

Thanks for your input on all of this...

Nuke it and reinstall Windows. Then don't connect it to the internet and don't install antivirus.

Should run nice and speedy. Or just buy a Mac or install Linux.

That was quick. Didn't expect it all in the very first response.

However, none of that is very feasible with normal home computer users.

reinstall. save an image of the machine. keep your data in network-attached storage. when the machine gets slow, wipe it and restore from the master image. update the machine and re-save the master image. lather, rinse, ...

*sigh*

Yeah, I figured that would be the response.

Most of these people are new clients for me, so it might just be easier to set them up right to start with, and move on from there...

Sadly it's about the only good response. Standard practice in all the companies I've worked at is the same. Major problem with Windows? Reimage the box. The IT departments just don't have the time to track down obscure issues, and would rather enforce proper backup/SCM policies so that a reload isn't a major problem when the time comes to do one.

In a way, I wish Microsoft would open tons more Microsoft Stores, just so their own employees have to deal with this crap directly. Maybe then they would spend more time on solidifying the OS for consumer users. For them though, there isn't much money in this plan. Instead, they prefer to remain an enterprise focused company, selling Windows Server, Exchange and Office licenses for way more then they make off selling Windows clients to OEMs and consumers. As it is, Microsoft is pretty isolated from the costs of bad consumer software, since the OEMs absorb the support costs for them. Or people fork over money to the Geek Squad.

One thing I've been running across here lately, at least with Dells, and because its hot now, is that Dells will slow down the processor if it gets hot. It seems that when the fans get dicey, the only symptom is inexplicably slow performance.

Okay, now that we've settled on "nuke from orbit" approach, what tools do you folks recommend for such things. I haven't looked much into the world of disc imaging, and the free products I've tried are pretty terrible. I'd like something under $100, $50 preferably.

This is a good point. Matt, are you doing any physical inspections, cleaning out dust, etc? You might want to add a CPU test of some sort to your toolkit, ramp up processor usage intentionally, and watch the clock speed to see if the processor is slowing down due to thermal protections. Some sort of disk test would also be good, since a slow hard drive is going to slow a computer down too. Some computers also just don't age well at all. Even though a computer comes prebuilt doesn't mean it was designed well. I can't tell you how many dead Dell XPSes my two previous companies went through since it was so many. A combination of poor office cooling during off hours, high workloads, and a bad placement of the SATA controller directly behind the heat exhaust from the CPU caused countless failures, leading to both companies abandoning the XPS line for different models. Very few of the systems just outright stopped one day, most degraded over time. One I remember from a programmer next to me went from 10 minute compiles (standard at the time) to 50-60 minute compiles over the course of about a month. IT reimaged the machine, and it still took the extended amount of time for his compile to complete.

As for disk imaging, I don't have any good suggestions for what you would need. The IT departments where I have worked tend to use enterprise only tools, built around having just a few standard types of machines minimizing drivers needed. They also are more set up towards recovery over the network via PXE boots.

Depends on how "nuke from orbit" you want. You can just bang the Windows ISO onto a USB stick. Job done. Free.

One thing I'd add: many computers have too little RAM, and use the HD swap file too much - and it doesn't show on task manager. I've gotten a lot of life out of older computers (and happier clients) bumping to 2 GB on XP or 4 GB on Vista/7.

-jk

I agree buying a Mac isn't always feasible, unless the user is ready to upgrade their hardware anyway, but installing Linux is very feasible with normal home computer users. You do your customers a disservice if you aren't asking them what they do with their computer, and if they'd be willing to consider it. I've found that the majority of "normal" home computer users I know don't use it for much more than web-browsing (and web-based email), Skype, downloading pictures from their camera, and maybe a bit of light word-processing. Lay out the pros and cons, and let them decide.

On the last one I did just that. The inside of the computer looked very clean, but that doesn't mean it didn't have those hardware design issues you mentioned. In general if I suspect dust I do take it outside for a good blast of canned air. I've certainly had several clients with computers that outright died because the CPU fans were caked in dust. Gross.


I've used Prime95, but it never seems all that useful to me, and it doesn't give me clock speed as far as I can tell. Do you know of a good alternative? As far as disk tests go, I'm always very hesitant to use one because I was under the impression it could run an iffy disk into the ground. The only tool I'm aware of there is Spinrite. Is that still the best tool for the job?


Ah, that was the only thing I liked about my IT job at the law firm I worked for. It was SO easy to get a user set up. I didn't even have to leave my desk. I'll have to look around for a good alternative.


In my case, I think what I'd want is something that would take a full install of Windows, with all applications and settings as the client might want it, and save that to an image we can go back to. Plus, where would I get the ISO? Most of these computers don't even come with the damn reinstall disc anymore. I hate that.


Oh trust me, I'm a huge proponent of upgrading through RAM. The first thing I do is check the clock speed and amount of RAM, but these are cases where the computer has what I would consider enough RAM.


I'm sorry, but I really couldn't disagree more on this. It would be extremely rare that I'd feel comfortable setting up a client of mine with Linux. Trust me, it's my job to know what my customers need, and they need things to just work. If I'm going to transition them to a platform that I can't support them with, it's to a Mac. At least in that case I know they can go to the Apple store and get some training.

In fact, in a few cases I've recommended that if they aren't comfortable learning a new OS, but are attracted to the Mac hardware, they could get a Mac and put Windows on it. At least that would solve the problem of poor hardware manufacturing

Back in the days when I used to watch television, I remember seeing ads for registry cleaner software that for $39.95 or thereabouts would go through your whole computer, optimize it, fix all the errors that had accumulated through installation and deletion of software, and would near-instantly turn your computer into a powerhouse that was as good or better than new.

Surely they wouldn't have exaggerated in those ads, would they? I mean, it was "...as advertised on TV", so it must have been true. I can't believe that you haven't done that and solved all your problems.

tanstaafl.

Have you tried the back up utility in Windows 7? You can use that to make a system image. Maybe you can urge people to keep their files backed up. If they had all their files backed up doing a re-install isn't that big of a deal.

Prime95 would be fine since it stresses at least part of a CPU, coupled with something that does report actual clock speed. CPU-Z seems to be the standard out there, but I'm not sure how realtime it is. Best bet is to try it out on a laptop, with power management features on. Laptops tend to be far more aggressive at down clocking the CPU, so it would be an easier way to test various utilities out there to see which ones report what you need.

As for the disk part, my recommendation was more to find a tool that does benchmarking, not stress testing there. Mostly to help identify any problems that might be causing the drive to run slower then it should be. Improperly installed SATA drivers may have the bus running in legacy IDE mode.


Interesting tidbit about OS X Lion. On the first boot, it will bring up the traditional "Migrate" screen, that in the past has offered to migrate data off an older Mac, or from a Time Machine Backup. What is new this time around is another option labeled "From a Windows computer". No idea what it actually migrates or how it works, but could save you time if a customer ever does go down the Mac route. Apple stores have been offering this service for a while, nice to see it built in now.

Beyond that migration wizard, both the VMWare and Parallels VM products for OS X offer ways to just suck a physical Windows machine into a VM ready to run. I used this method to help a friend of the family switch off a dying HP desktop to a new Mac Mini. They had Windows accessible any time they needed it, but inside OS X. Last I talked to them, they hadn't booted the VM in a long while. I think the VM route is the much more friendlier way to go, as they don't have to worry about dual booting and the separation of the two OSes. Both VM products offer integrations where My Documents maps to the Documents folder on OS X, and they can even get rid of the Windows desktop and just run Windows apps right beside OS X apps.

My solution to the imaging problem is simple. A reformat job always includes a new hard drive. A replacement hard drive is usually less than $60, which is far less than the cost of your time to figure out where someone has scattered all their files and made sure they're backed up.

I pull the old drive, pop the new one in, install windows (yes, install disks are a pain - I keep ISOs of the magical dell install disks that don't need activation, and am sad if I encounter non-dell hardware) and put their old drive in a USB enclosure and copy things over.

Usually I'll say to keep the old drive for a few months, and the next time I'm back we can format it and set it up as a backup drive.

The cost effectiveness of doing this is debatable - it takes a long time to do it right - find drivers, reinstall programs, copy data and then verify everything's working. These days I only do it for close friends and family members, and even then I've stopped hesitating to tell them they need a new computer.

Wow. That's just sad.

Don't get me wrong; I know where you're coming from, and I don't necessarily disagree. It's just sad that computers have come to that point, where it's easier to just buy a new car than bother to get an oil change.

Windows 7 Backup will do this. Alternatively, create a Windows PE bootable USB stick, by using the Windows Automated Installation Kit. You can then use IMAGEX /CAPTURE to backup the computer to a .WIM file. IMAGEX /APPLY then uses the .WIM file to reinstall Windows, apps, files, etc.

It's a bit more work, but it's still free.

I'm running Windows 7 and Linux on my desktop at work, and OS X and Linux at home. "Just work" is equally as applicable to my Linux install, as it is my Windows install, if not more so. Nuke and repave? I can't believe people still put up with that kind of garbage.

Ah, so it doesn't really have anything to do with whether or not Linux is feasible for your user, it's just not feasible for you to support. Fair enough, but be honest about it, rather than simply saying Linux isn't feasible for a home user.

Before nuking the system, here are the things that I've found will slow down Windows PC's the most:

1. Not enough RAM to keep up with the installed operating system.

2. Incorrect device drivers (or "default windows driver in compatibility mode") for critical system components such as the IDE or SATA controller, or the PCI bus.

3. The device is a netbook with a substandard CPU.

Okay, I started and stopped a long response to your post three times, but I'm going to leave it at this:

That was insulting, and you're clearly misreading my statements.


I'd like to discuss this more, but I don't think it would be enjoyable so lets just leave it where it is.

For me it depends on the age of the computer. Sometimes, frankly, it's simply not worth spending the money to fix it**.

As a matter of fact, I see this as a good thing. For example: lets say someone calls me about a 4-6 year old Dell. Unless they get a friend/family member to fix it for free, anyone they call is going to charge them more to fix it than it would be to buy the least expensive Dell currently for sale (at around $290 shipped).

They can then donate that old machine to anyone who wants it (though I usually urge them to hold onto the hard drive).

**Have you seen how much Geek Squad charges to do in-home virus removal? $300! That's the price of a new computer right there! I don't know how they get away with that, and much of the time they don't even fix the issue! I've followed up on a $600 Geek Squad visit and fixed the issue in under an hour. That's not bragging, it was just a really easy thing to do, and I cost a fraction of that

Eh? The Atom CPUs in most netbooks are way more than fast enough for most tasks. My netbook, my (atom-based) mythtv machine, and my 24/7 atom-based server, are all fairly snappy machines.

???

He didn't say all netbooks have substandard CPUs. However, you'd be hard-pressed to find a Geode in anything other than a netbook.

All the netbooks I've tried (and I've tried several, we test our company's software on them) have been slow, but I agree that there must be some snappy ones somewhere. Also agreed that Linux probably runs much quicker on them than Windows does, since it's not as much of a hog. Unfortunately my company is publishing software for the Windows OS, and I'm sure Dignan is supporting computers with the Windows OS too, and that's where he's running into trouble.

Anyway, I'll bet he's seeing something like the IDE or SATA controller driver being incorrect, or being in "legacy" mode or whatever they call it when you don't have the latest drivers.

I'm a big proponent of "get as much RAM as you can!" I urge all my clients to do so, and if their computer is slow, I urge them to get more. But one of the machines I worked on recently had 6GB. Another was running XP with 2GB, which is as much as I've usually seen it need. Not that 4GB (or 3.47 or whatever) wouldn't be better...


This is an intriguing idea, but is this something that would change at some point? I'm looking for reasons a computer would be slower after several years, not right off the bat.


So far I haven't had a client call me about a netbook But like others here, I definitely don't think netbooks are inherently slow. Well, I suppose it's relative. It's slow compared to my desktop's Core i7, but it also runs Windows 7 with very decent speed, and that's all I need. I haven't noticed my netbook (an MSI Wind U100) be particularly slow until you push it to the limits of what it's capable of. But as long as I don't play HD Youtube videos I'm fine.

Also, see your first point. Did you upgrade the RAM in any of the netbooks you tested? If my memory serves, nearly all the netbooks during the big netbook boom shipped with 1GB of RAM. I put 2GB in mine and that made a big difference (and for only $10).

I've seen computers get slow because of installing too things that demand a device driver or service be running.

iTunes is a big one because it installs Bonjour, which on Windows, has been successful in slowing down certain operations (such as inserting a 30 second pause in every shut down or sleep/hibernate the PC does).

You could skim services.msc to see if there's anything in there that shouldn't be.

Cleaning out %temp% of course...

Temporarily disable A/V to see if that fixes it (rarely seen that work but you never know).

I still have never seen this behavior. And this is coming from having Bonjour on every Windows (XP/7) machine at a former company, including the servers (2003/2008). I wonder what is causing it for you.

Some netbooks appear to skimp on more than just the CPU. My Asus Eee PC 1001PX seemed slower than my much older Samsung NC10 (which was stolen, unfortunately, otherwise I'd have continued to use it), despite having a faster Atom in it. Case in point: the SD adapter wasn't fast enough to enable ReadyBoost on Windows 7.

On the other hand, I'd happily run Windows 2008 R2 (yes, really) on my Asus R3610, if it wasn't already running Ubuntu Server.

My deepest apologies. It wasn't meant to be insulting, but on re-reading, I can clearly see how it would be.

edit: By way of explanation of where that came from, when my parents found themselves in a similar situation of "slow computer", and had gotten tired of the nuke-and-repave route, they asked me what to do. They were clearly candidates for running Linux -- there's nothing they did that required proprietary software (with one exception, which my dad now runs in a virtual machine). Yet, I told them to buy a Mac, because I didn't want to be their support person. They're very happy with the choice.

My elderly mother in-law finally gave in to the march of technology -- her G3 PowerMac running OS9 was just too far behind the times to open modern attachments or browse modern sites.

So I gave her an old Pentium-4, and put Ubuntu Linux on it. We tweaked various GNOME desktop settings to make the appearance/behaviour as similar as possible to her former OS9 desktop. She couldn't be happier, and the only time I get support calls is, well.. none so far.

Seven months and counting.

PS: She's also now enjoying using it to watch DVDs and videos that we supply her with. She'd never used a DVD player or watched a digital video before this.