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Any computer guys want a challenge?


o-no-moto

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Ok so my girlfriend bought a hp all in one computer about 2 years ago. The sole purpose of this computer is for her to use it for her online school and web surf. With that in mind we go best buy and quiz the salesman about our needs and he assures it will meet our demands. I am anything but computer knowledgeable but i do know enough that when you click from one program to the next it shouldn't lock up and/or take 1-2 mins to perform a task. We had geek squad support and i had them do a remote link to look into why it runs so freaking slow. Nothing they did worked this thing has me very ticked off hell even the screen saver stops spining the windows 8 logo. I am willing to let someone remote link into to take a gander for as i would not have a clue. And no there is no porn on There i know thats like poison on the computer plus any female can sniff stuff lime that out

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+1 on a fresh reload.  When I did PC support for a living we had a 2 hour rule.   Legitimately try to fix it and then slam a fresh image down if you couldn't identify a root cause.

Edited by Wojo72
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8 minutes ago, Casper said:

Ubuntu. 

I'm all about open source software but I wouldn't do that to a non techie.   It's too much of a pain in the ass to find compatible software to do simple stuff.  That being said I have a Kali 2.0 laptop and a couple of Linux VMs in use so I'm not a complete penguin hater.

 

37d50f57b2ff8c4770140d7d51f8b410ddcec77d142331_linux-meme-1280x960-wallpaper_www

Edited by Wojo72
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Back up what you need and do a fresh Windows install, not the hp Windows it came with, that or download ccleaner and start deleting anything and everything you don't use. Clean up cookies,malware spyware etc with the same program. Defrag then turn off any programs that run on start up that aren't imperative to turning it on.

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Hmm.....

Might be an interesting project.

If all else fails... Send me a PM.

Certified skills, just sayin'

Friends don't let friends run your OS. yuk!  8.1?!?

Move up to win 10 or back to win 7

Ummm... Just sayin' no hate,

And of course, Linux is so cool most peoples heads explode whey figure it out.

Just sayin'

 but of course Solaris is better by some accounts, but they are nuts by other accounts, so who can say.

Anyway, want help?

 

Edited by Strictly Street
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Retired tech here... slow and freezing up. Basically it's off doing something else. Something it probably should not be doing. Or it's doing something legitimate wrongly.

Backup data, even if the hard drive has to be removed and usb slaved to another computer to do so.

Start with a full hardware health check of more than one type if possible. The built in systems diagnostics at boot is a good place to start. Check fans and temps of cpu and hard drive(s). Run separate hard drive diagnostics if there's any suspicions. Occasionally, unplug everything inside the computer except boot drive and see what happens. Swap and/or remove RAM around to see what happens. (Bad RAM if reversed in slots will blue screen instead of running slow. Or vice versa.)

Full clean first and then anti-virus scan. In safe mode if necessary. Ccleaner. Malwarebytes. Superantispyware. Again, usb slaved to another computer if necessary.

Check Windows Task Manager for Performance, it's probably maxed out. Then check the processes, sort by cpu, to see if it shows itself. Right click on it and end process or end process tree. Not a permanent stop. Not a permanent fix. If the culprit(s) can be found, research and figure out what went wrong. Or remove it. Also check event viewer for any clues that might be there.

Alternate is to boot diagnostics mode with processes shut off. If that works ok, add start items back on each boot till it malfunctions. Again, research and figure out what went wrong. Or remove it. Can also be done in reverse, start with normal boot and remove one process with each re-boot.

A tech that remotes in can't normally fix stuff like this, unless something shows itself right away. (Dozens of re-boots.) I typically set these up on the side of my desk where I could keep an eye on it, and ran it for two to twenty hours looking for cause.

That's the basics, but attention to clues while doing so, might be necessary to actually find the problem.

edit: and yes, sometimes the extent of damage or effort required results in re-imaging or installing an operating system to wipe it and start over.

 

 

 

Edited by ReconRat
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There are some simple things you can check for yourself...

Per Recon's post, hit control-shift-esc and bring up the resource monitor. You can see which applications and processes are hogging CPU and RAM (click on the headers to sort). If you aren't sure what they are (names can be cryptic sometimes) google them. Kill the ones that are not needed (google will tell you - right click on it and choose "end process") and see if that helps. Be careful what you end as it could make Windows unstable and crash - hence the google recommendation (there are also sites like this: http://www.howtogeek.com/139028/which-windows-services-can-you-safely-disable/ ). Certain antivirus and anti-malware apps can really hog up resources, especially if you are low on RAM and have a slow drive so...

How much RAM do you have? Right-click on My Computer and choose "properties". If you have anything less than 4GB (I'd be surprised if you did), especially if you are running 64-bit Windows (it should say on the same screen as the RAM amount) then there's a good chance that is a big part of the problem.

The hard drive is likely a 5400 RPM old school spinning platter drive and slow as hell. An SSD (they are getting super cheap anymore) will help immensely and for a newer system one of the best upgrades you can make. If you are going to re-install Windows, this is the time to swap drives.

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Thank you guys for all your info and insight. Jack lives down the road from me and i am going to try and have him stop by and check it out. Remember its my girlfriends computer and i have to talk her into letting someone else finger it ( minds out the gutter boys the computer not my girlfriend). If that dont pan out i will be back on here taking your suggestions. I would rater not try to dive into something i am not to savy it.

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