Windows 7 is lagging A LOT

[EpikJimmer]

So I have an old laptop and it was lagging. So I thought I could fix it... (i mean I fixed mine when it was lagging)

Before I show the suspects of this slow laptop, everytime the mouse pointer appears with a black screen (y'know, when the OS starts), the mouse is classic, and when I log in, it reverts back to the normal mouse pointer, but that's not the problem.

I have two suspects:
-Windows Update
-Avast Antivirus

Now you may ask: why the heck would these 2 things be harmful.
Well, theY were in my laptop and I wiped them off and now it's running like new

I actually disabled windows update, even it's actual service. But it turns out that windows update is not guilty. How? Windows was still running as slow as a turtle.
And then I came to the last suspect, avast. Of course, it wouldn't let me uninstall it because reasons. So I had the HUGE patience to run avast and then I turned off self-defense. Then I was going to "kill" instup.exe (idk what the hecc it's called) but it actually wasn't runnin'. So I runned down to the Control panel and tried to uninstall it. It asked me about WHY ARE YOU LEAVING US and I continued on. As it was disabling the avast service, the screen went black and then I was like "woah what happened" and then, wait for it...

My screen popped up my favourite colour called blue and then showed me some beautiful white lettors.

Then I gave up.
Any ideas (also if you've read ALLLL of this, you gud.)

 

[yadspi]

I would buy a cheap SSD, reinstall Windows 7, put the old HDD on an enclosure.

 

[Hayato213]

What is the specs?

 

[linuxares]

try running Crystal Disk Mark. Maybe your HDD is about to die

 

[Lacius]

1. What are the hardware specs?
2. If there's nothing important on the laptop, I'd do a clean install of Windows 7 (preferably Windows 10).

 

[DSoryu]

Before going to the hard solutions and everything else, try to boot into safe mode following these steps:

1. Immediately after the computer is powered on or restarted (usually after you hear your computer beep), tap the F8 key in 1 second intervals.
   
2. After your computer displays hardware information and runs a memory test, the Advanced Boot Options menu will appear.
   
3. Use the arrow keys to select Safe Mode and press ENTER.

This will boot the OS without any third party service/app/drivers running in the background, so only MS services and essential drivers will be in use.

This will allow you to detect if the culprit is anything besides of windows, so you will need to identify who's the culprit and disable/uninstall it.

However, if your systems keeps being slow after you follow this steps, then I'm afraid the problem resides in the disk itself. For that you'll have to run a disk check and detect whether if your disk is about to die, or you need to do a clean Windows installation.

 

[EpikJimmer]

Thanks for your help...
I will try to uninstall avast once more (since self-defense is no more) and if that doesn't help, I will enter safe mode (thanks Dartz150).

Edit: I will do it tommorow since it's 10 at night right now on my country... sooo....
Good night fellas

 

[EpikJimmer]

Good morning.
I have tried uninstalling avast but it said "Setup is already running", which is weird bc I disabled self-defense. So I tried killing instup.exe but it wouldn't cooperate with me. Everytime I clicked End Proccess, it asked me "ARE YOU SURE 'BOUT THAT" something like that and I pressed end proccess and, of course, it was still there.
So I have no other choice... than to go safe mode...

Now, I have a question: What does safe mode do? Will it delete any of my files?

 

[toxic9]

Safe mode will just boot windows with minimal resources. So Avast will not be running.
You can't kill this type of sotfware like that.
If you can't unninstall Avast (weird? Are you logged in with Administrator account?), you can enter Safe mode and delete Avast manually.

Why don't you reinstall Windows?? You will have a fresh new system.

 

[Youkai]

Well antivirus Software can cause problems but usually they won't make your laptop lagging just like that especially when it worked before.

How long ago was Windows installed ? an "old" golden rule was to reinstall ever 2-3 years if possible because of all the junk that accumulates on the Computer.

And as some people said, getting an SSD would usually speed up the system alot, at least if the HDD is the limiting factor.

How is your CPU ? when you are in the taskmanager you should see if it might be running on high percentage or not and you could check if there are "weird" processes running.

Maybe go into msconfig and take everything out of the autostart which is unnecessary ... (you could use programms like ccleaner as well instead of going into msconfig)

 

[InsaneNutter]

After January 14, 2020 Microsoft will no longer provide security updates for Windows 7. As that's only a few months away now it might be worthwhile to backup his files, wipe the laptop and install Windows 10.

You can still use your Windows 7 serial to activate Windows 10, providing you install the right edition of Windows 10:

Windows 7 Home Basic / Premium = Windows 10 Home
Windows 7 Business / Ultimate = Windows 10 Pro

That would clear out all the rubbish installed that's probably slowing the laptop down.

In addition if spending a little money on this is an option, upgrading the hard drive to an SSD will make the laptop feel like new.

 

[EpikJimmer]

thx all of you. I will try and eventually speed it up!


...ok now you can go unwatch this thread and continue life. And as I said, thx guys.