Slow New Laptop

[Michael]

Recently I bought a Lenovo Legion Y520-15IKBN laptop with the specs below:

- Intel Core i7-7700HQ Processor
- 4GB DDR4 2133 RAM Memory
- 1TB HDD
- NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX1050 2GB GDDR5 Graphic
- 15.6” FHD IPS Screen
- Windows 10 Home

However, I think the laptop is performing slower than I expected from its specs.

For booting up, it takes more than 1.5 minutes from power up to system ready, with more than 30 sec on the welcome screen (where user name is displayed). As for shutting down, it takes more than 30 sec.

I check the Startup Item, nothing suspicious. But on the Processes, the memory usage seems high (not sure if it's normal).

How do I check and eliminate whatever slowing down the system?

Thanks.

[soybean]

Those startup and shutdown times really aren't bad.   If you want faster times, you should think about replacing the hard drive with an SSD (Solid State Drive). 

How soon after startup did you capture the Processes screen?  Does it settle down, i.e. the percentage figure drop to a  much lower level, after some time?   

[Michael]

Hi Soybean,

I do understand that a SATA HDD would boot slower, but for a relatively clean system with not much programs loaded (yet), I would expect it to be a little bit faster. Perhaps I was expecting too much?

The Processes screen was captured few minutes after startup, no program launched. And the percentage will not drop even after half an hour.

[soybean]

You can sort columns in Task Manager by clicking on a column heading. I see Malwarebytes causing some unusually high Disk usage on your computer.  If you sort that column, what other heavy users do you see? 

[Mark.]

90sec startup and 30sec shutdown is well within normal range for Windows on a HDD, certainly in my experience.only with SSD's have I seen that go to 15secs startup and 7secs shutdown.

being a new rig, I suspect a lot of bloat - bloat software from the manufacture and bloat services and settings from MS.consider getting something like ShutUp 10 by O&O Software to turn off unnecessary Windows settings and something like Easy Services Optimizer by sordum.org
and go into Programs & Features and remove all the pre-loaded Lenovo stuff.

[SuperDave]

It appears that you have two AV's running on your computer. Windows 10 comes with its own AV called Windows Defender. AVG is a resource hog and should be uninstalled.

[SuperDave]

StartupLite

Download StartupLite by MalwareBytes to your Desktop.
Doubleclick StartupLite.exe to launch the program.
Ensure the Disable box is checked.
Click Continue.
A pop up message will tell you the unecessary startup items in your list have been disabled and ask you to restart your computer.
Re-start your computer.

[patio]

Personally i would purge anything AVG related...bet you notice a difference right away...

[Michael]

You can sort columns in Task Manager by clicking on a column heading. I see Malwarebytes causing some unusually high Disk usage on your computer.  If you sort that column, what other heavy users do you see?

Attached below are the processes sorted by Disk usage.

[Michael]

90sec startup and 30sec shutdown is well within normal range for Windows on a HDD, certainly in my experience.only with SSD's have I seen that go to 15secs startup and 7secs shutdown.

Yes I do understand that these startup/shutdown times are still within normal range, I just expect it will be like 60sec & 30sec for such specs. I have an old 7-year-old Dell laptop running Windows 7 on HDD which gives a 40sec & 20sec.

I can live with the current startup/shutdown time, but the more annoying issue is the slowness happens to normal operation too, i.e. it will freeze for no particular reason from time to time when using the Windows Explorer, internet browser, etc.

[Michael]

It appears that you have two AV's running on your computer. Windows 10 comes with its own AV called Windows Defender. AVG is a resource hog and should be uninstalled.

Personally i would purge anything AVG related...bet you notice a difference right away...

All the while I assume AVG is the best free antivirus, and has been highly recommended on Computerhope. Maybe it used to be, and no longer is?

I've been using AVG on my PC for more than 10 years (maybe 15) ever since I joined this forum. I have no serious issue with it on my PC. 

So, if AVG is bad now, what is the best free antivirus recommended? Or should I just stick with Windows Defender (at least for this laptop)?

[Mark.]

like what Avast is currently doing to CCleaner, it did to AVG, added ad pop-ups and generally made it annoying to use.
protection wise, still good.


but you don't need 3rd-party AV's any more, the inbuilt Defender in Win10 ranks as well as any of the others.

some stats here; https://www.av-comparatives.org/consumer/

[SuperDave]

Stick with Windows Defender. Running more than one AV on your computer can cause conflicts.

[soybean]

Attached below are the processes sorted by Disk usage.

I noticed Microsoft OneDrive seems to be consuming more memory than it should.  My Task Manager shows OneDrive  consuming 4.5MB.  Perhaps this is an issue in your system.  See https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/fix-high-cpu-usage-by-onedrive/

[Michael]

So, after doing some clean up, it now boot in 45 secs and shut down in 20 secs.

Windows Explorer and internet browsing no longer freeze.

System resources (CPU, Memory, Disk usage) all back to normal.

Here are what I did:

- Uninstall AVG
- Run ShutUP10 and apply all recommended settings
- Run Easy Service Optimizer and apply Tweaked settings
- Run RKill
- Scan with Malwarebytes
- Scan with AdwCleaner
- Scan with HitmanPro

Despite MBAW caught a few issues, I believe the reason behind the slowness is still the windows processes running at the back.

Attached below is the Processes after the cleanup. All look good.

Thanks everyone for the helps!