How to Fix a Slow Windows 10 Computer

Do you need to fix a slow Windows 10 computer? Does your Windows 10 computer seem very slow after you turn it on the first time that day? Just about every Windows 10 computer, I work on is slow after booting and logging in. If you check Task Manager (press these 3 keys: Ctrl + Shift + Esc – together) and then go to the Performance Tab (you may have to click down the bottom of the box to “More Details”). Under the Performance Tab is the Hard Disk Drive being hammered at 100%?

Every one of these computers which are more than a month or so old have this problem. I have seen this 100% last from anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. The faster or more powerful the computer the less time it seems to take. The same with an SSD (Solid State Drive) over a mechanical drive, SSD’s are always quicker, so the time wait is less.

Possible Fixes for a Slow Windows 10 Computer

There are several “fixes” you can try to fix a slow Windows 10 computer:

1. Temporarily disable Windows Search. To do this open a Command Prompt as Admin (in the search box type in cmd and hit enter, then right-click “Command Prompt”). Next type in the following exactly and hit enter after you have done so in the black window.  Net stop “windows search” Then check to see if the 100% hammering has stopped.
2. Disable your anti-virus software temporarily. Now, most anti-virus programs have a feature whereby you can turn them off for 15 or 30 minutes (or some other combination such as next boot). As they are all different you may need to Google how to do this with your particular program. After turning the program off, check to see if the hammering has stopped.
3. Another potential fix for a slow Windows 10 Computer is to change your Google Chrome settings. The combination of Chrome and Skype can be a problem so to change Chrome, go to the three dots (top right hand of the screen) and choose Settings. Then go down to the Privacy and Security check to see if Use a prediction service to load pages more quickly is on. It needs to be turned off. Check for any hammering. With Skype being an app these days and not a program, there is not much that you can do in Windows 10. It’s not even listed in Control Panel under Programs and Features. It’s built into Windows 10.
4. Turn off all startup services in Task Manager. Go into Task Manager as described above and on the Startup Tab. I would disable all “startups” except maybe Windows Defender. You can always enable the programs again, so reboot so that the changes take effect and see if the hammering has stopped. You may need to enable and disable some items to see which one is causing a problem with the hammering. Leaving them all disabled is fine anyway as all programs will run without having to be in a startup. The program makers put their programs in there so that they start up quicker. A bit of a cheat if you ask me.
5. Resetting Virtual Memory is another possibility. To reset it do: Windows Key + Pause/Break key (or Control Panel then System). Then click on Advanced System Settings (on the left). Click on Advanced Tab then Settings under Performance then on Advanced tab again. You should see second down Virtual Memory and a Change. Click on Change and check what is ticked. Usually the “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” is ticked by default. If it is, then untick it. Choose “Custom Size” and set Initial to “Recommended” and Maximum is 1.5 x your RAM size. (e.g. 8GB RAM =  8192MB x 1.5 = 12,288MB, therefore use 12,288 for Maximum size). You need to click OK for it to take effect after then next boot. Then clear out your “temp” file by Windows key + R and type in temp. This shows you all your temp files. Select them all and delete them if you can. Some won’t delete but after a reboot, you may be more successful. If not, don’t worry. Again check your hammering.
6. Some people who have Adobe Creative Cloud installed have reported problems with disk hammering. Open Task Manager as described above and closed/stopped Adobe CC. You may notice that the hammering stops. If it does then either stop Adobe CC from starting up on boot or just stop it as described above every time you boot.
7. A potential fix for a slow Windows 10 computer is to perform a chkdsk (disk check) which has also been reported as fixing the hammering. To do this open a Command Prompt as Admin (described above) and type in this exact command: chkdsk /f/r then hit enter. You will be prompted to click Yes. Now, this command will not run instantly but will run on the next bootup of the computer. So reboot now. Chkdsk can take a few minutes to run depending on the type of Hard Disk Drive you have and it’s size.
8. Another reported potential problem causing Windows 10 to be slow is with the StorAHCL.sys driver. The reason to check this is that some computers are running/using the default driver which has a bug in it. To check what driver you are using do the following: Open Control Panel and click on Device Manager (or press Windows Key + X and type Device Manager). When there, click on IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers and double click AHCI controller. Then go to the Driver Tab and click Details. If you see the following then your computer is using the default driver: storahci.sysstored in the windows path then you may have a problem as pointed out above. There is a fix to this but it involves editing the registry. This is a potentially dangerous job which we would not suggest an average user should do. If you do want to do it then Google editing the Windows 10 Registry as well as the actual steps in how to change the storahci.sys driver for Windows 10. If you do attempt this yourself (not recommended) then please back up your registry first – Google how to back up my Windows 10 registry.

If all this seems like rocket science and you need to fix for a slow Windows 10 computer then please call us and we can assist you here at Affordable Computer Repairs and Service on 3397 1215 or 0409 974 707.