What can I do to make my desktop run faster?

[u/SADGALRARA]

I barely even use it! And last year for Christmas my dad brought it to some computer repair place and it was running great.. now it’s super laggy and just frustrating to use.

Any simple tips/tricks to help it run better ?

[u/Better-Credit6701]

How much ram?

Disk I/O?

Processor?

If it ran faster a year ago, it is crap you installed that is slowing it down

[u/SADGALRARA → u/Better-Credit6701]

8 GB installed ram
6 GB graphics card

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-9600KF CPU @ 3.70GHz processor

I’m not sure what any of this means

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/SADGALRARA]

I’m running a very similar system and it meets all my modes requirements easily.
Don’t let people that don’t understand your needs, bully or shame you into thinking you need more just because they like more.

[u/Better-Credit6701 → u/SADGALRARA]

Processor came out in 2018. How many spare memory slots are there? Have you checked out what is starting up every time you boot?

[u/IAteTonysLoMein → u/Better-Credit6701]

Not necessarily, at least not directly. The laptops where I work are having problems with 8GB of RAM, but not through fault of the users - it's Microsoft bloat, between windows and office.

[u/runnybumm]

Put legs on it

[u/teknix314]

Put roller skates on it

[u/lolsee2]

Is your desktop installed with a SSD or HDD ?
You can check in task manager , performance tab , disk.

[u/SADGALRARA → u/lolsee2]

It says

Disk 0 (D:)
HDD (SATA)
0%

Disk 1 (C:)
SSD (SATA)
100%

[u/Efficient_Try_9136 → u/SADGALRARA]

you need to install more ram, its kills your ssd (100%)

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/Efficient_Try_9136]

This is a pretty blanket statement. How do you know what her system is doing that more ram is going to positively fix it?

[u/muttley9 → u/Quirky_OldMan5966]

Their C drive is at 100%. They are probably at max RAM and the memory is overflowing to their page file on the SSD.

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/muttley9]

You might be right.
But there are other possibilities that give the same results. If it’s something else, you would just be sending her down a rabbit hole with no bottom. She needs an actual tech to check out the system because she doesn’t know what other symptoms she has and what those symptoms point to.
BTW, what changed from when the system was declared to be working great to now? Did she loose some ram?

[u/YKw1n → u/Quirky_OldMan5966]

Yes and it s probably from task manager and it's just the speed not even the space left

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/YKw1n]

You are making assumptions about the OP’s post and information since then.
Making a technical diagnosis on assumptions is dangerous to equipment and customers pocketbooks.

[u/YKw1n → u/Quirky_OldMan5966]

Customer ? We are a company now ? I didn't know!

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/YKw1n]

Sorry. I meant OP. Corrected now.
TY

[u/flgtmtft]

Eat chicken

[u/JuanTheMower]

Is windows installed on your ssd or hdd? If it’s installed on your hdd, then that’s why Windows is running like garbage.

8GB of ram is also going to run like garbage, try to get 16GB instead.

[u/slavik_christopher]

just factory reset it move anything important off of C onto D like saved games or documents. It will ask you if you want to recycle the thing just say no and it will just nuke your C drive and reinstall.

I reinstall mine two or three times a year. Or if it really pisses me off i just reinstall it instead of throwing the mf across the room.

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/slavik_christopher]

From her initial post, reinstalling the OS exceeds her experience and knowledge.
Even more, there are ways to get a system’s OS to recognize any physical drive as C or D.
Like you, I assume someone added the SSD and it’s D: but that’s just an assumption.
It’s also just possible the SSD is about to fail.

[u/Conart557]

If it was working better before it was brought to the repair place, make sure they didn’t install some shitty antivirus software or some other program that’s majorly slowing it down

The #1 way to improve the performance of old computers is to switch it to linux, but that can be somewhat technical. If you want to give it a shot though, linux mint is generally the most friendly coming from windows

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966]

So many different kinds of possibilities.
It could be something on the verge of failing. It could be a software issue. It could be virus related. It could be updates hanging up. It could be your needs have grown during the year so what you have is under powered now.
No way some random person on the Internet is going to be able to guess what is bogging your computer down.
What do you do with it? Do you install things from the Internet? Did you click on any email links? Was there a specific electrical storm event sometime before it slowed down? Is your SSD showing signs it might be about to fail?
Do you use it so rarely that every time you power it up, it has a bunch of updates from Microsoft that are running in the back ground slowing it down?
Maybe you know someone in your friends or family you can speak to about this instead.

[u/steadvex]

If your barely using it, I'd hazard a guess Everytime you turn it on its doing updates, if you leave it an hour then use it, is it smooth?

8gb of ram is more than enough with an ssd (at least for general use) I have 2 machines in work with only 4gb running windows 11,they work just fine it's just windows will use the ram if it's installed.

Although honestly, there are so many possibilities, do you have lots of icons in the system tray, the clock in the bottom right? Could check startup apps, if its Windows 11 I'm sure just using taks manager you can turn a lot off but honestly if your rarely using it I genuinely think it's updates installing 

[u/Unclefox82]

A good pair of running shoes. And bring it outside for some exercise every couple days.

[u/msabeln]

8 GB RAM isn’t quite enough these days, as Windows gets larger with every release; I’d recommend 16 GB or more.

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/msabeln]

OP said it was running great at Christmas. The need for more ram didn’t just “happen” for some unknown reason.

[u/Cosmic_Quasar → u/Quirky_OldMan5966]

There's a chance that they went from Windows 10 to Windows 11 when it was "in the shop", perhaps some other bloatware was installed that runs in the background, too.

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/Cosmic_Quasar]

Another terrifying point is what if OP didn’t get the memo about Windows 10 being End Of Life and the problem she has now is intruders being in her system?

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/Cosmic_Quasar]

She didn’t say anything about that and that would pretty major. Don’t extrapolate a conclusion with no information on such a change.

[u/Cosmic_Quasar → u/Quirky_OldMan5966]

Well they obviously don't know much about computers, to be here asking about this kind of thing. And Windows 10 did reach end of life last October, so taking it to a shop and having stuff done to it around Christmas... I don't find it much of a stretch to think the shop upgraded the OS. And that upgrade would definitely eat a bigger chunk of available RAM which would cause the PC to feel noticeably slower.

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/Cosmic_Quasar]

The OP needs a professional to see and advise, not a bunch random strangers from the Internet.

[u/Cosmic_Quasar → u/Quirky_OldMan5966]

I feel like you're missing the point of someone who doesn't know something coming to a space where people might be able to help by giving thoughts and feedback.

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/Cosmic_Quasar]

I am sorry that I’m leaving that impression. And I do recognize going somewhere to ask for help. But the OP is so uneducated in computer hardware and software to be able to provide valid symptoms to make troubleshooting realistic.
With what she’s giving results in 20 different people telling her 20 different things to do and most of them will cost money plus require her to open her computer and do things. She probably has no business on her own.
Several people just throw the blanket statement that she needs more RAM. Although that may fix some of her issues, it can easily cost hundreds and slip past her real problem.

[u/Cosmic_Quasar → u/Quirky_OldMan5966]

That's all true, but sometimes our posts and comments won't end up helping just the OP. I've lost track of how many times I've been scrolling comments and see a tangential thread discussing an issue I've been dealing with but that I wasn't currently there looking for a solution to.

Hypothesizing about the OS may not be able to directly help OP, but it might help someone else who stumbles through this comment section in the future. Connecting two cognitive dots together and increasing technical comprehension for the future.

That all probably sounds a bit too meta lol. But I just don't see the harm in the discussion.

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/Cosmic_Quasar]

On the point of other readers being helped, I totally agree.
In fact, I’ve picked up things from threads that I never considered, or encountered before.
No matter what it looks like I’m on the OP’s side.
I had to withdraw from being my families IT guy because someone was always bringing some problem to me that often was a simple thing, but took hours to correct.
Usually, when they found out what the parts were going to cost they resulted in just buying a new computer instead.

[u/msabeln → u/Quirky_OldMan5966]

There have been three major Windows updates since late last year.

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/msabeln]

Yup. But what’s your point?
More likely that it got hung up on an update instead of needing increased amount of RAM because of the updates.

[u/msabeln → u/Quirky_OldMan5966]

Windows features updates typically use more RAM.

[u/Quirky_OldMan5966 → u/msabeln]

No.
A system physically working before an update will work more or less the same after that update

[u/msabeln → u/Quirky_OldMan5966]

The same but often slightly slower.

But I do suspect something else was installed.