Windows 10 - Slowing Down

[bver_hunter]

I have a 7 year old Windows 10 Computer that is getting slower by the day. That is despite updating the computer as often as available. Now Microsoft has come up with the Windows 11 and for some reason this computer is not compatible with Windows 11. There is a recommendation to help to speed up any of the Windows Computers by following the steps indicated in this video:

Has anyone attempted to follow any of the above procedures and has it worked? Do have some valuable data that I do not want deleted.

 

[frozenheat98]

If your Windows 10 computer is still using a mechanical drive, I would highly recommend you to get at least a Solid State Drive (SSD drive). They are relatively inexpensive now a days on Amazon or any computer store.. Clone your current hard drive to it or start Windows from fresh. Also make sure you have at least 16GB of RAM memory. If not, upgrade that but 8GB should suffice as well. Your system should be flying now.

 

[frozenheat98]

I have a ThinkCentre from 2010 running on SSD as well without any issue. I could stream on Kodi without a blip.

 

[Day2Day]

<snip> Do have some valuable data that I do not want deleted.

yes, valid advice to get SSD for noticable computer speed increase

regarding valuable data - it is never too soon to put in a backup solution if you have not done so aleady.

cloud backup works for some with not so much data and fast internet connection

backing up to two hard drives is a simple solution. Keep one at home and back up weekly, or whatever feels right. Have another one stored in a different building - in case of fire, etc. swap the two hard drives every once in a while - monthly?

last I heard hard disk drives are considered better for storing data without power than SSD - which is good property for backed up data.

 

[bver_hunter]

Thanks for all the advice. Yes, I always back up my valuable data on a regular basis on an external hard disk drive just in case the computer dies.
But I have to also work with this data on a regular basis.
Good idea to back up on a second hard drive, just in case of an emergency. I have a SSD as well, and will clone it to the computer hard drive, so as to free up some memory.
But I noticed that the computer was slowing down whenever Windows updates were recommended and performed. Normally the updates are supposed to speed up the computer and not slow it down.

 

[Darts]

start Windows from fresh.

If you do a fresh Windows 10 install, wouldn't you lose all your data?

 

[stinkynuts]

Your computer needs a new internal hard drive.

Get one from Amazon. Also, look at what type of RAM it uses and buy one or two sticks, for a total of at least 8 GB.

All of this is simple plug and play. Backup your data on a USB.


Then download Windows 11 on usb. https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows11

Select “create windows 11 installation media”

You should have the key that allows a clean install.It’s usually a sticker on top of the computer

 

[frozenheat98]

If you do a fresh Windows 10 install, wouldn't you lose all your data?

If you use a new SSD for a fresh install, you would have to reinstall all your applications. The data can be retrieved from the old mechanical drive set as a slave drive for desktop. If it is a laptop, there are plenty of external USB hard drive enclosure that can be had for cheap to put your old mechanical drive in for data retrieval.

 

[escortsxxx]

I have a 7 year old Windows 10 Computer that is getting slower by the day. That is despite updating the computer as often as available. Now Microsoft has come up with the Windows 11 and for some reason this computer is not compatible with Windows 11. There is a recommendation to help to speed up any of the Windows Computers by following the steps indicated in this video:

Has anyone attempted to follow any of the above procedures and has it worked? Do have some valuable data that I do not want deleted.

Same priniple, use a USB boot drive (which you buy or make, you need a blank uSB regardless)


It better than an SSD in the sense you can keep all the stuff on your drive as is (unless your hard drive is almost full)

USB boot drives are junk poor so there faster

The review of the buying option, which is a bit of scam from a computer expert point of view, but good in that it saves you making it yourself

Also to remember hard drives have about 5 years of life before they start deleting crap. SSD last much longer in one way, but A) they erase if not used B) they have a finite number of writes - great for Operating system, not great for data you change a lot.

 

[WoodPeckr]

I have a 7 year old Windows 10 Computer that is getting slower by the day. That is despite updating the computer as often as available.

I have a 12 year old Windows 10 PC that still runs W10 as fast now as the day it was new......for the little I use W10 now.

Linux now is my main OS that never slows down because Linux uses a better file system than M$ and requires NONE of the things below, except for running BleachBit once a month.
BleachBit is the Linux version of CCleaner which also cleans out the junk the accumulates running Linux.

However all Windows OSs over time accumulate junk files that slow and bog it down over time. Updating Windows often will not help here.

A Windows OS requires periodic PM, preventive maintenance, to clear out all the crap it accumulates, to keep W10 running fast.

The preventive maintenance that kept my Windows PC from slowing down was;
Make sure your PC Anti-Virus is up to date.
Run Malwarebytes weekly.
Defrag your PC weekly.
Run CCleaner a couple times a day. This is a fast scan that cleans a lot of crap out.