My laptop moves too slowly and keeps freezing. It also takes a long time to load things.
My laptop moves too slowly and keeps freezing. It also takes a long time to load things.
HP laptop model - HP 15-bs0xx with Intel Core i5-7200U processor that runs at speeds of 2.50 GHz and sometimes even faster up to 2.70 GHz. It has 8 GB of RAM installed along with Windows 10 Home in a 64-bit version. This laptop was bought as new three years ago, so it is still brand new. I have only used basic office tools that come with the box and never played any video games on this machine. Sometimes I download videos, but otherwise I do not use heavy applications like games. I regularly clean my hard drive using defragmentation software to make sure everything works fast, I also check and repair my registry files, scan for viruses and malware so nothing harmful is in there, and I keep the hard drive healthy with CrystalDiskInfo which shows no problems at all. However when I look at the task manager, the computer keeps saying that the Disk is being worked on at 100% all the time for no reason other than opening a browser window or doing something simple like starting an app. This makes everything take forever to load and it feels slow every single time.
When I open my task manager, the Disk keeps being hit at 100% for no reason. Maybe your laptop has an SSD? If you have an HDD instead, that might be part of the problem. Another thing could be a memory leak adding to it. If this is really about a memory leak, I suggest reinstalling the OS and creating a bootable USB installer just to check if the installer got corrupted.
I keep seeing my computer use way too much memory when I turn on Firefox and it makes everything run really slow. Should I add more RAM to fix this? Or should I just reinstall Windows instead? If I don't upgrade the RAM, will I lose all my photos, games, or other files?
What does Task Manager show that is using all of your hard drive to the limit? There are several reasons for this. First, maybe a virus is hiding somewhere. Second, Windows Updates might be running in the background while it tries to finish. Third, big downloads could still be loading right now without being finished. Fourth, when Windows Defender runs its full scan, that can slow things down too. Fifth, something else might just be stuck on the hard drive. Task Manager should tell you exactly what's going wrong here. And about your memory? Yes, you need more space. 16 Gigabytes is basically the minimum amount needed to feel okay.
To access the C drive in Windows Explorer, right-click it and pick Properties. You might see a similar option here too—just hover over the root folder to see your other drives and locations.