leftyD500 Loc: Ocala, Florida

I will admit, I am very limited in my knowledge of computers, especially when it comes to the internal makeup. So, here is my dilemma. My computer is really bogging down lately, sometimes I can go several minutes in a frozen state. I am wondering if I have enough ooomph (can't think of a techno word!) to run my programs. I have adobe photoshop cc on it, and I do quite a bit of photo processing. I also had Todaz DeNoise. If I try to run those two programs at the same time, it is really slow. In fact, when I try to boot the compouter up in the morning, sometime, I can wait close to 5 minutes before I can access the internet. I am using less than half of the disc space that is available. So, is there anything I can do to get it to respond quicker, maybe add more RAM? Here are the specs for my computer.

HP Notebook 15-bs115x

GENERAL SPECS:
operating system Windows 10 Home 64 bit Version 1904.1052
microprocessor intel(R) Core (TM) 15-B250u CPU1.60GHz
system memory 8GB
memory slot 1 8GB Samsung 2400 MHz
system board 832A23.77
system bios F.67

VIDEO
graphics device Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620
resolution 1366 x 768
refresh rate 60 Hz

I hope this helps, any advice/help is greatly appreciated.

Haydon

How much of your hard drive space is used and how much space does it support. When was the last time you had a system purge? Do you know how many programs are running in the background? Have you scanned for malware or viruses lately?

leftyD500 Loc: Ocala, Florida

I have used 109,435,256,832 bytes of 101 GB
I have web root, and it scans once every week
I don't know what a system purge is.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I just "souped up" a dell of similar vintage. The most likely problem is that you have only 8 GB of RAM. That used to be plenty, but as Windows has been updated, and as programs have become more capable, it no longer is. If you have a second memory slot that would let you add 8 GB more of RAM, you can expect to drastically improve performance for about $50.00. If your computer already contains 2-4GB cards, they will both need to be replaced for about $100. Based on your processor information, I'm guessing that the memory is DDR3. If you have two slots and just need to plug in an additional card, it should be easy. If it turns out that you have two slots with 4GB cards in each, you may need to update the BIOS. If that is the case, it is possible that published documentation may say that 8GB is the maximum supported. Thats what I ran into with the Dell that I recently expanded.

I know that you said that you weren't comfortable working inside your computer. Hopefully there is someone that you know who is close by and could help you through the details. One more thing...DDR3 memory (if that's what is used) has been around for a while. It may take a little looking to find what you need. I know that Micro Center has it. The goodo news is that it has not been affected by the current chip shortage, since it hasn't been commonly used in new computers for a while.

And yes...it looks like your drive is full, although that is a pretty strange total size for a disk drive. If the numbers are correct, I don't think a cleanup is going to free up enough space to make much difference in performance. You could migrate to a larger drive pretty easily, but the memory still needs to be expanded.

Haydon

These numbers seem a little odd.



If you have only 100 gigabyte of HD space you have used more space than the HD supports. How large is your hard drive and/or how much free space do you have left?

letmedance Loc: Walnut, Ca.

First thing you should do is open the case and clean the dust. Dust and dirt collect in the finned heatsinks on the CPU and Video Cards. Take it outside and use a vacuum cleaner carefully to clean visible dust, Next use a canned air to blow out the heatsinks. Do not forget the power supply. Most CPUs have the ability to switch to a low power state when they overheat. Make sure no cables get disconnected.

Next use one of the system cleaners to inspect and correct problems. Internet browsers and other programs leave a lot of files on the drive, some can be very large.

Here is a hint. Next time is slows down use the Control-Alt-Delete buttons together at the same time. When the window pops up select task manager and then performance. This will give you an idea of what is causing the slow down.

RichinSeattle

You've used 109+ Gigabytes of 101 GB?!!! Seems obvious that's the problem, if it's even possible. Time to get a bigger hard (or solid state) drive.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

leftyD500 Loc: Ocala, Florida

Correction, my capacity is 930 GB

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

That makes more sense. Now you can concentrate on whether the RAM can be expanded.

13 Loc: I am only responsible to what I say..not what

Add memory and Defrag the system.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

You aren't going to like this, but there is something running in Windows that is bogging your system down. I had a similar issue last year and resorted to a complete reformat of the HD and a new install of everything. As part of the same process, I upgraded from a spinning platter HD to an SSD; made a major difference.

Also, your 8 Gb of system RAM is a bottleneck. Go to www.crucial.com, enter the model # of your HP and see what the max system RAM is; buy it and install. Laptops have tons of little screws to remove and sometimes you have to remove internal components to get at the memory slots. If it's an issue, have a local computer store do the upgrades.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

You aren't going to like this but basically your laptop needs complete replacement. Some of the suggestions given will only give you short lived and probably minor improvements. It is totally under-powered for what you are doing. My wife's PC would eat your laptop for breakfast and I am looking at swapping her graphics card for a much faster one with a faster GPU because she is seeing slow performance when using Topaz denoise.
Unless you get a gamers laptop (and even then they aren't as good as even a medium specced desktop) using a laptop is an exercise in frustration as you are finding. The only time you should use a laptop is if you absolutely have to have the portability ALL THE TIME. There is no other good reason. A GOOD laptop can be useful if you are traveling on holiday but for day to day no good.
It is like trying to run a household furniture moving business using a small van.
Now I know that we are all here to help people but just sometimes (actually quite a lot but different story) there is no way it can be done. And after doing the suggestions mentioned above by others a full restore of Windows will be necessary to give you access to even the smallest amount of improvement.
I bet you a lot of people will defend using a laptop but they are either very ignorant or are retired and don't care if a single photo takes all day to process. It is unfortunate that you are somewhat challenged with computers but that is just something you will have to work around if you wish to pursue an interest in photography.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

As larryepage said, adding memory is a cheap, easy way to add speed (hopefully). Either buy two new 8GB sticks or get one 8GB stick to match the one you have now. They should be the same. Entering details of your computer on a memory site will lead you to compatible memory.

That's a very slow processor for modern programs, so as chrissybabe said, you might want to start looking for a new laptop. Some tips below -

Memory -
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-much-ram-does-your-pc-need-probably-less-than-you-think/
http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-much-ram-does-your-pc-need/

Processor -
http://gizmodo.com/dont-waste-money-on-intels-top-processor-1791426602
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404674,00.asp
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-core-i5-vs-i7/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/intel-core-i9-vs-i7-vs-i5-cpu/
https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-core-i5-vs-i7/
http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/core-i5-vs-i7
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/210703-intel-core-i5-vs-core-i7-which-processor-should-you-buy

Budget laptops -
http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/laptops/best-laptops-1304361
https://www.cnet.com/topics/laptops/best-laptops/budget-laptops/
https://www.laptopmag.com/best-laptops-under-500
https://www.lifewire.com/best-laptops-under-500-4043278
http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/how-to-buy-a-budget-laptop/

Photo processing laptops -
https://makeawebsitehub.com/best-laptops-for-photo-editing/
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/167185-best-laptops-for-photo-editing
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2017/sep/07/which-is-the-best-laptop-for-photo-editing
http://www.techradar.com/news/photography-video-capture/cameras/best-laptops-for-image-editing-2016-1329234
https://laptopunderbudget.com/best-laptops-for-photo-editing/

tomad Loc: North Carolina

Your problem is memory which you can verify by using the system monitor and watching the memory usage and what programs are using it. I had the same problem and upgraded to 16g memory and all is well.