AnotherBob

My aging Dell computer, which is usually reliable and pretty responsive, has become a sloth.
Dell XPS 435MT 2009 vintage
Intel i7, 2.67 GHz
24 GB RAM
64 bit Windows 10 - Home version
C drive: 1 terabyte SSD
D drive: 1 terabyte SSD
E drive: 500 Gigabyte spinning drive

All discs have been defragged and optimized within the windows operating system. All have about 1/3 unused capacity.
Task master shows 5% CPU, 16% memory, 10% disk usage
I run Microsoft Office and Adobe Lightroom

Within the past week, all activity has nearly stopped. I can open files. I can run all applications, but with outrageously slow response. I tried to copy files from one drive to another....the system ran all night, and shows it it is 1% complete. The "discovery" phase of the copy took about 12 hours. The "copy" part has made no progress since I got up this morning. The copy application is moving, but at 200 bytes / sec, then 0, then something between. No measurable progress.

The only recent change in software was a Lightroom update, but all activity is slow, regardless of drive or application.

I don't know where to look further. Any suggestions (other than the perhaps inevitable Costco trip) are welcome.

Thanks for your thoughts.

/Bob

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The EFFICIENT life of a modern computer is seldom greater than five to seven years. As operating systems and software advance, they require more and more resources. Eventually, they require resources not found in your original hardware.

If you are trying to run the latest version of anything on a 13-year-old computer, chances are very high that it will run at a snail's pace, if at all. Adobe has increased their hardware requirements *significantly* in the last five years.

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/system-requirements.html

Another thing to check is whether or not your system is infected with some sort of malware, OR whether you are running SO MUCH anti-malware software that the system is just crawling because it is constantly looking for malware!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Side note, don't bother to de-frag SSDs.
In won't improve their operation and just uses up write cycles moving files around.

Agreed, I'd check for malware.

lreisner Loc: Union,NJ

You might want to try to reach out to Dells Customer Support. Even without a warranty they may help you. You could also open your task manager and see if any thing is running in the background using resources. You could have picked up an undetected virus. My laptop has been having similar problems.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I had the same thing happen, and it turned out to be the power supply circuits on the mother board were going bad. So a new mother board and upped to an i9 CPU and went from 32 to 64 GB of RAM.

However, I noted you did not mention a registry cleaning. Up until the supply circuit problem and since when ever things slow down the one thing that usually speeds things back up is a registry cleaning. Also, every few months I open the case, clean out the dust bunnies and reseat all connections. The heating and cooling when turning on and off often causes connectors to creep and produce poor/unreliable contacts. One tech guru recommends checking your connectors & contacts as a first step when things get slow or unreliable. The same guy also recommends having your power come through a regulator type central power unit. The two I have also feture a built-in battery and when the house current goes wacky or fails they both have a "save all and shut down" feature to prevent damage to the computer or other electronics hooked up to the unit.

My power lounge chair is plugged into one. My doctor wants my feet elevated at least 4-6 hours a day, so I read or watch TV with my feet up. One day we had a 2-3 hour power failure when a truck crash took out a power pole with the entire block's main junction box, and that battery was the only reason I wasn't stuck in the chair for the duration. At 77 I am not really into the idea of rolling over and off the side of the chair and hoping I can land without breaking anything. There are end tables with lamps etc. on both sides anyway.

therwol Loc: USA

Obviously something changed. Do you have a recent restore point that you can go back to? Maybe a recent full system backup if you have one? If you end up replacing the computer, the data should still be on your secondary drives. It should also be on your C drive, but you have to know how to find it. As for programs, you will have to reinstall them.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Sometimes updates to programs will turn the thing on in the background, gather info and send it off to that great data horde in the net, or at least the company that sent the update.

And often they farm out their servers to a Chinese company. Today my son who is Army Reserve in a sensitive and classified field was asking me about where the data from our home security system goes since the Army sent out warnings that many use server farms in China because they are cheaper.
And everyone KNOWS we can trust the CCP to respect the privacy of all that data.
Like if he comes home, and we are gone, so he uses his code to turn off the alarm that would tell them where at least one Army secret squirrel is right now.
So I changed the system over to one code for all of us.

AnotherBob

Thanks, Bill. Fair point that trying to run complex software on such an old machine is just looking for trouble; I was just surprised that the decrease in speed seemed to happen so suddenly. Perhaps I'm just getting less patient. I did run Malware Bytes. It tested 386,632 files in 10 minutes, and found nothing unusual. I have no real idea which 386,632 files it tested.

I always appreciate your input and look forward to your frequent comments.

AnotherBob

Thanks for your thoughts. I don't routinely defrag SSDs, but figured at this point, I'd try anything.

Malwarebytes found nothing unusual in the 386,632 files it checked in 10 minutes. I presume it's checking system files, but don't really know.

AnotherBob

Uglyhedgehog was my first choice of places to look for assistance. Dell Customer Support is worth a try, too.

Thanks for your input.

AnotherBob

If it's a mother board issue, I'll likely spring for a new Dell desktop, moving a couple of my extra drives to the new box. I have cleaned neither the registry not the interior of the computer recently. I may need an EPA approval; it's been a while.

I'm only a few months younger than you are; the image of you stuck in the recliner hurt my funny bone, one of the few bones that doesn't routinely hurt.

Thanks for your thoughts.

AnotherBob

I certainly agree: Something changed..... but I'm not sure what. No recent restore point, but decent backups of all drives from just a few weeks ago. If I do have to reinstall programs, I'll likely end up with a cleaner system.

Thanks for your thoughts.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

You think there may be endangered small wildlife with 6 or 8 legs living in there? It is usually a nice warm place even on chilly nights since Win 10 and Win 11 both keep a couple of circuits going when you shut down, it is for Quick Starts. The only time everything shuts down and flushes the caches etc. is when you do a restart or unplug the power. So I do at least one restart a day

I went back and read the specs for the recliner. It seems its power converter also has a small emergency battery, good for 3 or so full activations. So if I was up when power failed I would be OK, down, up, down-battery dead but if I was down! up, down, up-battery dead; OOPS! So I am glad I put a big unit there and plugged it in along with my e-book, table lamp and neck and shoulders heating pad plus a couple of plugs for other electronics on occasion. That thing's battery will keep it going up and down for most of a day. Very handy if I need to go to the bathroom!!!

AnotherBob

[quote
That thing's battery will keep it going up and down for most of a day. Very handy if I need to go to the bathroom!!![/quote]

BebuLamar

If you said you only run Office and Lightroom i think the best way it to reformat the SSD. Reinstall windows 10 and reinstall Office and lightroom. It would run a whole lot faster. Your computer is still quite powerful for what you use it for. Shouldn't be too slow.