If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Rate Thread | Display Modes |
#16
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:48:00 -0400
Paul wrote: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...-refresh-media I'm wondering if I use this installation media from Microsoft, if it will just install Windows 8.1 with out the Dell and Intel programs? Will it leave the restore partition alone? I'm downloading the 4 GB ISO right now, and have about an hour to go. If I don't see an improvement after this, I will definitely buy an SSD. If that disc is real installation media, you should be able to point it at the partition that is to receive the OS. I have, on occasion, set up a partition structure, before doing an OS installation. As a means to "coax" the installation to be done a certain way. It's one possible way to get the boot partition and the system, into the same primary partition. But whether that works with just any media, who knows. The thing is, Microsoft isn't exactly very consistent now. They tend to do whatever they feel like. On the last Win10 Technical Preview "upgrade", the installation created a 450MB recovery boot partition, and they just chewed 450MB off one partition, changed the partition table order (bumped my DATA partition from slot 3 to slot 4). And all without consulting me. So when it comes to any policy that comes with the disc you're downloading, it might all depend on whether the disc is the "original" 8.1, or something they cooked up just for the purpose. The only positive thing I can say about the whole process you're about to go through, is the OS will activate automatically. It'll use the Win8 key value stored in a BIOS table of your OEM computer. But as for the rest of it, will it leave the disc alone and so on... do a backup first! You can't really trust anyone these days. I was wondering about activation. I found out the reason the computer didn't have a product key sticker on it is because the product key is stored in the BIOS. Another thing that worried me, was after the installation media had been written to the USB flash drive, there was a message that said: "Be sure to have your product key ready when you are ready to install Windows 8.1". I'm not happy with this computer the way it is, and I don't think it's Windows 8.1 that's causing it to be slow. I think it has to do with the Dell and Intel programs installed on it. I think the safest thing to do is restore the computer to factory settings, remove the hard drive and store it. Then install a 250 GB SSD, and install Windows 7 on it. I will just have to wait and see what happens with Windows 10. |
Ads |
#17
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 14:10:54 -0600
Ken1943 wrote: On Mon, 9 Mar 2015 11:02:18 -0500, Johnny wrote: On Mon, 09 Mar 2015 15:56:14 +0000 Stormin' Norman wrote: Are you making this change to increase the speed or because you need more room? If you have plenty of free space on the existing drive and are primarily looking to increase speed, have you considered a solid state drive? They are lighting fast and somewhat reasonable in price. If you need more than 500GB, the SSDs get a little pricey. It's strictly for speed. Windows 8.1 is very slow on that computer. An SSD is something to think about. Like I said I don't know anything about laptops. I just want to make sure the drive I order will fit in her computer. Are they all physically the same? It is very slow in comparison to what. I have 8.1 on this laptop, a 1.4 gig / 4gig ram and it is slow in comparison to my 3.5 gig cpu\8 gig ram. Much faster than my 1.6gig netbooks. What does your wife do with the laptop besides shopping ? KenW It's slow compared to the computer that I had Windows 7 on for a few years. That computer had one CPU 2.7 GHz, 2 GB of Ram. I now have Linux Mint on it, and it's super fast compared to this computer. The computer is an HP Compaq that I bought new in 2009. When I say slow, I mean when I click on Control Panel, it takes 10 seconds for it to open. I just have to watch this little spinning wheel until it opens. Same with File Explorer or anything else. |
#18
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:32:11 -0600
Ken1943 wrote: When I say slow, I mean when I click on Control Panel, it takes 10 seconds for it to open. I just have to watch this little spinning wheel until it opens. Same with File Explorer or anything else. I assume you have run Ccleaner, defrag , antivirus, Malwarebytes and Superantispyware on it ? In other words all the usual trouble shooting ? KenW I just scanned it with McAfee and it didn't find a virus. The computer is new, and hasn't been used very much. |
#19
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
On 3/10/2015 5:45 PM, Johnny wrote:
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:32:11 -0600 Ken1943 wrote: When I say slow, I mean when I click on Control Panel, it takes 10 seconds for it to open. I just have to watch this little spinning wheel until it opens. Same with File Explorer or anything else. I assume you have run Ccleaner, defrag , antivirus, Malwarebytes and Superantispyware on it ? In other words all the usual trouble shooting ? KenW I just scanned it with McAfee and it didn't find a virus. The computer is new, and hasn't been used very much. That doesn't mean you didn't pick up some malware somehow. I would still install and run Malwarebytes free edition. |
#20
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 21:32:52 +0000
Stormin' Norman wrote: On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 16:07:33 -0500, Johnny wrote: On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 14:10:54 -0600 Ken1943 wrote: On Mon, 9 Mar 2015 11:02:18 -0500, Johnny wrote: On Mon, 09 Mar 2015 15:56:14 +0000 Stormin' Norman wrote: Are you making this change to increase the speed or because you need more room? If you have plenty of free space on the existing drive and are primarily looking to increase speed, have you considered a solid state drive? They are lighting fast and somewhat reasonable in price. If you need more than 500GB, the SSDs get a little pricey. It's strictly for speed. Windows 8.1 is very slow on that computer. An SSD is something to think about. Like I said I don't know anything about laptops. I just want to make sure the drive I order will fit in her computer. Are they all physically the same? It is very slow in comparison to what. I have 8.1 on this laptop, a 1.4 gig / 4gig ram and it is slow in comparison to my 3.5 gig cpu\8 gig ram. Much faster than my 1.6gig netbooks. What does your wife do with the laptop besides shopping ? KenW It's slow compared to the computer that I had Windows 7 on for a few years. That computer had one CPU 2.7 GHz, 2 GB of Ram. I now have Linux Mint on it, and it's super fast compared to this computer. The computer is an HP Compaq that I bought new in 2009. When I say slow, I mean when I click on Control Panel, it takes 10 seconds for it to open. I just have to watch this little spinning wheel until it opens. Same with File Explorer or anything else. Have you checked your administrative error logs to see if you are generating a lot of DISK or other errors? There were five errors in the last 7 days. Four about Microsoft Store licenses failing to sync, and one about Dell, and exception errors. |
#21
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
On 3/10/2015 4:58 PM, Johnny wrote:
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:48:00 -0400 Paul wrote: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...-refresh-media I'm wondering if I use this installation media from Microsoft, if it will just install Windows 8.1 with out the Dell and Intel programs? Will it leave the restore partition alone? I'm downloading the 4 GB ISO right now, and have about an hour to go. If I don't see an improvement after this, I will definitely buy an SSD. If that disc is real installation media, you should be able to point it at the partition that is to receive the OS. I have, on occasion, set up a partition structure, before doing an OS installation. As a means to "coax" the installation to be done a certain way. It's one possible way to get the boot partition and the system, into the same primary partition. But whether that works with just any media, who knows. The thing is, Microsoft isn't exactly very consistent now. They tend to do whatever they feel like. On the last Win10 Technical Preview "upgrade", the installation created a 450MB recovery boot partition, and they just chewed 450MB off one partition, changed the partition table order (bumped my DATA partition from slot 3 to slot 4). And all without consulting me. So when it comes to any policy that comes with the disc you're downloading, it might all depend on whether the disc is the "original" 8.1, or something they cooked up just for the purpose. The only positive thing I can say about the whole process you're about to go through, is the OS will activate automatically. It'll use the Win8 key value stored in a BIOS table of your OEM computer. But as for the rest of it, will it leave the disc alone and so on... do a backup first! You can't really trust anyone these days. I was wondering about activation. I found out the reason the computer didn't have a product key sticker on it is because the product key is stored in the BIOS. Another thing that worried me, was after the installation media had been written to the USB flash drive, there was a message that said: "Be sure to have your product key ready when you are ready to install Windows 8.1". I'm not happy with this computer the way it is, and I don't think it's Windows 8.1 that's causing it to be slow. I think it has to do with the Dell and Intel programs installed on it. I think the safest thing to do is restore the computer to factory settings, remove the hard drive and store it. Then install a 250 GB SSD, and install Windows 7 on it. I will just have to wait and see what happens with Windows 10. Disable all of those Dell and Intel start-up items and see what happens. If you are not happy with the computer return it if you can for another one. There might be something wrong with it. If you can't return it from where you bought it from contact Dell. Also, you better check and see if Dell has Windows 7 drivers for that computer. My HP laptop is 2 years old and HP only has drivers for W8 and W8.1. |
#22
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:58:32 -0500, Johnny wrote:
I'm not happy with this computer the way it is, and I don't think it's Windows 8.1 that's causing it to be slow. I think it has to do with the Dell and Intel programs installed on it. Definitely not! What is installed has *no* effect on a computer's speed. What is *running* does. Now, if the Dell and Intel programs are installed *and* running, that's a different story. But it's easy to find out whether they are causing it to be slow. Simply shut down the programs and see how fast the computer then is (if necessary, you can "end task" for them in Task Manager). |
#23
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 16:45:16 -0500, Johnny wrote:
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:32:11 -0600 Ken1943 wrote: When I say slow, I mean when I click on Control Panel, it takes 10 seconds for it to open. I just have to watch this little spinning wheel until it opens. Same with File Explorer or anything else. I assume you have run Ccleaner, defrag , antivirus, Malwarebytes and Superantispyware on it ? In other words all the usual trouble shooting ? KenW I just scanned it with McAfee and it didn't find a virus. The computer is new, and hasn't been used very much. New or not, something is almost certainly wrong with it if it's as slow as you say. Opening Control Panel or File Explorer takes only a second or two here. |
#24
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:07:25 -0700
"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:58:32 -0500, Johnny wrote: I'm not happy with this computer the way it is, and I don't think it's Windows 8.1 that's causing it to be slow. I think it has to do with the Dell and Intel programs installed on it. Definitely not! What is installed has *no* effect on a computer's speed. What is *running* does. Now, if the Dell and Intel programs are installed *and* running, that's a different story. But it's easy to find out whether they are causing it to be slow. Simply shut down the programs and see how fast the computer then is (if necessary, you can "end task" for them in Task Manager). They are running, but I was afraid to shut them down, after reading it caused a blue screen for some people that did shut them down. |
#25
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 16:00:25 -0600
Ken1943 wrote: On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 16:45:16 -0500, Johnny wrote: On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:32:11 -0600 Ken1943 wrote: When I say slow, I mean when I click on Control Panel, it takes 10 seconds for it to open. I just have to watch this little spinning wheel until it opens. Same with File Explorer or anything else. I assume you have run Ccleaner, defrag , antivirus, Malwarebytes and Superantispyware on it ? In other words all the usual trouble shooting ? KenW I just scanned it with McAfee and it didn't find a virus. The computer is new, and hasn't been used very much. Still could be some crap on it. I have a Toshiba netbook that was so slow until I removed some of the "utilities" they installed. Just had to make sure I had their install files on a usb stick. There was one that controlled the FN key which took plenty of research to find. KenW I remember reading something about that FN key when I was looking at the startup programs. I'll have to go back and look again. |
#26
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 17:17:58 -0500, Johnny wrote:
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:07:25 -0700 "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:58:32 -0500, Johnny wrote: I'm not happy with this computer the way it is, and I don't think it's Windows 8.1 that's causing it to be slow. I think it has to do with the Dell and Intel programs installed on it. Definitely not! What is installed has *no* effect on a computer's speed. What is *running* does. Now, if the Dell and Intel programs are installed *and* running, that's a different story. But it's easy to find out whether they are causing it to be slow. Simply shut down the programs and see how fast the computer then is (if necessary, you can "end task" for them in Task Manager). They are running, but I was afraid to shut them down, after reading it caused a blue screen for some people that did shut them down. If that happens to you, just restart. They will restart as well. No big deal, but don't have any programs with unsaved files running when you try it!. If it is successful, you can experiment to see if it helps. If so, then consider disabling them from starting up. -- Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch) |
#27
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 16:12:36 -0700
"Gene E. Bloch" wrote: On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 17:17:58 -0500, Johnny wrote: On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:07:25 -0700 "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:58:32 -0500, Johnny wrote: I'm not happy with this computer the way it is, and I don't think it's Windows 8.1 that's causing it to be slow. I think it has to do with the Dell and Intel programs installed on it. Definitely not! What is installed has *no* effect on a computer's speed. What is *running* does. Now, if the Dell and Intel programs are installed *and* running, that's a different story. But it's easy to find out whether they are causing it to be slow. Simply shut down the programs and see how fast the computer then is (if necessary, you can "end task" for them in Task Manager). They are running, but I was afraid to shut them down, after reading it caused a blue screen for some people that did shut them down. If that happens to you, just restart. They will restart as well. No big deal, but don't have any programs with unsaved files running when you try it!. If it is successful, you can experiment to see if it helps. If so, then consider disabling them from starting up. I will try that the first thing in the morning, and let you know how it works. |
#28
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
Johnny wrote:
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:32:11 -0600 Ken1943 wrote: When I say slow, I mean when I click on Control Panel, it takes 10 seconds for it to open. I just have to watch this little spinning wheel until it opens. Same with File Explorer or anything else. I assume you have run Ccleaner, defrag , antivirus, Malwarebytes and Superantispyware on it ? In other words all the usual trouble shooting ? KenW I just scanned it with McAfee and it didn't find a virus. The computer is new, and hasn't been used very much. Use Disk Cleanup. Examine all the options. One option controls the removal of Windows.old, after a major update. Once you remove around 13GB of unneeded stuff, Windows Defender will have less stuff to scan, and the machine will settle down sooner. I run Windows 8 on a hex core CPU, and the "wheel of death" doesn't go away any faster on that, than on a less capable computer. So you can't always blame the CPU. I can watch that wheel spin, while watching Task Manager and see virtually no CPU activity. I'm not even convinced that upgrading my hard drive to an SSD in that machine, is going to help. You can try: 1) Be prepared for a long session. 2) Open Task Manager and watch as one maintenance action after another runs. 3) Disable Windows Defender. 4) Disable Indexing Options and the search indexer. 5) Look into how to disable Windows Update, things like tiworker.exe or wuauserv. 6) And so on, until the machine regains some composure. And since this is *not* solved by buying a giant processor (I tried that), you'll have to find some other solution. There's got to be *some* way to keep that spinning wheel, in the drawer. Paul |
#29
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
Johnny wrote:
On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:07:25 -0700 "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: On Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:58:32 -0500, Johnny wrote: I'm not happy with this computer the way it is, and I don't think it's Windows 8.1 that's causing it to be slow. I think it has to do with the Dell and Intel programs installed on it. Definitely not! What is installed has *no* effect on a computer's speed. What is *running* does. Now, if the Dell and Intel programs are installed *and* running, that's a different story. But it's easy to find out whether they are causing it to be slow. Simply shut down the programs and see how fast the computer then is (if necessary, you can "end task" for them in Task Manager). They are running, but I was afraid to shut them down, after reading it caused a blue screen for some people that did shut them down. Before you begin your custom install, remember to burn the driver CD that the Dell disc set can make. If you burn recovery media with a Dell, you get maybe three DVDs for the 12GB or so of OS contents, plus a fourth DVD with a few hundred megabytes of drivers. The one you may want to keep, is whatever Dell offers for the video card driver. If Device Manager isn't clean, you may have others to grab from that disc. There are some hardware drivers to watch out for. Intel offers a "Management Engine" driver, something that doesn't appear to have a use on my desktop machine. Only a couple hundred KB of files would be needed to tidy up the MEI entry in Device Manager. Yet, the Intel download is 50MB or so, and contains a lot of "stuff". One item of interest, is an "Identity Protection" package. I cannot find any documentation for it. It screwed up my browser. I see it is still inserting itself in Firefox (two instances of its plugin are now in Firefox). I don't know what it's for, but I can't recommend it. It causes downloads in Firefox to be discarded, without asking the user. So that's an installation I'd think twice about. I'd need documentation to see if this has any value at all - the fact you cannot "untick" the box for it in the Intel installer, tells you it's evil. Paul |
#30
|
|||
|
|||
Help with buying new hard drive
Per Stormin' Norman:
Have you checked your administrative error logs to see if you are generating a lot of DISK or other errors? +1. Couple times I have had a drive that was throwing errors slow the entire system down - and there was no way to know about that unless one checked error logs and/or something like Hard Disk Sentinel. -- Pete Cresswell |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | Rate This Thread |
|
|