Extremely Slow Computer

[tigetek]

I recently downloaded Windows 8.1 update and my computer now runs at a snails pace and Windows Search Index does not work at all. Any suggestions from anyone? I am using a Desktop computer at work.

 

[Al Bedo]

Hello tigitek,
You didn't provide much information regarding your system, but judging from other threads on this and other forums, it appears there may be more than one cause for the slow-downs. A couple of common fixes seem to have involved updating the graphics card and/or other device drivers, and repairing or replacing corrupted user accounts.

I had a similar experience with my nearly 5 year old Hewlett-Packard Pavilion m8277c (32-bit). I'd been running Win 8.0 Pro for almost a year, and upgraded to Win 8.1 Pro around mid-October. Everything was running smoothly until earlier this week when the Windows updates were released, and then everything slowed to a snails pace: It took forever to boot, there were long delays after a mouse click or a keyboard entry, and all operations including email and web browsing were extremely slow. I noticed that the hard-drive LED seemed to remain illuminated constantly, with hardly a flicker.

You didn't mention security software, which turned out to be the source of my problems. I had upgraded Norton Internet Security from NIS2013 to NIS2014 (version 21.1.0.18) immediately following the upgrade to Win 8.1, and everything worked fine until this week's Windows updates. After unsuccessfully trying several solutions recommended on various forums, I started getting error messages related to NIS. After uninstalling and reinstalling Norton Internet Security, everything seems to be back to normal.

Good luck!