Question How can I make my computer run better?

[Cruicky]

Hi guys, I will admit straight off that I don't know what I am doing anymore when it comes to computers.... cos you will work it out fast enough...

A few years ago, I upgraded a couple of dinosaur computers for the one I am having trouble with. I bought it from a guy who was a computer techie at a local college and had gone into building and selling computers. He insisted I needed something better for gaming and I insisted that it was only Minecraft that the kids would use and didn't want to spend however much he was charging me. So he sold me something with less ......RAM? If that sounds wrong, you probably know the right word to insert there instead!!

So it was a bit odd almost from the get-go. An acquaintance who did the same sort of thing talked me through updates and maintenance and it ran a lot better then. He told me how to set auto updates etc, so it shouldn't have backed up again... anyway, it has moods, and can be very slow. My daughter has been known to sit in front of it for 20 minutes waiting for it to start up, not realising this was not meant to happen... Other times it will be turned on, show the wallpaper for the lock screen ... maybe even get to the unlocking stage... but not progress. It's mostly startup but not only that. I have let it go unresolved a long time as I don't use it often; I have a laptop for my work... and so I cant clearly list all the problems ... and I get a really weird description if I ask my daughter!

Can anyone help me work out how I get it to run a bit smoother, please? Intel (R) Core (TM) i5-4590 CPU @ 3.3 GHz / Installed RAM 8Gb /it runs windows 10 / internet security is Eset
Thanks in advance Alison

 

[Obakasama]

Sounds like you'd have to see what information can be provided by your daughter, or use it yourself and describe what occurs. As it is.... it's difficult to draw any particular conclusion. Getting into the PC on desktop would allow you to gather more system information too (motherboard specifically).

But the slow boot up makes me think it's hard drive related. A bad drive or perhaps somewhere along the connection with the motherboard (the cable itself or the port it is connected to). If you're comfortable with opening the system you could try a different SATA port to see if there is any change.

 

[hang-the-9]

Slow boot times are pretty much always cured with replacing the hard drive and a clean Windows setup. Get a 250gb solid state drive, install Windows on that, should be fine for standard use. You will of-course need to have the Windows media for whatever version of Windows you are using and the ability to swap the drive.