Acer Computer problems something running in background

[wini]

My acer computer 6 years old has slowed  in the past week or so There always seems to be something running in the background.
I did ask recently about the lack of ability to print from the  computer and nothing resolved that so I wonder if there is a problem with the computer?
Thought I'd ask before I find a technician, or, is it just getting too old???

Thanks wini

[HarryW]

What operating system and what version are you running?

[mrsruz]

I have an Acer laptop of a similar age running on Windows 10. Every time there is an update, everything goes pearshaped & slows almost to a stop.
Not much help with your problem, but at least you know you're not alone.
I live in Spain & have an excellent man who puts it more or less right for me, but am currently waiting for the end of lock down, so that I can take it to him.
Good luck. I hope you find the answer.
Marion.

[Michael J]

Marion,

In Win 10 you can adjust the amount of bandwidth your computer uses for downloads in the background.

Go to Settings/Update & Security/delivery Optimisation/Advanced options & adjust the relevant sliders.

[Dyingout]

Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete all at the same time, then press on task manager. You can see all that is running at that time and what is taking up either your hard disk or memory. Go onto startup and stop programs fro automatically starting too.

[guest189040]

Laptops really are rubbish.

A major problem is that when you buy one it comes with a lot of items of software installed that are of questionable benefit.

Often it is time limited samples of software like Office and/or Norton etc.

Browsers like Chrome also add unwanted extras if you are not careful and do not read the splash screens as they are presented during the installation.

A whole gaggle of software is loaded during the startup routine and these reside permanently within the Laptops RAM and they eek into the CPU processes in other words they use up system resources.

One way to solve the problem is to disable the non essential apps, how this is done is dependent upon what Windows version you are using.

A method that is not dependent upon Windows versions is to download Ccleaner and install it, it is the free version you want and uncheck the box which asks if you want to try Chrome.  During install choose the free version.

Once installed open it and Click on the Tools icon in the left pane.

You now will see Startup in pane next to the Tools icon.

Click on Startup and there are all the programs that are loaded as the Laptop boots up.

In each of the Tabs - Windows, Scheduled Tasks, Context Menu, Windows Services you can click on each Tab and change the Status from Enabled to Disabled.

All from Microsoft, Acer the graphics card (nVidia for example) and audio card makers will need to be Enabled, make a written note of each change you make so you can go back and reEnable if necessary

Then restart your Laptop and give it a good test.

If all is OK you have cracked it, if not start up Ccleaner and reEnable each item you Disabled.  Rebooting the Laptop and checking it after each single change.

Now using Ccleaner click on the Custom Clean icon then click on Analyse.

This will take sone time and once it is completed it will display a host of files that are essentially unused system clutter.  Clicking on Run Cleaner will purge the system of this clutter.

Next click on Registry and again let it checkout the data that is within the Registry which is basically a startup file that Windows uses to load different parameters into the system and this gets cluttered with old and obsolete entries.  Ccleaner finds these and presents them for you to decide if you want to keep them or delete them, it will ask if you want to Backup the Registry before deleting, always click on Yes, save the file and proceed with the deletion if that is your chosen course of action.

Ccleaner also does a good job of uninstalling apps.

Do ensure that you Backup your Laptop before making any changes.

If you are not confident in your abilities leave it to the Tech person to action.

Now the Tech or a friend who knows what they are doing can do all this remotely to your Laptop, I do this for my Brother and Friends.  There is free software called Team Viewer that works with all version of Windows, download and install the software, then run it and you are presented with a User ID and a Pass Code, give this to the Tech/Friend where they then run their own version of Team Viewer, they enter the codes you gave them and then they have full control of your device.  For me this saves a 70 mile round trip to repair my Brothers PC after he has screwed up something.  Of course if your Computer will not boot up this software will not help.

Hope this helps.

[wini]

Thank you for all the advice, I will give it a go and report back

wini

[andrewalston]

Task Manager can tell you what is using your resources, so what to address first. There are many ways to start it. You can right-click the taskbar, or press Ctrl-Alt-Esc on the keyboard (you can usually do this one-handed).

The default view is a bit minimalist, but there's a "More details" bottom left.

The Processes tab lets you sort on the various resources; for example click "Disk" to bring the big disk hogs to the top. "Antimalware service executable" will often be very active checking files being accessed by other things.

The "Start-up" tab allows you to stop various things loading at boot time. It also hints at the sort of impact the items have. The list is not exhaustive; there are a few system things too, often associated with things like display and audio drivers.

[wini]

thanks for all the advice, I think I will do as you suggest and cal a local techie, they advertise remote calls

wini3