Would Linux alleviate my performance issues on Win10?

Dimitri

Member
I'm running:
Athlon II X2 250 3Ghz
4 GB RAM
and Windows 10 and all I do is browse the internet with FFox and watch a lot of videos.
Lately, W10 has become so slow at times as to be borderline unusable. The HDD just goes nuts and start working and working and everything is terribly slow.

Would I possibly get smooth performance if I transferred to some version of Linux, possibly one of the lightweight distros? Would there be a significant enough difference in terms of how much resources each OS consumes that it might make a significant performance difference?
 

OmniDyne

Active Member
Yeah, 4GB just isn't enough for Windows 10 anymore.

Would I possibly get smooth performance if I transferred to some version of Linux, possibly one of the lightweight distros?

Yes, you'd get significant performance improvements without any upgrades needed. For the most Windows like experience, I'd try Linux Mint Cinnamon. It's pretty much a Windows clone. Very familiar, works well with older hardware and it's one of the most popular distros. You can even try it "live" and install it on a USB drive; you can use just about every feature and run it just like you would on a hard drive. If you like it, you can install it directly from the USB drive. It's quite simple.

If you're comfortable enough going inside your computer, I'd spend $15 to $20 on a 120GB SSD and install Linux on that, then you'll be able to boot to Windows whenever you'd like and you wouldn't have to delete any files, plus you'd be able to access all of your files from Windows immediately because Linux can read all Windows files from your old hard drive.

https://linuxmint.com/
 
Last edited:

strollin

Well-Known Member
I disagree that 4GB isn't enough for Win 10. IMO, most users NEVER need more than 4GB of RAM.

If Win 10 has only become slow "lately" then there is something wrong, something causing the issue. Have you run virus and malware scans? Defragged your disk?
 

Dimitri

Member
I disagree that 4GB isn't enough for Win 10. IMO, most users NEVER need more than 4GB of RAM.

If Win 10 has only become slow "lately" then there is something wrong, something causing the issue. Have you run virus and malware scans? Defragged your disk?

I haven't run virus and malware scans, although I have Avast running all the time in the background, so presumably it would have caught anything.

As far as fragmentation, disc defragmenter says Windows partition is 0% fragmented.

It started loading very slowly. By which I mean it gets to desktop with fine speed, but then the HDD keeps grinding away for a long time and when I run FFox it takes it an eternity to actually load a tab.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Run Ccleaner if you haven't already. Are you running the free or paid version of Avast? If free version, it won't catch malware that Malwarebytes and Adwcleaner does. How old is your hard drive? Do you have a lot of processes running at bootup?
 

OmniDyne

Active Member
I disagree that 4GB isn't enough for Win 10. IMO, most users NEVER need more than 4GB of RAM.

Windows 10 sits at 4GB utilized when just browsing the internet with Chrome and no other programs running. When light gaming (i.e. Overwatch) I'll be at 6 to 7GB utilized. When playing GTA V I'm upwards of 12GB utilized.

When gaming 8GB is a minimum today. I'd say 8GB is required and the market reflects this as the vast majority of Windows based computers ship with 8GB.

It's time for an upgrade or to move to another OS.
 

Dimitri

Member
Run Ccleaner if you haven't already. Are you running the free or paid version of Avast? If free version, it won't catch malware that Malwarebytes and Adwcleaner does. How old is your hard drive? Do you have a lot of processes running at bootup?
I'm running free Avast. If I install Malwarebytes should I ditch Avast or use both at the same time?

My HDD is very old, but W10 used to run fine on my PC.

I don't have a lot of stuff running in the background, I don't even have many programs installed. I got Avast, Viber and Flux at bootup.

Windows 10 sits at 4GB utilized when just browsing the internet with Chrome and no other programs running. When light gaming (i.e. Overwatch) I'll be at 6 to 7GB utilized. When playing GTA V I'm upwards of 12GB utilized.

When gaming 8GB is a minimum today. I'd say 8GB is required and the market reflects this as the vast majority of Windows based computers ship with 8GB.

It's time for an upgrade or to move to another OS.

But I used to run W10 fine on this PC. Maybe it's become more demanding with updates?
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Windows 10 sits at 4GB utilized when just browsing the internet with Chrome and no other programs running. When light gaming (i.e. Overwatch) I'll be at 6 to 7GB utilized. When playing GTA V I'm upwards of 12GB utilized.

When gaming 8GB is a minimum today. I'd say 8GB is required and the market reflects this as the vast majority of Windows based computers ship with 8GB.

It's time for an upgrade or to move to another OS.

10 adjusts its RAM usage a lot based on what you have. I agree you would want 8GB if possible but I sold a ton of Win10 machines with 4GB of RAM and at idle usage or maybe just tab of chrome and you'd be sitting under 3GB no problem. Granted, I've been outta that business for over a year but it's definitely usable on 4GB.
 

OmniDyne

Active Member
10 adjusts its RAM usage a lot based on what you have. I agree you would want 8GB if possible but I sold a ton of Win10 machines with 4GB of RAM and at idle usage or maybe just tab of chrome and you'd be sitting under 3GB no problem. Granted, I've been outta that business for over a year but it's definitely usable on 4GB.

Gotcha. I'll keep that in mind for future reference, but I recently helped my parents buy a new computer because their semi-older PC with 4GB of RAM wasn't cutting it. Completely clean OS, no antivirus, and when Chrome fired up the RAM was almost completely utilized. More than one tab, especially when visiting Youtube, caused page file usage.

Gaming of any fashion on it was out of the question. Additionally, newer games have a 6 to 8GB RAM minimum. To say that users never need more than 4GB is definitely not accurate.
 
Last edited:

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
I'm running free Avast. If I install Malwarebytes should I ditch Avast or use both at the same time?
You want to keep Avast and run Malwarebytes. As I said, you'll be amazed at what Malwarebytes will find when free Avast won't. You have to remember though that most of today's issues is actually malware not viruses.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Gotcha. I'll keep that in mind for future reference, but I recently helped my parents buy a new computer because their semi-older PC with 4GB of RAM wasn't cutting it. Completely clean OS, no antivirus, and when Chrome fired up the RAM was almost completely utilized. More than one tab, especially when visiting Youtube, caused page file usage.

Gaming of any fashion on it was out of the question. Additionally, newer games have a 6 to 8GB RAM minimum. To say that users never need more than 4GB is definitely not accurate.
Yeah like I said it's been over a year and I know each newer release seems a bit more RAM heavy. I'm using 6GB on my work machine now with a few programs open and not even really doing anything. Granted I've got 24GB (for some dumb reason?).
 
Well! First off... FF is known to use gazillions of memory, so my advice would be to try using the built in EDGE-browser for a while and see if you experience the same lag..

The main cuprit here is your old hard drive.. I assume that it is a mechanical one?
They have very slow write performance… so if you ever get to it, try to change to a SSD-drive..

I Myself is typing this an a older I3 with 4GB of ram, that just updated to 1903-version, and it runs with very little lag..
But then I use a windowsguides.eu installation.. (in Swedish) And i do not install any of the memory-hogging FF or chrome, I stay with the built in EDGE (a teriffic browser in my eyes!) And I also use the Sophos antivirus that is not heavy at all, and still among the absolute best..

So please try to not use the memoryhogging software like FF and chrome, (for a while at least to se if performance is improved)
At the same time, change to home.sophos.com (free antivirus for up to ten computers/macs) and se if that changes anything to the better...
And if you still like to get a more stabile performance, try to reinstall using the eminent Windowsguides.eu installation guide..
That makes your performance stay for years ahead..
 

Dimitri

Member
Well! First off... FF is known to use gazillions of memory, so my advice would be to try using the built in EDGE-browser for a while and see if you experience the same lag..

The main cuprit here is your old hard drive.. I assume that it is a mechanical one?
They have very slow write performance… so if you ever get to it, try to change to a SSD-drive..

I Myself is typing this an a older I3 with 4GB of ram, that just updated to 1903-version, and it runs with very little lag..
But then I use a windowsguides.eu installation.. (in Swedish) And i do not install any of the memory-hogging FF or chrome, I stay with the built in EDGE (a teriffic browser in my eyes!) And I also use the Sophos antivirus that is not heavy at all, and still among the absolute best..

So please try to not use the memoryhogging software like FF and chrome, (for a while at least to se if performance is improved)
At the same time, change to home.sophos.com (free antivirus for up to ten computers/macs) and se if that changes anything to the better...
And if you still like to get a more stabile performance, try to reinstall using the eminent Windowsguides.eu installation guide..
That makes your performance stay for years ahead..

I always have many tabs open and found that FFox handles that much better than Chrome, so IDK about FFox being a memory hog. I haven't compared it to Edge, tho.

Yes, I have a mechanical drive.
 
I always have many tabs open and found that FFox handles that much better than Chrome, so IDK about FFox being a memory hog. I haven't compared it to Edge, tho.

Yes, I have a mechanical drive.
The comparison is just to see if there is a difference in computerlag…. To find out IF FF is the cause...
 

OmniDyne

Active Member
@Dimitri

When you're doing what you normally do and the computer slows down, open up Task Manager and tell us (screenshot if you could) how much memory is being utilized.

There's no reason to go all crazy and use Edge or any of that stuff; let's use process of elimination first.
 
Last edited:

Dimitri

Member
I was just looking at my laptop configuration, seeing how I basically never have problems with my laptop even tho it's also running Windows 10, and it doesn't seem to me much better than my desktop, if at all. Which suggests that it ain't that my desktop can't run W10, but that there may be something wrong.

My laptop is a Lenovo B51, the specs are:

  • Processor: Intel Core i5 6200U.
  • Graphics Adapter: AMD Radeon R5 M330.
  • 4 GB of RAM (says 3,86 usable in Windows, which is weird, because it's a 64 bit version of Windows)
That's a 2 core CPU that runs at 2.3 or 2.4 GHz (whereas my desktop is 3), but it has 4 threads, whereas my desktop has 2.

RAM is the same, but IDK whether one is DDR 2 and the other 3.

Can the graphics card be making a difference here? I don't know what I got in my desktop, I can check if it matters.

I also get VERY frequent BSOD on my desktop (about once a day), but never on my laptop. Different message every time. But aside from those frequent crashes, speed-wise, W10 worked fine on my desktop for a long time, it seems like it started slowing down progressively.

@Dimitri

When you're doing what you normally do and the computer slows down, open up Task Manager and tell us (screenshot if you could) how much memory is being utilized.

There's no reason to go all crazy and install Edge or any of that stuff; let's use process of elimination first.

You know, that's the funny thing, I was just looking at that this morning and even during the worst slowdowns memory usage was 3-3.1 GB (out of my 4 GB of RAM). I'll have a look again to check when I get home.

It seemed like it was sometimes the CPU and sometimes the HDD that was used at 100% capacity during these slowdowns, but not the RAM.
 

OmniDyne

Active Member
Core i5 6200U.

The 6200U is significantly faster than the Athlon.

I also get VERY frequent BSOD on my desktop

When was Windows installed? Have you reinstalled it since then?

It's probably a few different things; aging hard disk, slow processor, corrupt Windows, possible hardware failure due to age.

As others said, you can try checking for malware. BSOD will likely be either hardware or corrupt hardware, or maybe bad drivers, but it's possible it'll be endless troubleshooting. Is the error always the same? What error is it?
 

Dimitri

Member
When was Windows installed? Have you reinstalled it since then?

I don't recall.

Someone, maybe you, asked whether I updated to Win10 or installed afresh - it was a fresh installation.

Is the error always the same? What error is it?

It's always different. There are a few that occur frequently (IIRC memory management, unhandled exception and some others), but it's all over the place.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Lets try this so we can see what codes you are getting.

Download BlueScreenView
No installation required.
Unzip downloaded file and double click on BlueScreenView.exe file to run the program.
When scanning is done, go Edit>Select All.
Go File>Save Selected Items, and save the report as BSOD.txt.
Open BSOD.txt in Notepad, copy all content, and paste it into your next reply.
 

Dimitri

Member
Here it is. I'm surprised there are only 3, this happens all the time to me

==================================================
Dump File : 071019-35375-01.dmp
Crash Time : 7/10/2019 1:40:30 PM
Bug Check String : SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
Bug Check Code : 0x1000007e
Parameter 1 : ffffffff`c0000005
Parameter 2 : fffff803`26711201
Parameter 3 : fffff181`69879208
Parameter 4 : fffff181`69878a50
Caused By Driver : FLTMGR.SYS
Caused By Address : FLTMGR.SYS+8534
File Description :
Product Name :
Company :
File Version :
Processor : x64
Crash Address : ntoskrnl.exe+111201
Stack Address 1 :
Stack Address 2 :
Stack Address 3 :
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\071019-35375-01.dmp
Processors Count : 2
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 18362
Dump File Size : 519,748
Dump File Time : 7/10/2019 1:44:55 PM
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : 071019-30859-01.dmp
Crash Time : 7/10/2019 10:12:10 AM
Bug Check String : SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION
Bug Check Code : 0x0000003b
Parameter 1 : 00000000`c0000005
Parameter 2 : fffff800`75a2a51e
Parameter 3 : ffff9f07`913508c0
Parameter 4 : 00000000`00000000
Caused By Driver : ntoskrnl.exe
Caused By Address : ntoskrnl.exe+1bc900
File Description :
Product Name :
Company :
File Version :
Processor : x64
Crash Address : ntoskrnl.exe+1bc900
Stack Address 1 :
Stack Address 2 :
Stack Address 3 :
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\071019-30859-01.dmp
Processors Count : 2
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 18362
Dump File Size : 736,724
Dump File Time : 7/10/2019 10:25:28 AM
==================================================

==================================================
Dump File : 070919-25593-01.dmp
Crash Time : 7/9/2019 10:00:08 AM
Bug Check String :
Bug Check Code : 0x00000109
Parameter 1 : a39ff05e`9568d56d
Parameter 2 : 00000000`00000000
Parameter 3 : 6836183e`8381a3b7
Parameter 4 : 00000000`00000101
Caused By Driver : ntoskrnl.exe
Caused By Address : ntoskrnl.exe+1bc900
File Description :
Product Name :
Company :
File Version :
Processor : x64
Crash Address : ntoskrnl.exe+1bc900
Stack Address 1 :
Stack Address 2 :
Stack Address 3 :
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\070919-25593-01.dmp
Processors Count : 2
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 18362
Dump File Size : 638,108
Dump File Time : 7/9/2019 10:10:50 AM
==================================================
 
Top