Ask Slashdot: Are Post-Install Windows Slowdowns Inevitable?

blackest_k writes: I recently reinstalled Windows 7 Home on a laptop. A factory restore (minus the shovelware), all the Windows updates, and it was reasonably snappy. Four weeks later it's running like a slug, and now 34 more updates to install. The system is clear of malware (there are very few additional programs other than chrome browser). It appears that Windows slows down Windows! Has anyone benchmarked Windows 7 as installed and then again as updated? Even better has anybody identified any Windows update that put the slug into sluggish? Related: an anonymous reader asks: Our organization's PCs are growing ever slower, with direct hard-drive encryption in place, and with anti-malware scans running ever more frequently. The security team says that SSDs are the only solution, but the org won't approve SSD purchases. It seems most disk scanning could take place after hours and/or under a lower CPU priority, but the security team doesn't care about optimization, summarily blaming sluggishness on lack of SSDs. Are they blowing smoke?

Comments

Depends

[sys64764]

if you use it...

What measure of speed is snappy?

[houghi]

I can translate from KMH to feet per minute. I know that seconds and even jiffy exist, but what is this 'snappy' and 'sluggish' you talk about.

Most likely you are now used to the speed and now just want it to go even faster.

First: do a complete new install and see if it is still 'snappy'. If it isn't, then it is your perception of the speed. If it is, start adding things as you lost likely did and see when it starts to happen.

I must say, my PCs are just as fast as they were when I got them out of the box, or at least almost. Yes, I have added software that will slow things a little bit down, but only if I measure it, not when I actually use it. At least, I am unable to notice the difference.

So please come back with information like: when I reinstalled Windows 7, the time to load a 17MB image into GIMP was x time. After 4 weeks, the time it takes is X+Y. I have only done upgrades and between upgrades A7 and A8 I noticed a time increse in the loading if the same image from 0 to +Y.

The update did change FileA.exe and FileB.exe. What I further did was ...

And that is how you do a technical posting. Not "I think it might be, like, you know, sluggish like a slug, not, I don't know,. like snappy, like a snapper."

Re:Security team

[Applehu Akbar]

"There is probably some kind of creative, adaptive scheduling solution that could fix this..."

The one I've found to work the best is, boot Windows an hour before you need to use it.

Rule Engine? [Re:Security team]

[Tablizer]

Too many people shut off their machines at night

We have a similar scan problem, but our co's policy is to not shut down PC's at night so that they can get Windows updates. But the scanning still happens during the day even if one leaves it on.

Couldn't a scan rule be put in place that only scans during the day IF the night scan didn't complete? Anybody know of a tool like that for McAfee? Does McAfee have a scripting language or scheduling rule engine? Or, a 3rd party add-on?

That way ONLY those who turn it off at night get "punished" by sluggishness. (Or if a Windows update interrupts an anti-virus scan, which may happen from time to time, but that's better than always day-scanning.)

McAfee could make a nice profit even by selling such a rule tool. It's like being paid to create a problem and being paid again to solve it: Kinda like Congress :-)