Please Help With My Sluggish Computer

Xarzu

Xarzu

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Jan 6, 2017
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I have had to start working from home. That work has involved setting up virutal machines and I quickly ran into a memory problem. The way I see it, there are a number of things I can do. The first thing is to look at my task manager and see how many processes and aps I have runnnin gin the backgrounnd that I can clean up. Then I can see how much memory I have and how much more memorny I can install in my motherboard. Finally, I can get a new computer. But I am going to put that last option off to the last moment .


So let's start with cleaning up my computer. So, my first question would be to ask for advice on some good software for removing malware and garbage. The next request is for you to have a look at the screen shots I made of my task mannager. I don't know how to do text grabs. So please have a look and tell me what you think.


I am going to just post the links to the images here.
https://millionthompson.com/images/tasks 01.png
https://millionthompson.com/images/tasks 02.png
https://millionthompson.com/images/tasks 03.png
https://millionthompson.com/images/tasks 04.png
 
I still use malwarebytes to remove malware, etc. Seems to work fine.

I didn't even know realplayer was still a thing. It seems to be consuming a lot of your CPU relatively speaking. Maybe get rid of that and install something more lightweight (VLC player?).
 
Thank you for the advice. I used realplayer to download videos. Will VLC let me do that?
 
start with giving us your system specs.
shift+winkey+s will let you take a screen shot of a selectable area.
if youre on 10, defender is all the a/v you need.
 
Go into startup in taskmanager and disable everything and reboot.
Then as time goes by if you find things you need turned back on do so.

+1 to removing all AV and clearly there is something wrong with real player if it is using that much CPU all the time? then it needs to go but you could try reinstalling it and see if that fixes the problem or contacting there support.
 
At first glance, you seem to have very little ram on the system (could be that the virtual machine reserve it ?), if you need VM with lot of rams probably want to invest in a minimum of 16 gig of ram.
 
Here is the system info of my computer:
https://millionthompson.com/images/System_Info.png

Here is a spliced-together image of services. Have a look and let me know what you think, please:
https://millionthompson.com/images/services.png

I have uninstalled realplayer since it seemed to be using a lot of memory. Any suggestions for a replacement? I like the ability to download videos from youtube. Is there a way to do this without realplayer?

Here is the Speccy Report:
http://speccy.piriform.com/results/kFiMQ41buNajXCcglsiLb1c

Here is an outupt from minitoolbox:
https://millionthompson.com/images//minitoolbox.txt

There might be a virus or a bug listed as an actual program in my list of programs I see in the Control Panel list of programs. Please have a look and tell me what you think:
https://millionthompson.com/images/Programs.png

Now, let's have a look at expanding my memory. I have DDR3 unfortunately.
The good news is that, now that I know I have two slots open on my motherboard, I can double my memory.
https://millionthompson.com/images/Memory.PNG

Or can I do even better than that? Apparently, I have two memory cards inserted into my motherboard and each card is of 8 gb of memory. With the two empty slots available, do you think I can insert two memory cards with 16 or 32 memory each or more? What are your thoughts on this? I had a look at what it looks like and saved a video. It is just a minute Have a look:


This shot is a wierd angle. It is looking down at the memory cards. I had a shop do the installation. The thing is, they are spaced with an empty slot between them. I thought that one had to have then stacked side-by-side but I guess I was wrong. Now I have more questions. If I don't want to replace these two and I only want to add two more, am I bound by the restrictions of the amount of memory? In other words, if I add two more cards, do the two new cards have to be just like the ones I have? Also, how do I shop for the next cards and make sure they are the right physical size to fit in the motherboard?
https://forums.anandtech.com/attachments/1656512560604-png.63750/

https://millionthompson.com/images/memory01.PNG

When I have a look at what I have in my motherboard, here is what I see:

https://millionthompson.com/images/memory01.PNG

https://millionthompson.com/images/memory02.PNG

https://millionthompson.com/images/memory03.PNG

https://millionthompson.com/images/memory04.PNG



I need some advice. I had thought that the memory cards had to be installed in the motherboard side-by-side. I see that this is not the case. Also, I don't want to buy two more cards and find that they are physically too long to fit. How do I determinne that I will buy the proper physical length? Also, and I constrainded to buy two more idenntical cards that have the same amount of memory?
 
just copy and paste your pics into the post here, no need for hosting it where ever that is...
first steps are to remove that crap antivirus and get your os up to date.
you have 16gb of ram, thats enough. you need to figure out whats actually going on.
 
I did not thought you had 16 gig seeing you were reaching above 90% ram usage without a Chrome many tabs situation, how much ram is dedicated to your virtual machine and is it active when you reach that 15 gig + cached ram usage ?

If you dedicate a lot of ram to the the VM I would easily consider jumping to 32 gig, it is a minimum for many work computer imo, I often go into not enough ram situation under 48 on mine. You can insert 2 similary rate (has close to possible, the same if you can find them at good price) stick in there yes.
 
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LukeTbk said:
I did not thought you had 16 gig seeing you were reaching above 90% ram usage with a Chrome many tabs situation, how much ram is dedicated to your virtual machine and is it active when you reach that 15 gig + cached ram usage ?

If you dedicate a lot of ram to the the VM I would easily consider jumping to 32 gig, it is a minimum for many work computer imo, I often go into not enough ram situation under 48 on mine. You can insert 2 similary rate (has close to possible, the same if you can find them at good price) stick in there yes.
Click to expand...
yup hes right^^^ missed the vm thing. youre going to need to either adjust how much youre giving them or add more. get as close as you can to the existing sticks and run all 4 at the lowest settings between the two.
 
I went ahead and took the leap and bought memory.

Will this work or should I return it? What do you think?


There are lots of reasons why the memory might not work. One reason repeated is that it is the wrong type of memory. I wanted to ask the fourm before I even try.


I appreciate any input, suggestion or advice. Here is the memory screenshot from before. Please tell me if more informatioin is necessary. https://millionthompson.com/images/Memory.PNG
 
Since it's DDR3 and it's what your motherboard is using, then it should be fine. Be aware though, that since they are mismatched sets of ram, they will run at whatever the slowest speed is. The new kit you have there is 1600 MHz, the screen shot shows as 1867 MHz for what's already there.
 
I would run a minimum of 32GB of ram if you're working with VMs. And because you are working with VMs, I would recommend changing the platform to something that can handle a lot more memory like a used workstation. The DDR3 ones are pretty cheap, but the single thread performance would be less unfortunately. However, you can get more cores and much more ram (and cheaper).

I like the HP workstations like the z420 and z600 which I have. These are stout machines built for lots of RAM, CPU, and storage. I discovered that with an e5-2630L in my z420, I was able to use 32GB LRDIMMs in mine for a total of a whopping 256GB of ram. You can also achieve this with the e5-2690 v1 (or any v1 processor I believe), but the v2s dropped LRDIMM support. Both v1 and v2 will still support regular RDIMMs and even with just 16GB modules you can still hit 128GB of ram. Plus with a processor like the 2690, you're doubling the number of cores over the 4690k and with hyperthreading even doubling that:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compar...-vs-Intel-Xeon-E5-2690/2342vs1212vs2284vs1223

The z600 is a real beast, sporting 2x cpu sockets. It's a bit older being an LGA1366 system, but that also makes it dirt cheap to load up with dual x5670 and 96GB of ram. This one can't use LRDIMMs or RDIMMs over 16GB, but it's cpu stout as you would have 12c/24t at your disposal:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compar...Intel-Xeon-X5670/2342vs1212vs2284vs1223vs1307

And these machines can be found cheap in the right places (or at least they were pre-pandemic). I spent less than $100/ea on mine. DDR3 ECC Reg memory is <$1/GB shipped, so you can load one of these up pretty easily to run circles around your current setup.

But if this is too extreme, I would consider just getting another system and loading it up with 32GB of ram and remoting into it (or the VMs). Then you basically have one system dedicated for VMs and shouldn't have issues anymore, even if you didn't change out realplayer.
 
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jerry8169 said:
Since it's DDR3 and it's what your motherboard is using, then it should be fine. Be aware though, that since they are mismatched sets of ram, they will run at whatever the slowest speed is. The new kit you have there is 1600 MHz, the screen shot shows as 1867 MHz for what's already there.
Click to expand...
I am going to return what I bought and get something better. Are these better options:

This is on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-Ripj...&sprefix=16gb+ddr3+desktop+kit,aps,88&sr=8-14

This is on NewEgg:
https://www.newegg.com/patriot-16gb-240-pin-ddr3-sdram/p/N82E16820220694
 
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Xarzu said:
I am going to return what I bought and get something better. Are these better options:

This is on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-Ripjaws-240-Pin-Desktop-F3-12800CL10D-16GBXL/dp/B0064DQR9U/ref=sr_1_14?crid=1HWHNZAV8PAHX&keywords=16gb+ddr3+desktop+kit&qid=1656538284&refinements=p_85:2470955011&rnid=2470954011&rps=1&sprefix=16gb+ddr3+desktop+kit,aps,88&sr=8-14

This is on NewEgg:
https://www.newegg.com/patriot-16gb-240-pin-ddr3-sdram/p/N82E16820220694
Click to expand...
DDR3 is fairly forgiving on mixing and matching, but it depends on the motherboard if everything will work as intended (as you've experienced). What I would do is get 2x of those Patriot sets as they should work well at 32GB and 1866Mhz. Trying to mix that with your existing 1866 set may not work well. Then you can keep your existing set as a backup or then start piecemealing a second system on the cheap around it (as often happens with orphaned components, lol).
 
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I don't remember the last time I added memory to my motherboard. And I do not know what specifics about my system you need to know in order to give me some advice.

Here is the problem in a nut shell. After I installed my memory, I powered on my computer and it would cycle between starting up and shutting down continuously. I don't know that to think. I don't know if there are some steps I am missing. The memory is brand new. Could the memory be faulty and I need to return it? Do I need to do something with the BIOS settings?
 
Xarzu said:
I don't remember the last time I added memory to my motherboard. And I do not know what specifics about my system you need to know in order to give me some advice.

Here is the problem in a nut shell. After I installed my memory, I powered on my computer and it would cycle between starting up and shutting down continuously. I don't know that to think. I don't know if there are some steps I am missing. The memory is brand new. Could the memory be faulty and I need to return it? Do I need to do something with the BIOS settings?
Click to expand...
Motherboard model number would probably be enough. It would be good to know the current bios version as well.

That's weird for sure. I would remove your original ram and see if just the new ram works. If it doesn't, definitely bad/incompatible ram.
 
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pendragon1 said:
just copy and paste your pics into the post here, no need for hosting it where ever that is...
first steps are to remove that crap antivirus and get your os up to date.
you have 16gb of ram, thats enough. you need to figure out whats actually going on.
Click to expand...
Yes, I am going to "start over". What sort of precautions and back ups do I need to do?
 
Xarzu said:
Yes, I am going to "start over". What sort of precautions and back ups do I need to do?
Click to expand...
Keep it off the internet until you've locked it down with reboot restorerx or timefreez. Then whatever comes down the pipe is wiped out with a reboot. If you ever have to update your saved state, turn it off, disconnect from the internet, create your new saved state, and then plug in the Internet again. Otherwise, you'll save bad stuff in your new image.

Use clonezilla and make an image of your set up system before you start using it or have it connected to the internet so you have a 'nuke from orbit' image that you can start from vs starting from scratch again.
 
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SamirD said:
Keep it off the internet until you've locked it down with reboot restorerx or timefreez. Then whatever comes down the pipe is wiped out with a reboot. If you ever have to update your saved state, turn it off, disconnect from the internet, create your new saved state, and then plug in the Internet again. Otherwise, you'll save bad stuff in your new image.

Use clonezilla and make an image of your set up system before you start using it or have it connected to the internet so you have a 'nuke from orbit' image that you can start from vs starting from scratch again.
Click to expand...
Excellent! Much thanks !!
This explains how to back up an image before starting over.
This might be a stupid question, but, what is the command to start over? Do I need to just have an ISO of windows 10 pro somewhere to boot from? I imagine if I do not have that lying around, I am going to have to buy it.
 
Xarzu said:
Excellent! Much thanks !!
This explains how to back up an image before starting over.
This might be a stupid question, but, what is the command to start over? Do I need to just have an ISO of windows 10 pro somewhere to boot from? I imagine if I do not have that lying around, I am going to have to buy it.
Click to expand...
You're welcome. Others may have a different or a better way of doing this, but this is what I will typically do.

To start over, you must wipe the drive. What I would do it boot up a parted magic live iso, delete all the partitions and wipe the boot record there. Then you can boot with a 10 pro install cd and start the process all over again. You can download the win 10 iso from microsoft I believe.

You will need to make sure you have all the other drivers you need too or have another system handy to download these and then copy them using a usb key or something else secure and clean to your new system. Remember, you want to set up your system and lock it down, and image it before you connect it to the Internet.
 
That seem a lot for someone without much computer knowledge/experience, a windows OS installed from a recent iso image will come with an updated OS and windows firewall/antivirus, which seem not bad to surf the relatively safe internet of official company website for drivers or your favorite AV alternatives.

Specially if your work on virtual machine after that on that machine.
 
Xarzu said:
Yes, I am going to "start over". What sort of precautions and back ups do I need to do?
Click to expand...
If it's just a standalone PC you're going to want to back up documents, photos, downloaded files (maybe), browser bookmarks and any work you need.
I used to install the OS, update and load programs and create an image (back in the days it was Ghost). Then if something got messed up it saved time. Running RAID0 with dozens of 15K drives, crazy high FSB, et al tends to make things turn inside out in a hurry. At least the important stuff was on shared folders on a stable platform! ;-).

In any case with nvme systems that boot faster than my cell phone, I don't even bother with the image creation.
 
LukeTbk said:
That seem a lot for someone without much computer knowledge/experience, a windows OS installed from a recent iso image will come with an updated OS and windows firewall/antivirus, which seem not bad to surf the relatively safe internet of official company website for drivers or your favorite AV alternatives.

Specially if your work on virtual machine after that on that machine.
Click to expand...
I try to make my machines bulletproof and then have a backup of that bulletproof setup in case something gets through. Has served me well as most systems live on as long as their hardware allows. But most people don't do it this way.
 
cpufrost said:
If it's just a standalone PC you're going to want to back up documents, photos, downloaded files (maybe), browser bookmarks and any work you need.
I used to install the OS, update and load programs and create an image (back in the days it was Ghost). Then if something got messed up it saved time. Running RAID0 with dozens of 15K drives, crazy high FSB, et al tends to make things turn inside out in a hurry. At least the important stuff was on shared folders on a stable platform! ;-).

In any case with nvme systems that boot faster than my cell phone, I don't even bother with the image creation.
Click to expand...
For me the image is to prevent having to do all the setup work again. Clonezilla was insprired by ghost and does basically the same thing except it's free and works on modern file systems too.
 
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