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Why your Dell Laptop or Desktop Runs Slower Over Time and How to Speed It Up

Summary: The following article provides information about why Dell laptops and desktops may slow down over time and how you can fix this on your device.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Symptoms

Table of Contents:

  1. Laptop and Desktop Performance Issues
  2. Software
  3. Links to Install guides
  4. Memory

 

Laptop and Desktop Performance Issues

 

Software and Memory

This article covers reasons why your Dell laptop or desktop might have slowed down and some steps you can take to resolve this.

If your laptop or desktop stops responding, is unavailable, slowdowns, or has other performance issues go through the guide below before returning to this article:

Note: This article takes you through running the integrated computer diagnostics and the recommended troubleshooting guide and no issues are reported.

Every laptop and desktop works harder for the same results as the years pass. Commonly this happens a few years after its purchase. However, there are cases when the laptop or desktop slows after its only been in use for a few months.


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Cause

Why does this happen?

There are several causes. Every person who uses a laptop or desktop is using it for different tasks. The main answer is that it comes down to how the machine is used over time.

Note: Microsoft recommends an operating system reinstall before ever Major change. A Major change to a laptop or desktop can be anything from installing a new program to making a configuration change. This is not practical for most people.


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Software

 

Issues and Causes

What is the most common reason for you to notice a deterioration in performance? When you receive you brand new laptop, tablet, or desktop, it has a fresh image of an Operating System installed along with your programs. It comes from the factory like that and the image or build has been tested. Over time as you use the laptop or desktop, that image is altered and updated. The more often it is changed, the quicker you may start to see issues.

Everyone downloads and installs new programs, applications, updates, and drivers over time. You uninstall programs and applications that you feel are no longer required. The new files alter and change the old files, sometimes for the worse. Running the applications own uninstall utility never remove it fully, 100% of the time. They often leave parts of themselves behind. The operating system has to navigate these changes and dead ends to complete the jobs you set it.

While some of these changes are optional, others are mandatory for the operating system. Over time the software and files must change and this more often than not has a detrimental effect on the performance.

Over time you gather more information, programs, and data on your laptop or desktop. The larger the hard drive is and the larger the amount of data that you have on it, it affects its performance. Files on your hard drive are saved as small parts of the whole file. They are saved wherever there is space available on your hard drive. This means that every time that it searches for files, it has to search the whole of your drive and recombine them. Obviously the more it has to search through and the more parts there are to locate, the slower it is. This is why all manufacturers recommend you follow basic maintenance like running Defrag on your hard drive. It reorders the files on your drive to locate as many parts of a file as possible, and move them as close together as possible.

If you want to look into this further, look up the terms Defragment and Contiguous.

Another issue with the hard drive over time is that the more data your hard drive holds the less space is available. This free space is used for your Paging File. This is space that your laptop or desktop takes from the hard drive to create virtual memory space. It uses the virtual memory to help the Random Access Memory (RAM) in your device to operate. It allows the RAM to switch between programs more quickly. It is able to cache and pickup memory from the RAM onto the drive and then back to the RAM when needed. The way to avoid this is to ensure that your hard drive is never full. Remember and remove any unneeded data off your hard drive whenever possible when your backup runs.

Note: If you have a spinning hard drive, once they get older they start to slow down as they reach the end of life. All spinning hard drives die eventually. While it could be tomorrow, it is more likely to happen 5-10 years from now. It is the nature of their design as a mechanical part.

Another possible fix is to add a Solid State (SSD) hard drive into your laptop or desktop as your Boot drive. The Hard drive that your operating system boots and runs from. They have quicker read times and were not intended for the storage of large amounts of data, but larger sizes are becoming more common. 

Note: Defrag is not recommended on older SSDs as they tended to cause read errors.

There are special programs that identify applications that take up space on your hard drive. Some programs check for any processes or programs that are taking the device's resources. There are also special programs that check for dead or orphan files and unneeded entries in your Registry. These programs can be useful. Unfortunately, they are also well known for being spyware and for causing issues themselves, if you let them delete files without understanding what those files do. This can seriously affect your laptop or desktops stability and can cause boot issues.

Another software issue is the corruption of the data that your hard drive holds. If the corruption is bad enough, it affects how your laptop or desktop operates. A host of things can cause corruption. However, it is mostly problems in the operating system from updates, which are corrupted RAM data, static electricity, power surges. Or it is part of the normal operating system decomposition with age that everyone using Windows report.

We cannot ignore the fact that for most people, malware, and viruses contribute to a laptop or desktop slowing down. Dell products come with an anti-virus pre-installed, but it is up to you if you to configure and use it. Alternatively, get another program to use in its place. It is up to you how often you scan your laptop or desktop and how you behave when you are online.

The good news is that a clean install of your operating system and programs and drivers resolves all these software issues.


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Resolution

Links to install guides

 

You can find various guides for the various types of Microsoft Windows Operating System installs on the Link page below:


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Memory

 

Issues and Causes

The most common sign of memory issues is for the operating system to report multiple memory errors. (For example: Memory overflow or not enough memory.) Not having sufficient RAM in your laptop or desktop causes your hard drive to try to compensate for it. It constantly seeks more RAM, taking away resources from other tasks. If you are constantly getting memory errors, but the memory is passing all the diagnostics. You may be required to add larger memory modules to your device. Any laptops or desktops that are in common use update and go through development. Programs become more resource hungry. The amount of RAM that worked fine in Windows XP, does not work in Windows 11 when it is put under any kind of stress.

Note: Computers that sold with Windows XP had 2 GB of RAM which was considered the optimum amount at the time. The amount of RAM increases with each operating system that is released. Windows 11 devices ship with between 8 GB, 16 GB, and 32 GB depending on if you bought an entry, standard, or high level product.
 
Note: Adding memory is usually the most cost-effective way to get a longer operating life out of an older personal computer. A 32-bit operating system can only have a maximum of 4 GB, while a 64-bit operating system can have up to 16 GB. Newer 64-bit operating systems such as Windows 11 can reference a maximum of 64 GB.
 
Note: Microsoft advises the following:
  • As of April 08, 2014, Microsoft no longer supports Microsoft Windows XP in all its revisions.
  • As of April 11, 2017, Microsoft no longer supports Microsoft Windows Vista in all its revisions.
  • As of January 14, 2020, Microsoft no longer supports Microsoft Windows 7 in all its revisions.
  • As of January 12, 2016, Microsoft no longer supports Microsoft Windows 8 in all its revisions.
  • As of January 10, 2023, Microsoft no longer supports Microsoft Windows 8.1 in all its revisions.


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Affected Products

Alienware, Inspiron, G Series, G Series, Alienware, Inspiron, Latitude, Latitude Tablets, Fixed Workstations, Mobile Workstations

Products

Legacy Desktop Models, OptiPlex, Vostro, XPS, Vostro, XPS, Legacy Laptop Models, Venue, XPS Tablets
Article Properties
Article Number: 000131445
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 26 Jan 2024
Version:  7
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