HP All-in-One running EXTREMELY slow!

[UXRAX]

RAM: 4gb

Free Space: 300+gb

Antivirus: Avast Antivirus

Java: Latest

Firefox: Latest

Defrag: 3-5 times a week

Virus Scan: At least weekly

Issue: I keep running into the same issues: when I try to run programs like Discord, Firefox, Chrome, or any of those other things, I find the computer to be lagging very badly. When a browser opens, it may take 5-20 secons for the page to even load (even a basic page like the Google/Firefox search bar), and I sometimes have to click it, watch the window fade out for a few seconds, then come back loaded.

When I type into programs like Discord, my letters only appear about 1-2 seconds after I type them (letter by letter), or each word appears at a rate of 1 word per 1-2 seconds (my typing speed is about 118wpm).

When I run World of Warcraft, or play a number of games (apps) from the Windows Store, it runs pretty smooth, and I get minimal performance issues. However, I cannot open up Discord, nor a browser window while I'm doing it (which sometimes is necessary), and I struggle to open either when I'm not also playing a game.

This computer was purchased, came straight out of the box, from Target. It wasn't purchased used (to my knowledge), and I have done a lot of uninstalling of programs that came with it, but that were unwanted. Despite finding ApplicationFramehost.exe occasionally squatting in my Task Manager (not seeming to take up a lot of RAM, but still somehow lagging my computer and running ghost apps I didn't open), I'm surprised to find that running Firefox, or Minecraft, is causing so many issues.

Do we think it might be my RAM? My graphics don't seem to be a huge issue, since I can play with Medium/Medium-high settings on World of Warcraft, Minecraft (Bedrock Edition), AdventureQuest 3D, etc.  My internet speeds are where they should be, it just feels like my computer is straining and straining just to run any browser, any instant messaging program, etc.

Help, please! 🙂

[WAWood]

@UXRAX

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

One thing  I noticed about your problems -- All involve the Internet: Discord, Firefox, Chrome all involve using the Internet and their performance is going to depend critically on the service coming from your ISP.

I recently had ALL my Internet functionality grind to a near halt -- in that, instead of it taking a few seconds (at most) to open a page, it took nearly a full minute!  I went to my local ISP (who claime their provided Router was NOW obsolete!) and swapped out my OLD router for a new model, took that home, hooked it up -- and encountered the same problems.  So, after spending most of the afternoon on the phone with their tech support (and getting nowhere), I schedule a tech visit for later in the week.

Then, the next morning, when I went to check my email and some websites -- like a MIRACLE(!) -- the Browser and Internet speeds were back.

I have run into this before where my ISP was apparently throttling my network performance but, once I complained to them, it suddenly VANISHED.  Of course, they have denied it, every time.

Search for and run ookla speedtest and see what numbers you get for download and upload.

So, I would contact your ISP and complain bitterly about your Internet performance.

[mdklassen]

> I cannot open up Discord, nor a browser window while I'm doing it (which sometimes is necessary), and I struggle to open either when I'm not also playing a game.

All those actions involve your disk-drive.

Experiment: disconnect from the Internet, and then try to open a browser window, or to open Discord.

If the speed (or lack of it) is the same, then your Internet connection (and speed) is not the cause of your symptoms.

Instead:

1. Shutdown your computer.
2. Power-on your computer.
3. Immediately and repeatedly tap the ESC key, until you see a menu.
4. From the menu, launch the HP Hardware Diagnostics.
5. Select the "short" test for RAM. You should get a "pass" report.
6. Select the disk-drive tests.  Tell us if you get a "fail" report.

My thought is that your disk-drive is in "imminent failure" status, and is having great difficulties reading the Discord program from your disk-drive.  So, the elapsed time to read all the blocks holding pieces of Discord is 10 to 1000 times longer than "normal", as you have observed.

How old is the disk-drive?  When did you purchase the computer?

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[WAWood]

@UXRAX

Yes, those all involve using your disk drive -- but then, so does World of Warcraft -- which you said works fine, mentioning nothing about having problems launching it.

So, if your drive was failing, I would expect general slowdowns and problems launching all your apps, not just the ones that connect to the Internet.

[mdklassen]

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@WAWood wrote:

@UXRAX

Yes, those all involve using your disk drive -- but then, so does World of Warcraft -- which you said works fine, mentioning nothing about having problems launching it. So, if your drive was failing, I would expect general slowdowns and problems launching all your apps, not just the ones that connect to the Internet.

---

Experiment: take a chalkboard in a school-room that your grandparents attended.

Brush some butter on one-quarter of it.

Note that you will have difficulty using chalk to read/write on one-quarter of the board, while the other three-quarters are unaffected.

It's possible that the software for W.O.W. is stored on the "good" three-quarters of your disk-drive, while some of the "critical" Windows system files, and some of your applications, are stored on the "bad" one-quarter of your disk-drive.

Disconnecting from the Internet is an "experiment" -- to prove/disprove that the Internet is the cause of the symptoms.

If disconnecting makes no difference, then you have made some progress in your trouble-shooting.