Solved! Fairly Modern Computer Too Slow For YouTube.

[Kewrock]

HP Model 110-014 Desktop Series, AMD E1-1500 Chip, 4GB Ram, Win10, Manufactured 2014
Hello Forum.
I recently bought a used computer from the Lupus Foundation thrift store. Upon starting it, it was uselessly slow. The previous owner was apparently an elderly woman, who upon a google search died in December. All she had in it were a couple hundred photos and a receipt for a cruise five years ago. I didn't see any added programs, adware or viruses that would slow it down so bad. I reset it to factory new, wiping everything but the OS using the built-in partition reset feature. I let it do all it's updates, and now it is still uselessly slow. Opening folders is delayed. Opening local photos focus in stages until clear, surfing the web with Firefox is brutal. Webpages load one box at a time. Youtube is juttery in 480p and frozen at 720 or 1080. I tried all the "Tune-up" tips on YT to no success. It's so useless, I'm not even comfortable dumping it on Craigslist for someone else.
I'm not familiar with Win10. So maybe I'm not understanding something in settings. I was going to install Win7, because I know it like the back of my hand. So if it's a setting, I would definitely figure it out. But I would really like to try out Win10. I know the AMD E1 chip is a piece of crap. But it's still a modern computer. I'm not gaming, I'm just looking to open local folders and surf the web. Could it be THAT weak?

 

[bignastyid]

It was junk 7 years(model released in 2013) ago when it was new, and it hasn't aged well. But i'd say the biggest issue is 4gb of ram and a HDD. Check your ram usage. you may want to consider a ram upgrade along with an SSD if you want to put any money into the system.

 

[AlHuneke]

I agree with the prior assessment in terms of an SSD and 4 more GB of RAM. I hope you did a complete Win10 reinstall (the option to NOT save files). I don't know what you mean by a partition reset, I'm sure you are well aware that Win7 is near EOL. I hated Win10 at first but would not go back to 7 now. There are some weird quirks for a "tweaker" but you'll get used to them. I have an old HP desktop from about that era. No speed queen but usable for the apps you mention. At least if you can't get the speed to a decent point, you can likely transfer the RAM and SSD to a newer old machine.

One thing I dislike is how MS keeps moving toward owning you. Some things (like tying to a MS account you can work around, but eventually MS seems to figure out who you are.

 

[Kewrock]

It was junk 7 years(model released in 2013) ago when it was new, and it hasn't aged well. But i'd say the biggest issue is 4gb of ram and a HDD. Check your ram usage. you may want to consider a ram upgrade along with an SSD if you want to put any money into the system.

4gb and a standard HHD should be fine for what I do. The computer I was going to replace is a Gateway NV59 with the first gen i5 chip and 4gb ram. I guess its about 11 or 12 years old now and runs 24/7 permanently connected to my TV. I feel that with so many hours on it, it's probably on borrowed time. It still runs flawlessly as a media player for YouTube, Netflix, MKV files and so on. I also watch cable through it, and use it as a general web browser. Thats why I was shocked at how useless a machine half its age was.

 

[Kewrock]

I agree with the prior assessment in terms of an SSD and 4 more GB of RAM. I hope you did a complete Win10 reinstall (the option to NOT save files). I don't know what you mean by a partition reset, I'm sure you are well aware that Win7 is near EOL. I hated Win10 at first but would not go back to 7 now. There are some weird quirks for a "tweaker" but you'll get used to them. I have an old HP desktop from about that era. No speed queen but usable for the apps you mention. At least if you can't get the speed to a decent point, you can likely transfer the RAM and SSD to a newer old machine.

One thing I dislike is how MS keeps moving toward owning you. Some things (like tying to a MS account you can work around, but eventually MS seems to figure out who you are.

I did a factory reset. It has a partition with an unaltered copy of windows and HP's drivers. Bloatware and user's programs are deleted, along with user's personal files and folders. There is an option to have a list of deleted programs and a folder on the desktop with all your documents, music, pictures and so-on.
Afaik, all store bought computers have this, going back to XP.

 

[hang-the-9]

4gb and a standard HHD should be fine for what I do. The computer I was going to replace is a Gateway NV59 with the first gen i5 chip and 4gb ram. I guess its about 11 or 12 years old now and runs 24/7 permanently connected to my TV. I feel that with so many hours on it, it's probably on borrowed time. It still runs flawlessly as a media player for YouTube, Netflix, MKV files and so on. I also watch cable through it, and use it as a general web browser. Thats why I was shocked at how useless a machine half its age was.

A first generation i5 CPU is double the speed or more of the AMD E1 CPU. Plus a standard drive will be slow to load and may be filled with errors which will make it run slow.

 

[doctoordave77]

A first generation i5 CPU is double the speed or more of the AMD E1 CPU. Plus a standard drive will be slow to load and may be filled with errors which will make it run slow.

There's another issue with that system, as yet undefined, Kewie. I owned a Lenovo with an E1 chip, and it browsed, youtubed and displayed photos relatively quickly. Although an SSD would improve its response no end, there's something else that's slowing your system down.

As Hang-the-9 correctly states, any generation of an I5 CPU (even #1) will run rings around an E1. They weren't designed to be competitors. AMD's "competing" chip would've been an A6, A8, A10 with an integrated Radeon GPU. It ain't Windows 10 either, Kewrock.

I'd take a long hard look at Task Manager and see what's maxing out resources. Is the disk at 100% usage? That'd be my first guess, but see whatever else is at 100% or in the high 90's. You'll be able to see the CPU, Memory, Disk and Wifi usage. Dollars to donuts there's something that'll show up there. Maybe you've got some mismatched or failed memory, or a disk issue, or a low speed/dropping connection?

Good luck, Kewie. Does Firefox run with multiple streams for every tab? If so, it maybe chewing up your memory - it'd show up on Task Manager. Your Memory usage would be flatlining at 100% if it's that. If so, you should download another simpler single threaded browser. For instance, it would show up as Firefox (22), as in 22 threads of the program are using up resources in the background.

I'm currently using Brave, a Chrome based browser, and it shows Brave Browser (26), with 77% of my 4 g memory being used. Not a problem for me since this laptop has a Ryzen 3200 U CPU and it keeps up with any standard day-to-day process despite the low total memory.

 

[doctoordave77]

What security program are you using, Kewrock? Windows Defender would just kill my E1 laptop at times. Whenever it decides it needs to update itself, or run a scan. It's a real hog. Again, You'll see it on Task Manager using up all the resources. You just click on the CPU column, so it lists the programs which are using the highest %. Same for any of the other columns. You may know all this already, I'm just covering the bases, not implying gross ignorance or anything.