Usually lightning fast laptop now slow

[markgnarza]

This may get long, so bare with me:

I bought a laptop last September on craigslist (yeah, I know, but hear me out). It's an upgraded Dell Precision M4600, 8GB of RAM, Intel Core i7-2860QM CPU @ 2.5 GHz, an integrated Intel HD 3000 and a dedicated Nvidia Quadro 1000M, and a 256 GB Samsung Evo SSD (pretty sure, I know it's an SSD). Point being, this thing is a monster desktop replacement type laptop. It had Windows 10 originally, and I clean installed Windows 7 since I prefer it.

I play a few Steam games, use Adobe Premiere/Audition/Photoshop/Dreamweaver/etc, Rainmeter, and a lot of other rather intensive stuff without issue for the most part. Usually, I keep the laptop on the charger to provide for maximum speeds. If the computer is unplugged during usage or plugged in during usage (where it's usually plugged in/unplugged respectively), it slows down, so I always restart it if those things happen, and it works fine again. Whenever it was persistently slow (rather, slower than usual), I'd uninstall a program or two, clean the registry/broken shortcuts/browsers/startup/etc (I use Tuneup Utilities for that), and lately have been using CCleaner a bit here and there, and it'd be fine. I've found that the slow point for my laptop is having around 55GB free of 232GB. That leads me to now:

I've uninstalled multiple programs, including deactivating Rainmeter which is known for using a lot of CPU power, went through Tuneup's maintenance quite a few times, restarted constantly, performed a chkdsk, deleted a lot of files (currently at 76GB free), done just about everything I can think of, and it's still noticeably slower.

My main indicators for speed, I should mention, are how quickly my network window pops up after clicking (usually instant when computer is in its fast state) and if there's a delay in typing into the Chrome address bar. Right now, they both have a delay that are not in line with my standards for this machine. Any ideas that don't involve clean installing Windows 7 again? I'm willing to do that, since I have an external hard drive, but a bit apprehensive, of course.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Laptop_Nerd]

Hi,

Before you consider reinstalling Windows 7 again in your laptop, please do try these troubleshooting steps that may help.
- Start by doing a virus/malware scan. Use the link below for the complete guide and tools.
- http://www.tomsguide.com/faq/id-1691891/removing-malware-proven-completely-remove-bitcoin-mining-malware.html
- Once done, do observe your laptop again and see if it will still be slow or not.
- Next is to run Windows Update and install important updates.
- Do also make sure that all the drivers are up to date. (Network card, graphics card etc)
- Next to try is to adjust the PC to High Performance mode.
- Click Start then right click on Computer then select Properties.
- Once open, on the left pane click on "Advanced system settings".
- Under Performance click on Settings and select Adjust for best performance" then click Apply and OK.
- If all these will not work then proceed with reinstalling Windows 7.