What is causing computer to lag? Older machine, SSD, Win7

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I just upgraded an old Dell Vostro 1400 from XP to Win 7 64-bit, and it's running much slower than I anticipated. Can anyone help me with ideas why this would be the case? Here are the details:

Core 2 Duo T7250 2.0 GHz proc

4 GB RAM

Crucial 200 GB SSD (System, programs, dropbox folder)

100 GB HDD (documents, music, videos)

The Windows experience index for the proc is 2.3, RAM 2.8, graphics 3.5, so on the low end.

Many windows services are disabled, such as media features. Lots of Windows 7 Aero effects are disabled. SSD is optimized as outlined here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

Specifically, the CPU is always maxed out for a while after startup, but no one process seems to be using too much memory. Chrome is also loading very slowly, even with only Gmail and Evernote tabs open. I have disabled as many Gmail Labs as possible, and also disabled most Chrome extensions for now, but no improvement.

Any help? Thanks!

DubiousLenovo

Posted 2013-11-04T05:29:20.277

Reputation: 63

How full your SSD is? Is it close to 100% usage? – mvp – 2013-11-04T05:32:37.857

Check RAM usage, it is probably swapping – Paul – 2013-11-04T05:34:43.767

It also could be NVidia card issue. I had similar failure with old HP laptop - video card started to overheat, it caused system to run extremely slow. – mvp – 2013-11-04T05:41:26.103

Check the CPU temperature. Thermal throttling due to dust or fan failure is a definite possibility. – David Schwartz – 2013-11-04T05:57:09.207

Thanks all for your input. The SSD is less than half full. @Paul, I think the pagefile is set to 512MB; how would I check if programs are swapping out of RAM? The computer has only on-board graphics. I will check the CPU temperature but I don't think that's the problem as I cleaned the fan and put new grease on the heatsink when I put in the new SSD. Thanks! – DubiousLenovo – 2013-11-06T08:45:34.047

capture a boot trace and upload it: http://pastebin.com/CYGqRZXE

– magicandre1981 – 2013-11-07T04:53:20.940

@magicandre1981 Thanks very much for the tool. The symptoms have magically disappeared after hanging around for a few days ... if they come back I'll start with a boot trace. – DubiousLenovo – 2013-11-07T14:27:41.397

No answers