My laptop goes super slow time to time again for no apparent reason

I have Windows 8.1 OS installed on my HP 6530b Notebook PC. For the past few days, it is behaving in a quite weird manner. It slows down for a while even when there is no user application running on it, and then gets back to its normal speed. Specially when I'm playing a video on either Windows Media Player or VLC, it slows down after the first 25-30 seconds of the video. Plus, the sound also disappears from the video. Whenever it slows down, its screen seems to get "pixilated"; as if there are uniform little holes on the screen. This has started to happen after I installed the recently released update by Microsoft for Windows 8.1. What could be the problem, and what can I do to bring my laptop's performance back to normal?

Abbas

Posted 2014-04-19T13:27:22.433

Reputation: 41

Your notebook doesn't officially support anything past Windows 7, which means you have to rely either on the Microsoft-provided drivers or the generic drives released by manufactures, which might not be fully compatible with your specific hardware. If you want to try using Windows 8.x anyway, you should open the Device Manager, select e.g. the graphic card device, and open the Properties dialog. Then select to the Driver tab, and post here the driver version/release date. Switch to the Details tab, and post here the hardware ID. Repeat the previous steps for the audio card, etc. – and31415 – 2014-04-20T14:50:53.843

Thanks, @and31415. I just needed to update my drivers, 19 of which were outdated. – Abbas – 2014-04-20T15:54:44.193

Answers

-1

Try to use the latest versions for your drivers, since your OS is a newer one. There are many free softwares to update your drivers like 'Driver Booster' and 'DriverMax'.

TomJ

Posted 2014-04-19T13:27:22.433

Reputation: 713

1Driver updater programs are worthless/scammy at best, and harmful at worst. – and31415 – 2014-04-19T18:17:32.903

@and31415 I don't agree to that. I have no bad experience with the above 2 softwares. – TomJ – 2014-04-20T13:52:44.753

@Tom I just did as you said and I gotta say, it worked like a charm! Thank you. – Abbas – 2014-04-20T15:51:51.373

@and31415 Hey, see what Abbas said. – TomJ – 2014-04-20T16:56:29.250

From what I can read on the internet, the notebook you have might not have Windows 8/8.1 fully compatible drivers. If it worked fine with Windows 8.1 and only started experiencing issues after upgrading to Windows 8.1 Update, try removing your video card driver completely and reinstall it. Make sure to thoroughly clean up the driver components with a program like DriverSweeper (http://www.guru3d.com/content_page/guru3d_driver_sweeper.html).

TheMegaTroll

Posted 2014-04-19T13:27:22.433

Reputation: 11

That was exactly the problem! – Abbas – 2014-04-20T15:50:08.243

Glad I could be of help, Abbas :) – TheMegaTroll – 2014-04-21T18:51:36.790