Why does my laptop suddenly starts to lag once I open my browser_

Question

I got this laptop about 4 years ago, it's a VIT ( Venezuelan Government Computer Company ) Laptop.

It has 2GB of RAM, an Intel Core2 Duo. It started with a Windows Vista, then changed it to WIndows XP, then to Windows 7, later, Windows 8 and about 2 days ago I reinstalled Windows 7 ( Because of the viruses it had and I really didn't like Windows 8).

Once I installed it and Google Chrome, it started using my RAM completely, lagging my computer a lot.

I thought it was just because the new operating system was fixing up a bit. I installed Winrar, Mcafee Security and CCleaner. And it still lags. I changed to Firefox and installed Java Script. At first, it was running really fast, but, then the lagging started again.

Does the lagging have to do with all the changes of Operating Systems? Or am I missing some software I have to install? ( I'd also like to know what software I might need for this new computer, like, Java, Adobe Flash Player, etc ). Does it have to do with a Virus that my previous OP had that slowed completely my computer?

Answer 1

I would see about increasing the RAM. 2 GB isn't really that much RAM anymore. It may have been fine when you bought it, but due to regular updates and the constantly increasing size of antivirus definitions, your computer will gradually get slower even if you don't install any more software. If you're brave, you can temporarily disable your antivirus to see if it improves.

Compare it to a comparably equipped computer and see if the performance is similar. I have an older 2GB desktop computer running Vista, and it takes a very long time to boot. The hardware and software test out OK, but it's trying to use more RAM than is available, causing it to spend a lot of time accessing the swap file on the disk. It used to be much more responsive, but its tasks have gotten more demanding over time.