Slow Windows 7 computer - Is Refresh Your PC an option?

[jmt356]

I have a very slow computer running Windows 7.

I have tried several fixes to speed it up:
- Reboot
- Disable background programs
- Delete temp files
- Free hard drive space

It still remains very slow.

I have noticed on my Window 8 machine that there is an option to Refresh Your PC. I wonder if running that would speed up my Windows 7 machine. However, I could not find it on the Windows 7 machine. Is Refresh Your PC an option in Windows 7?

[Rudi]

Refresh and Reset was introduced with Windows 8. All you have with Windows 7 is System Restore or reinstall Windows.

As for the slow PC, there are a few more things you can try over and above the list you provided:

- Run ScanDisk and do a deep Defrag of the hard drive
- Run antivirus and malware scans to ensure it is infected
- Use Task manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) to check if any background programs are hogging memory and/or CPU processing
- Run performance diagnostics on your hard drive to ensure it is running optimally.
- Your hard drive could be failing
- Ensure you have the latest updates and drivers for the system

[stuck]

I have a very slow computer running Windows 7.

That statement can be read two ways:
1) the computer is very slow, meaning it has a low clock speed CPU and/or only 1Gb RAM
2) the computer has a decent CPU and at least 4GB of RAM but it runs Win 7 at a snails space

The sort of fixes you've tried and Rudi suggests, stand good chance of curing situation 2) but if in fact the problem is situation 1) then the only cure is to NOT run Win 7. Win XP would probably work fine but I can imagine you'd rather not go back to that. Alternatively you could install a 'lite' version of Linux like Mint XFCE. If you search The Lounge you find threads about installing this this OS on very old hardware.

Ken

[viking33]

Refresh and Reset was introduced with Windows 8. All you have with Windows 7 is System Restore or reinstall Windows.

As for the slow PC, there are a few more things you can try over and above the list you provided:

- Run ScanDisk and do a deep Defrag of the hard drive
- Run antivirus and malware scans to ensure it is infected
- Use Task manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) to check if any background programs are hogging memory and/or CPU processing
- Run performance diagnostics on your hard drive to ensure it is running optimally.
- Your hard drive could be failing
- Ensure you have the latest updates and drivers for the system

Just a slight correction to Rudi's post.
- Run antivirus and malware scans to ensure it is NOT infected.

[Rudi]

The power of a 3 letter word!