Computer Clean up tool

[jim584672]

Bleachbit is a good app to clean up your browser and system junk files.

https://www.bleachbit.org/

 

[USGrant1962]

Bleachbit is a good app to clean up your browser and system junk files.

https://www.bleachbit.org/

Like with a cloth or something?

 

[OldShooter]

I mentioned Edge as a potential issue in post #5. Here is some more information: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-stop-microsoft-edge-from-hogging-system-resource-1849680959 Short version is that even if it's not running it can still be a problem.

Re FF, I have been using it for as long as I can remember. I have Ghostery and AdblockPlus installed. Once in a while I do get a page hang. More often a video player that gets unnecessarily blocked. In those cases I just paste the URL into Edge, which almost always works. Sometimes I just disable Ghostery and AdblockPlus to solve the problem, but it is quicker to just jump to Edge.

 

[target2019]

Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice.

Users do things cause a friend told them so. It's like lemmings.

How old is the computer? What is the processor? Is the dirve SSD? How much built-in RAM?

For sure its like me OLD. Maybe the year to upgrade. Its a Dell inspiron 3650 with a intel i5-6400 with 12 ddr ram and 202 GB used and 715 GB free. For sure the next one will have a SSD HD. I just hate moving everything.

I have similar Dell specs as you, and decided earlier in the year to swap out the old drive for 1 TB SSD, and also maxed out memory.

Prior to doing this I backed up, of course. I also removed anti-virus software and just made sure Windows Defender was re-enabled.

It's up to you, and what you're comfortable doing. It took about a half-day to take my time and make sure I was following the correct procedures for the disk swap.

 

[OldShooter]

I have similar Dell specs as you, and decided earlier in the year to swap out the old drive for 1 TB SSD, and also maxed out memory.

Prior to doing this I backed up, of course. I also removed anti-virus software and just made sure Windows Defender was re-enabled.

It's up to you, and what you're comfortable doing. It took about a half-day to take my time and make sure I was following the correct procedures for the disk swap.

We are mixing up a couple of different things here. First, the OP spoke of his computer starting to run slow. This points to software issues of various types. The usuall suspects include a bloated startup file and new versions of application programs that run more slowly than previous versions. (NB, Microsoft was a master at this since most Windows sales were associated with new computers. So they just made the apps into memory hogs that run slower and slower until the users were forced to buy faster machines.)

The second thing, maybe most of the posts is hardware ideas for the OP to speed up his machine. Most prominently SSDs. Nothing wrong with that and probably a good plan, but those suggestions do not address the problem in the OP. They are simply workarounds that do nothing to address his "my machine is slowing down" problem.

Ideally, probably, is that the OP gets his current machine running better and does some judicious hardware upgrades.

 

[Bruno]

We are mixing up a couple of different things here. First, the OP spoke of his computer starting to run slow. This points to software issues of various types. The usuall suspects include a bloated startup file and new versions of application programs that run more slowly than previous versions.

I ran Glary 5 a free program and its running better. most of it was junk and Temp files. Like most posts they get off rail but to me i have got some ideas about upgrading. I was thinking the SSD helped more for faster startups but i have disabled a lot of my startup items but there is so much always running i dont know what is safe to get rid of. Thanks for ALL the input.

 

[Golden sunsets]

I wouldn't use Internet Explorer as that is obsolete.

I've had times recently when Firefox not working, to use Edge and that seems to work fine. So if you don't care about Microsoft wanting you nudge you to use Edge as default, I'd give the nod to Edge.

For me with Firefox, I've had times where pages don't seem to load or hangs. I'd turn off the add ons, then back on then that temporarily resolves the problem only to happen again weeks down the road.

I don't really know! This hasn't yet happened to me. I use Microsoft Edge and Windows 11, version 22H2. I install updates immediately whenever any update is available.

I tried using Edge today and so far so good. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[W2R]

I tried using Edge today and so far so good. Thanks for the suggestion.

Good! Glad to hear it.

 

[gauss]

I don't want to horn in on a thread that isn't about my issue, but I think my recent experience might qualify.

I'm fairly certain the age and capacity of my computer is not the issue and I believe it is SSD. What has been happening to me increasingly is a page, usually a bank, won't fully load. It looks abbreviated and is essentially useless. Sometimes it's a retailer website, with lots of potential items to buy, that won't entirely load.

I've tried emptying the browser history, cookies, cache and it works better again for a day or two, but then exhibits the same symptoms. Any thoughts on the cause and a solution?

Maybe run a RAM test?