Hi guys

I have a Acer Aspire laptop, which I bought about 6 years ago.

When I got an imac, I gave the laptop to my daughter.

However its now running at nearly maximum cpu all the time and physical memory is about 50%

Its very slow, and somewhat annoying to say the least, with the fan constantly on.

When I bought it, it was pretty well specced, but obviously now its a bit of a dinosaur.

However, there is nothing wrong with it apart from the problems ive mentioned, so im loathe to just bin it in favour of a new one.

Ive just downloaded some free anti virus software and installed 35 updates so its pretty much all I can do to get it to its best atm

My question is, would buying some more ram help with the cpu usage and make the thing usable?

I think there are two more slots from bits ive read, but not clued up on these things.

FYI the spec as it is currently is:- (hope it makes more sense to you)

Acer Aspire 5920G

Core 2 Duo T7300 (2Ghz, 800 Mhz FSB, 4MB L2 cache)

1024 MB Navidia GeForce 8600M GT Turbocache

2 GB DDR2

160 GB HDD

802.11 WLAN

Bluetooth

Subwoofer

It really is mint condition, so hopefully you can advise me how to sort out this problem with the CPU usage

TIA

Damo

clear out all and save any pics, music, videos etc. Do a complete disk cleanup etc. Uninstall any unused/ unwanted software. Download and run Mbam and CCleaner.

Delete all temp internet files, cookies, custard creams and Oreos history etc. Download the latest FF and get the add-on AdBlockplus or Opera browser and AdBlockplus for Opera.

Use the crucial RAM detector tool at www.crucial.com

 

Win Vista/ 7 32bit will only see and use 3.5Gb RAM so a 2X 2Gb kit will be good.

If it's running at maximum CPU then you might have a virus/malware running...

 

Download this: https://www.malwarebytes.org/free/ and run it. If it finds anything, it will delete it. If it can't delete it, copy and paste the output log here so it can be analyzed.

 

Buying some new RAM will definatly help but your need to find out what RAM is compatible with those specs.

Edited 29 May, 201412 yr by Forrepell

Could also depends wot u running when it Max the CPU?

 

That's a pretty good spec with own graphic card to Max unless lots of I/O like copying CDS/vids?

 

Also, try propping up the laptop to air it more in case CPU overheating.

 

Else as mentioned by others do a housekeep of software, adware etc etc

Last resort up the RAM....

buy a cheapish ssd. install linux, pick a friendly xbuntu, should install fine. pop the old drive into a caddy to get the files off it, once done you have a backup drive too.

 

The ssd will help alleviate disk wait time and really will let it feel like a new machine. 2gb of ram is ok, just... coupled with the reduced wait on opening applications etc, you can afford to close and open more programs.

 

That said it's an old machine and some of the cheapest chromebooks are an equivalent spec. Can give you a demo when you get these tyres

just re-install windows, blow away the old version. start from scratch.

 

yes, backup ALL your information first.

 

put 2 more GB of RAM in it, will run nicely. will probably have only 1 spare slot, 2 in total. maximum on that chipset is probably 8GB. but 4 would be more cost effective.

 

Its no slouch of a machine, if all its for is web browsing and school work.

 

then, get an anti-virus program. for me, I used to use Avast. They have a free version for home use.

I have just switched to Avast from AVG this week actually (although reading about their security breach a bit back is worrying!)

Its only for web and school work for her, but just want it running better.

im going to dl that malware checker, and use that ram detector

Colin, that sounds like a plan

Thanks for all the advice everyone, will try these suggestions and report back

If she has been running it without an AV program and/or firewall, expect Malwarebytes to find viri by the thousand; you will need to reboot into "Safe Mode" to get all of it detected though.

 

MINIMUM security these days is :-

 

An active AV like AVAST!

Malwarebytes and Spybot updated and run weekly

A firewall (ZoneAlarm is easy to use).

A browser such as FireFox that runs addons that allow you to disable active scripts (I use NoScript) - avoid IE like the plague. I also find "Flagfox" addon useful; it can indicate if you have been diverted from the website you were intending to visit - to a dodgy clone hosted in Russia or Lithuania.

 

 

BTW, it was only the Forums that were hacked at AVAST; they are currently rewriting the forums using a different platform because they say they cannot fix the security holes in the old software.

had very similar issue cpu was always at 100% and fan always on no matter what i did. but i done a google search and alot of ppl suggested windows security scanner was scanning all my files everytime i started the laptop. so i dissabled the windows security and installed avast antivirus and its been running fine ever since.

If you don't know what you're doing, then you're not going to get it cleaned up completely.

If you do know what you're doing, then you know you will spend 10x as long trying to clean it up as it would take to nuke and copy files back on.

In other words, as above, new harddrive, install fresh windows, plus antivirus, then copy the files you want back off your old disk.

Extra ram (max 4), ssd and a good cleaning of the fan could help (get all the dust out off the inside).

But beware, dont just pressure blast the fan without holding it. (it could produce current when turning)

100% usage does seem like it could be a virtual currency mining program. Go into task manager and have a look what programs are using the CPU power.

Okay, its really annoying me now.

Installed avast and malwarebytes which found 1404 files that were dodgy

The main ones were sweetIM and wajam, which no matter what I did it wouldn't let me remove them

So fed up, im just restoring everything back to factory

When its done I will reinstall avast, malwarebytes, zonealarm and firefox

Hope this sorts it, or it might end up hurtling out the patio door at a great rate of knots!

Flippin computers do my head in

sweet IM is one of those smiley apps for MSN I think lol

 

TBH Damo, I just use Windows firewall and MSE and never had a problem. Malwarebytes does a full scan including rootkit one a fortnight and has only once or twice found anything. MSE is pretty unobtrusive too.

 

I bet you found a ****load of browser extensions, toolbars and search providers too eh?

Yes Lee loads.

So update...

Wiped everything and restarted.

Installed Avast, Malwarebytes, Firefox with add ons noscript, Adblock and flagfox

Cant install zonealarm firewall as it says it doesnt support my OS.

Any other recommendations?

My daughter too had an ACER laptop, after 12 months it always ran hot with the fan permanently flat-out.

It finally gave-up the ghost but repair man fixed it, but said ACER laptops in general after a time, start to run hot, then die..

Oh dear...

 

That doesn't sound promising :(

Cant install zonealarm firewall as it says it doesnt support my OS.

 

 

Just use Windows Firewall. If you're connecting to the internet via a router with a NAT, (as most have) it'll be pretty redundant anyhow.

Just use Windows Firewall. If you're connecting to the internet via a router with a NAT, (as most have) it'll be pretty redundant anyhow.

 

Yes I will just have to I guess

 

BTW, your website pics are stunning!  :clap:

Yes I will just have to I guess

 

BTW, your website pics are stunning!  :clap:

 

Thank you! 

You haven't got one of these laptops with Speedstep in the BIOS ?. If this is enabled in " Maximum Performance" , then the fan is always on and CPU and disk activity will be higher.

 

Best way of seeing what's happening in Windows is to run the performance index benchmarking tool and the system health diagnostic. This shows up enduring errors and performance bottlenecks. Taking a look at the system error logs is useful.

 

I did this with my 12 year old year old Packard Bell laptop which was getting very "Laggy" and it immediately showed-up that the embedded graphics was a bottleneck (Disk performance was 5.9 (I recently replaced the HD with an SSD), whereas graphics was 1.0 - hence overall performance pulled down to 1) and that there was excessive disk activity).

 

In response to this I did a disk clean and installed Ready Boost on an external USB stick (Because on board memory is limited to 1GB) and that much improved the responses (Disk usuage was much reduced).

 

The next job, I want to do is to purge the disk of tracking cookies etc (I think I'm free of viruses and malware because of the Net protection software provided by my ISP  on the front end of my account). I know Amazon, are a right bugger with cookies and, I believe, they also sell on this info to third parties.

 

Nick

 

 

Firefox settings > Privacy Under 'Tracking' higlight 'Tell websites I do NOT want to be tracked'

Perhaps pick-up a cheap laptop c/o E-Bay?

Perhaps one running the old Windows XP with a single processor, slow but gets there.

Just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread

Done all your suggestions after a complete wipe, and everything is running great now

Cheers everyone