Windows 10 problems
 

A few days ago my W10 PC started to ask for a password during boot up.
It said that I had used the wrong one and would I kindly use the correct one, or words to that effect.

I have two Hotmail accounts set up and it is obviously trying to use the wrong one.
I've never had to go through this process before, presumably having set up the system at some point to avoid the chore of signing on.

To add further arse ache (sorry) I find that Windows has slowed to the speed of an arthritic snail on crutches.
Firefox, my default browser, takes forever to appear and both IE and Edge aren't much better.

Anyone else experiencing similar woes?

PS Using my superannuated iPad to post this.

I ran from Win10 like it was a pregnant girlfriend. I got nothing.

What system do you use, Grav?

I started with a bare bones PC, added drives (various), graphics card and installed Windows 7.

I accepted the offer of a free upgrade to Win 10 plus every update since and I really don't want to have to re-install the OS.

Forking out chunks of cash for a new machine is an equally unwelcome prospect.

I haven't been asked for a password, but I almost never shut my machine down. I just put it to sleep when I am done using it.

My performance is so laughable I am trying to find a replacement hard drive for my old Windows 7 computer so I can switch back. My CPU and one other stat on the Task Manager window are almost constantly at or close to 100% and I cannot find the reason why. Nothing shows as using that much, so I'm sure it's more of Windows hiding shit. As infuriating as not having access to everything on my machine because I don't have permissions.

I'm a Win7, man, my good sir. Very few problems. And nothing serious.:fingerx:

This thread pointed out some things that can be eliminated.

Thanks for the link, Bruce. Plenty of food for thought there.

I'd take the Linux route but I do Internet banking and need Windows to do that.

Bah!

One of the the most obvious problems, in the current batch, was the propensity of Firefox to crash when I tried to open another tab.

Since my last post, I've uninstalled and re-installed FF and there is a definite performance improvement. It's much faster and doesn't crash. So far. :eek:

Prior to that I had a look at task manager and nothing untoward was spotted so I don't really know what was going on.

I'm going to sign off in a minute or two, make a cup of tea for us both, then boot up again. That will be the acid test.

Do you use Windows Defender?

Y'all should install and run Malwarebytes just in case.

Yes, Windows Defender is enabled and I also have Malwarebytes although a scan is probably overdue.

Re-starting hasn't stirred up anything nasty (as yet!) and FF browsing seems to be back to normal speed and flexibility.

Watch and pray!


ETA Just done a Malwarebytes scan and no threats were found.

I think it slows down while automatically updating itself. When that happens, I'll cut the process short by restarting. Whatever downloaded updates there are up to that point will be installed and then it runs faster again. I'll often run Disk Cleanup right after restarting to get rid of the Windows Update installation files and other no longer needed stuff that bogs it down. I'll sometimes do a disk defragmentation right after the cleanup.

Make sure Allow downloads from other PCs is turned off so you're not letting Microsoft use your computer to update others over the internet.: Settings>Update & Security>Windows Update>Advanced Options>Delivery Optimization>Allow downloads from other PCs>Off

For speed purposes, all the kids are running solid state drives these days, and that is how you make any computer fast. When the Windows drive is an SSD, it boots in seconds

Thank you for your observations. I think that you have hit the nail on the head.
When I switched off last night, I had the option of installing updates before shut down.
No doubt the operation will complete when it boots up.
I've never known the OS to slow down as much as it did yesterday!

On my iPad, bleary eyed at 0525.

Just to round it off...

Updates were installed at boot up this AM and things seem to be OK.
Initially, it seemed a bit sluggish but Firefox is behaving itself and speed is pretty good.
As stated, I've never known it to slow down to the extent it did yesterday when updates were being downloaded/installed.
TBH, it didn't occur to me that that might have been the problem.
I really did think that the machine might have been on its last legs and, as I manage banking, credit card etc online, I was a bit worried.

Thanks to all who have commented and helped. :thumb:

A list of "it could be"s is very long. Blaming any one or a few things is only wild speculation. Required are facts to define a defect long before trying to fix it.

Start with Process Explorer from SystemInternals (now a Microsoft company). UT once described it as Task Manager on steroids.

Look for bottlenecks. CPU is only one. IO faults are another. Memory faults are a third. Nothing here fixes anything. It only directs us to a suspect.

The View option will be necessary to display those relevant columns.

Also download TCP View from the same source. Amazing how many other servers are connected (maybe even 50) when viewing some web sites. Some of those connections remain. In some cases, I literally had to reboot the entire machine to eliminate some connections.

The maybe three Cellar connection will be listed as members.linode.com

Windows 10 is faster than 7. If yours is not, then something is running in that computer (creating bottlenecks) or you have plenty of connections to your machine that you do not know about.

Worse offender is software, successfully downloaded by malware, that puts your desktop into a Window on another computer somewhere else in the world. So Autoruns is downloaded. Those are all programs that startup on reboot. Windows boots fast. But that long list of programs, installed by you, printer drivers, Office, Adobe, or malware, must execute on each reboot. In that list might be a program that is displaying your desktop elsewhere in the world.

Just some ideas on how to start to find a defect. In some cases, the solution is simple. In others, assistance is required to convert that suspect list to actual perpetrators.

Many thanks, tw. That's a list and a half!

I must admit that I used to take a great interest in computing and, at one time, would have been a bit better prepared for yesterday's events.

Interests, and the time available to pursue them, change over the years so I'm really rather out of touch.

However, my computer isn't labelled 'Mr Babbage's Difference Engine'. ;)

Abandon hope all ye who enter Babbage's nightmare.

How do you people know all this stuff? The only 'puter work I had to deal with while employed was to order supplies or to do cbl's. I feel dumbed down with my lowly phone.

Henry Ford intentionally made cars less reliable in order to cut costs (ie exploding Pinto). So I had to learn this stuff. I bought shop manuals (five books) from Ford. Broke the backs of some of those books by falling asleep on them. But I learned - not only about cars. But also about how better diagnostics are performed. And how to read technical stuff.

Therefore as a teenager, I even designed an electronics ignition (with help from Popular Electronics) so that (in today's money) a $100 tune up was unnecessary every 3 months or 5000 miles. And then asked why engineers in Ford could not do that. Damning questions that also taught me how to build an 8080 microprocessor. Not assemble; build by literally soldering every wire.

And learned why failures happen.

Learn all this stuff by doing it - constantly. What I learned about cars also explains fundamental concepts in economics. And so I did not lose massive sums in the 2007 crash.

Simple rules apply. Always discover what failed long before trying to fix anything (using concepts even first taught in elementary school science). Appreciate that nothing works right the first, second, or ninth time. (How many times did I disassemble that carburetor because I had some screws left over?) If doing stuff causes frustration, then one has not yet learned how the real world works.

To appreciate this, find a discussion from Cloud about Idle Air Control Valve. And how so many never bothered to learn how to diagnosis a problem. Many computers were replaced until one mechanic finally did what was obviously the problem.

Some can only blindly do what is ordered rather than also learn what is being done - and why. All that is learned only by solving problems even in other technologies that have no relationship.

First, reasons for his slowness must be defined. Nothing else (no part changes, no nuke 'n pave, no 'try this', and no 'maybe it is that') is attempted. Many never learn how to approach a problem. Then get frustrated.

Read the books that also say why. Never get frustrated. And learn how to think through a problem.

tarheel,

Don't feed the droll.

We are being haunted by The Don.

Henry Ford died in 1947. The Pinto came out in 1971. That's where I stopped reading.

Henry Ford that died in 1947 obviously was not running Ford in the 1970s. Since emotion made a decision, then you did not learn what you should have known long ago.

That Henry Ford left the FMC in the early 1980s. And then had to get a driver's license. He was an MBA. He did not know how to drive and did not have a clue how cars worked. He died in 1987. He would not let engineers fix the known, explosive problem with the Pinto. And also instituted other problems including insufficient oiling holes for the overhead camshaft.

The other (older) Henry Ford raced cars long before he started a car manufacturing company called Ford Motor Company. He came from where the work gets done - the definition of an American patriot.

Current Chairman of FMC is William Clay Ford. A critic of his father Henry Ford for obvious reasons.

All this was posted previously. Only an adult educated by emotions would not bother to learn. And yes, many adults still act like children. Are therefore potential Donald Trump supporters.

Apparently you have not yet learned how others learn this stuff. captainhook455 wants to learn. You do not. A characteristic common to The Donald's supporters.

An adult would apologize for not knowing the obvious. An adult who is still a child would be emotional and post nasty replies.

Well, I just can't see why everyone doesn't enjoy technology conversations...:vomitblu::vomit::repuke:

What? I'm sorry I just woke up.


tarheel

Why would you be sorry you just woke up?

Or did you?

Maybe you died in your sleep and this Technology forum is your HELL! Bwahahaha.

I suppose it could be just a nightmare.

Could be a wet dream...:rolleyes:

You are crazier than a shithouse rat.[/emotions]

I could not get on Nixon's enemies list. Apparently I can get on The Don's enemies list.

Anyone can see Henry Ford was completely different from Henry Ford. But that is always hard for a Donald disciple.

Its good to know you are being so helpful with a Windows problem.

How do you get me as Donald Trump Supporter? That just confuses me, every time you do it.

Or is that just another of your tiring, monotonous repetitions?[/emotionalchildrenbusinessschoolgraduates]

I'll ask Henry Ford what the problem is, and get right back to ya.

At least I said I was going to be no help, instead of intentionally obfuscating things with painfully wordy non-answers.

That was kinda funny.

He is buried in a box so that he is both dead and alive. Obviously quantum physics says you must not ask. Otherwise he cannot answer.

So where are the facts from those diagnostic sources to obtain informed assistance?

Two things...
 

I run Windows 10 on SSD drives only. Hard drives do not do that OS justice.

One thing you absolutely have to do is flash every bit of firmware you have to the latest revisions. Not just because of a number of vulnerabilities Intel patched, but because Windows 10 exposes a number of issues.

Still running into them with my Dell laptop at work, which is on its 4th EFI rev in 6 months.

Hi Mitch.http://cellar.org/2015/seeya.gif

When I upgraded to the SSD for the boot drive in this 2013 Dell Inspiron, I thought I'd made a mistake when I completed the process and restarted the system. I couldn't get it to shut down. I started the process and when I came back it was just sitting there as if I'd only logged out.

Well, the joke was on me. I was accustomed to a restart process that took at least a minute, sometimes more. So I usually turned my attention to something else in my work area, or got another cup of coffee, etc.

Ain't nobody got time for coffee no more.

This fucker reboots in 11 seconds. By the clock. From a cold start. Get an SSD, you will extend your life, not to mention the working life of your computer.

And Windows 10 is fine... really.

Only used on the weekends, by a li'l ol' lady from Pasadena...:p: