HP Pavilion g4 is incredibly slow

[jmt356]

The HP Pavilion g4 is incredibly slow. I did not know a laptop manufactured in 2013 could be so slow. Basic programs such as MS Office 2003 and IE 10 run very slowly. Is there anything I can do, such as upgrade the RAM (currently 4 GB installed) or is it a hopeless laptop due to the A6 Vision AMD processor?

[HansV]

According to this review, the G4 is not exactly a speedy laptop, but you can't really expect that at the price..,
4 GB RAM should be sufficient.

[StuartR]

The most common reason for laptops being slow is application bloat!

I suggest that you deinstall every program that you don't need - and make sure that you really do need the ones you choose to keep. Then check what is being started when the laptop boots and get rid of as much of that as you can too.

[jonwallace]

If it's a new pc and you haven't done much in the way of decluttering as suggested by Stuart, then try running this over it. There's a review of the program here.

[jmt356]

I just bought the laptop and only installed about 20 programs. Besides Adobe Creative Suite and MS Office, most of the programs I install are not that big. I usually only have MS Office 2003, MS Word 2003 and IE running most of the time.

I am not sure decluttering would apply to me. Perhaps 2 or 3 years down the road, after I have downloaded many programs I am no longer using, I will consider that. But at this point, I really do not have that many programs, so am not sure decluttering would help.

What is the problem with the g4? It has 4 GB RAM, 500 GB ROM and an A6 Vision AMD processor. According to http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/amd-visio ... rcial.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, the A6 Vision AMD processor fits for mega multitasking and is only one tier below AMD's best processor, the A8. According to http://discussions.virtualdr.com/showth ... sor-speeds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, "the A4 is dual core and the A6 is quad core. So the A6 would be like a Intel i5 in core design. Both being quads." That sounds like a good processor to me.

How can we thus explain how slow this computer is if it has what should be a good processor and 4 GB of RAM?

By the way, the exact processor is AMD Dual-Core A6-4400M Accelerated Processor.

[jmt356]

Microsoft Windows Search Indexer is taking up 10-20% of my CPU. What is it? I wonder if it is doing this as a result of installing StartIsBack, which brings the Start button back to Windows 8. With StartIsBack, you can type anything in the start menu and it will come up (unlike the Windows 8 Start Screen, where you must select Application, Setting or File). Perhaps that is causing all this CPU to be used? I wished I checked before I installed StartIsBack.

[HansV]

As you mention yourself: "the exact processor is AMD Dual-Core A6-4400M Accelerated Processor". It is not a quad-core. Its performance is roughly equal to Intel's i3 for laptops, not i5.

[Argus]

A comment to your first post: even if computers of today are a lot more capable than previous versions the demands from software have increased; and computers have always come in different series, with different hardware.

I agree with Stuart, and it has been mentioned earlier, that the key is to find software that match the hardware. The number of installed software isn't that important, but as you say what is running. There could be software managers, tools etc. for updating drivers and software running at logon time, and running in the background. Even if it can vary, and things have changed a bit during the last years, many laptops still come with a lot of software pre-installed.

You can always take a look at what is running at log on time with Autoruns, or similar startup managers; you can also check the CPU and memory load in the Task manager when using the laptop.

[jonwallace]

I just bought the laptop and only installed about 20 programs. Besides Adobe Creative Suite and MS Office, most of the programs I install are not that big. I usually only have MS Office 2003, MS Word 2003 and IE running most of the time.

I am not sure decluttering would apply to me. Perhaps 2 or 3 years down the road, after I have downloaded many programs I am no longer using, I will consider that. But at this point, I really do not have that many programs, so am not sure decluttering would help.
...

I don't think that Stuart was referring to those programs you've installed yourself (I certainly wasn't), but to those "free" utilities and trial versions of things that the vendor clutters up the hard drive with. If these have components that start when the laptop is booted, then they certainly will take up valuable processor time and if you don't use them, and have no intention of using them, then uninstall them, or at least stop them running at system start.

The same goes for programs you install yourself. If they have components that run at boot time, then they will eat processor time. For example, Adobe Photoshop (when I used to use it) installed a stub that watches for new picture files or a camera being attached and pops the main program up when it thinks it should. I always disable these, I decide when I want to start a program. Other programs do the similar "helpful" things.

edited to add: Have a wee look here at the sort of processor-cycle eating things that HP may install (or come with pre-installed) http://www.shouldiremoveit.com/HP-oem-bloatware.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jmt356]

As you mention yourself: "the exact processor is AMD Dual-Core A6-4400M Accelerated Processor". It is not a quad-core. Its performance is roughly equal to Intel's i3 for laptops, not i5.

Apparently, in stating "the A4 is dual core and the A6 is quad core," the web site http://discussions.virtualdr.com/showth ... sor-speeds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is wrong.

[Argus]

The AMD A series A6-4400M processor has two CPU cores (with 1 MB L2-cache), if the press release from AMD is to be believed.

It is best to get the information straight from the horse's mouth.

Nothing wrong with having two cores, or anything less than 4, 6 etc. It has sometimes been mentioned that in this segment, when using the built-in GPU i.e. not using a discrete graphics card, AMD is stronger than Intel, so I guess it is good at GPU intensive tasks, within its segment.

You can find a simple benchmark of the A6-4400M on this page, compared with other processors.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/mid_range_cpus.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Apparently, in stating "the A4 is dual core and the A6 is quad core," the web site http://taxes.about.com/od/preparingyour ... F90221.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is wrong.

Que?

[jmt356]

The AMD A series A6-4400M processor has two CPU cores (with 1 MB L2-cache), if the press release from AMD is to be believed.

It is best to get the information straight from the horse's mouth.

Apparently, in stating "the A4 is dual core and the A6 is quad core," the web site http://taxes.about.com/od/preparingyour ... F90221.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is wrong.

Que?

I meant to quote http://discussions.virtualdr.com/showth ... sor-speeds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. My mistake.

I could not follow some of what you said. But I do know that my box said that I have a AMD Dual-Core A6-4400M Accelerated Processor. So regardless of what is said on http://discussions.virtualdr.com/showth ... sor-speeds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, my A6 sounds like a dual core to me.

The web site you cite (http://www.cpubenchmark.net/mid_range_cpus.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) puts the AMD Dual-Core A6-4400M towards the bottom of the list at 1620. My previous HP Pavilion ran the same software on 4 GB of RAM, but had a Intel® Core™ i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30 GHz processor. The web site you cite doesn’t list that processor, but the similar Intel Core i5-2467M @ 1.60GHz processor is listed at 2,297, so I would guess my old processor would be somewhat higher than that. So it really shows you the importance of a good processor, other things being equal.

This terrible, slow processor is the only explanation I can find for the Pavilion g4’s slow speed. It even takes 4+ seconds just for the Windows window to pop up when right-clicking a file in Windows Explorer!

I thought perhaps there was some validity to others’ discussions about unnecessary software running in the background. But in my System tray, besides the system icons volume, internet and battery, I only have six program icons. That’s a lot less than the 30 icons running on my former HP Pavilion laptop, which ran much faster than this one.

The HP Pavilion g4 is not fit for basic computing tasks. It can, however, serve as an (expensive) extra hard drive to store backup files to.

[HansV]

The Intel Core i5-2410M is listed in the High-End CPUs (http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) with a CPU Mark of 3183, i.e. almost double that of the AMD A6-4400M.

[jmt356]

That would explain why I didn't find it on the High Mid Range CPU's list.

I never appreciated the importance of a good processor until now. It is complicated to understand good and bad processors and to determine which are better, but when shopping it is easy to understand RAM (i.e., the higher the RAM, the better).

In my view, the AMD A6 would more appropriately be listed on the Low Mid Range.

[HansV]

The classification High End, High to Mid Range, Low to Mid Range and Low End is strictly on the basis of the CPU Mark obtained by the processor. The AMD A6-4400M falls squarely into the High to Mid Range group; the processors in the Low to Mid Range group have a CPU Mark of less than 1360.

The same site also has an alphabetical list of ALL tested CPUs: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. If you want to search for a specific CPU, I'd use that list.

[StuartR]

The perceived speed and responsiveness of a PC depend on a large number of factors. CPU speed is less significant than many others such as amount of memory, free disk space, running programs etc.

You can get some information by looking at the performance tab of the task manager. This will show CPU utilization and amount of free memory.

[jmt356]

The perceived speed and responsiveness of a PC depend on a large number of factors. CPU speed is less significant than many others such as amount of memory, free disk space, running programs etc.

You can get some information by looking at the performance tab of the task manager. This will show CPU utilization and amount of free memory.

While I am not in a position to challenge Stuart's authority on computers, I can say this: both the Pavilion g4 and Pavilion dv6 had the same amount of RAM (4 GB), about the same amount of free disk space (the dv6 had a bit more, but based on what others have said, this has minimal effect as it impacts only the cache which is very unlikely to take up more than 10% of ROM), the same programs running (except that the g4 is running Windows 8, but I don't believe Windows 8 is much more resource-intensive than Windows 7) and, to my knowledge, the same running programs. The only difference is the AMD A6 processor verses the Intel® Core™ i5-2410M, and the difference in speed is SIGNIFICANT. I did not notice delays on the dv6. On the g4, the delays are noticeably obstructing my productivity.

So my conclusion is that processors make a very important difference.

I have checked the processes tab of my Task Manager, which states "2.0 / 3.5 GB." Does this mean I am using 2.0 GB RAM or have 2.0 GB RAM free?

[jmt356]

I believe I discovered what has been slowing down my computer so significantly: Microsoft Windows Search Filter Host. Under Task Manager | Processes, it takes up a significant percentage of my CPU. I noticed it at 61% today and previously at 25%. I have found that when it is not active, I do not experience my computer’s speed problems. I just ended the process and my fan stopped blowing so hard. My computer is apparently usable again.

According to http://social.technet.microsoft.com/For ... e8a05753f/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, this issue is not an easy one to fix. SearchFilterHost.exe apparently restarts itself after it is manually ended. The solutions suggested on the above link are for advanced users experienced in computer programming. Is there a simpler solution? I tried searching for it under Add / Remove Programs to permanently remove it, but could not find it.

I wonder if this might be related to StartIsBack: that program may require the constant indexing of files on the computer. I know that Search Filter Host is similarly involved in the indexing of files.

[HansV]

You could disable or uninstall StartIsBack to see if it makes a difference.

Another option is to let Windows search fewer locations. See Windows 8 Search: Dialog Box and Indexing Options.

[jmt356]

Two things I don't understand:

- I tried to unsinstall StartIsBack, but it is still there! I got back to Add / Remove Programs, and it is no longer present, but I can confirm that the Start button is still there and StartIsBack is still functioning. It's probably not worth spending too much time on figuring out how to get it really uninstalled, since the 30 day trial is supposed to end on May 2, but I thought I would put this out there.

- Why is SearchFilterHost always taking up so much of my processing power? I am rarely performing searches. The only time I search anything is when I go to the Start menu to open a program. I only do this a few times a day. But SearchFilterHost is constantly running and taking up my memory.

There is also SearchIndexer.exe, which is constantly running at about 15% of my CPU and taking up a lot of my memory. I try ending that process but it seems to come back on its own every few hours.

I have generally found that when the SearchFilterHost.exe and SearchIndexer.exe processes are terminated, my computer functions normally. But when they are running, my processor is constantly making noise, my fan is blowing and my computer is very slow.