PC lagging

[Sodalover]

When I turn on my PC, it runs fine and silky smooth. However, as I use it longer, it starts to lag in burst, where it will be run fine, then lag, then run fine again and repeats, until a point where it fully lags. I just want to know, is this caused by software or hardware, or both, because when it was new, I never had this issue. It's a laptop, so I haven't clean the fan in 3 years, and my drive is like 70% full.

My PC is from 2010. If it helps, my model is a HP G62.

 

[PrestoN]

Check your temperatures.

 

[rocketfish]

Sounds more like a virus than software or hardware issue. What do you use for anti-virus? Might be time to save the important stuff on a gig-stick and wipe the hard-drive and reinstall.

 

[DamageINC]

I would also recommend running a scan with Avast or a free AV program. Personally it doesn't sound like a virus, but it's good to rule it out. Malwarebytes is also a good one to use, although I don't think it's free. Just be careful, not everything picked up by AV is a virus or harmful.

Don't think it's a temp. issue, although it is a good idea to have a program like core temp, HWmonitor etc. so you can see your CPU and HDD temps in real time. High temps would damage hardware and maybe reboot or shut off the computer, but I'm not sure it would lag it out, but it might. I don't know for sure.

Have you defragged your hard drive recently? That would help, especially if the drive hasn't been defragged in a year or something.

A clean reinstall of the operating system would probably work best, but that can be a pain, especially if you have a lot of stuff that would need to be reinstalled.

When it starts lagging, check the task manager and look at the CPU load. Maybe something is running that you are unaware of and taxing your CPU. Task manager>performance>resource monitor will show you which programs are putting the heaviest load on the CPU.

 

[Sodalover]

Actually, I forgot to mention temp. After running any program for 20+ minutes, the fan has to constantly work without break and the plastic near the fan is extremely hot, I'd say its 60 or 70 C.

 

[PrestoN]

If your gpu starts hitting in the 70-80 C, it starts hitting a threshold where it'll start slowing down to compensate for the heat(so until it cools down). Has happened to me in the past, causes major fps drops. If anything, clean the mofo, or make sure it has enough airflow.

 

[DamageINC]

The fan has to constantly work? That's what fans do. Mine run 100% all the time with the exception of the GPU fan who's speed i control.

60 or 70c seems pretty high to me, but the temp threshold is higher (i think) for a laptop. Might want to look into a laptop cooler. Can also use speedfan or something to make sure it's running at full RPM's.

 

[PrestoN]

The fan has to constantly work? That's what fans do. Mine run 100% all the time with the exception of the GPU fan who's speed i control.

60 or 70c seems pretty high to me, but the temp threshold is higher (i think) for a laptop. Might want to look into a laptop cooler. Can also use speedfan or something to make sure it's running at full RPM's.

Well I know they completely start breaking around 100-110, but for me personally, once I hit about 74 or 75 my gpu just wouldn't cooperate. But he also has an older card(if it's a 4250 like the specs I found of that model) so that may change it a bit.

All in all, a dusting after three years is more than overdue. Virus scan simply done as well.