I'm having a major issue with Windows Update really slowing down my computer to the point where it's nearly unusable. I have a 250GB SSD as my main drive for the OS and a 1TB HDD for files, both of which are empty and defragmented. Despite that, whenever an update starts, the system becomes so sluggish that I can't even open the Task Manager in under 15-20 seconds. My CPU and GPU usage seem fine during this, so I suspect the bottleneck might be with my drives. Is there anything I can do besides keeping my drives empty or defragmented to avoid this crippling slowdown during updates?
5 Answers
A tip I found helpful is to run 'sfc /scannow' in the command prompt as an admin. It checks for corrupted system files. It won't help in every case, but it's worthwhile to try!
I'll give that a shot. Thanks for the tip!
Be cautious with defragmenting SSDs—it’s not needed and can cause issues. Make sure your SSD has enough free space (at least 20%), otherwise Windows Update will shuffle files around, creating a lot of overhead and slowdowns during updates.
I'm currently right around 20% left but can clear some space to create more room.
Good plan! Freeing up extra space might help speed things up.
It sounds like your computer might be a bit outdated for handling the newer updates smoothly. Given your setup with a small SSD, it could be struggling to perform updates without some hiccups. What's the other specs of your system? That would help in figuring this out.
I've updated the post with more details about my system.
You’re not alone! Many users report similar issues with Windows Update slowing things down. The update process can get a bit legacy with performance. Ideally, try running updates overnight when you’re not using your PC.”
You might be experiencing disk bottleneck issues. When the update happens, keep an eye on your disk usage in Task Manager. If it’s over 80% or 90% during updates, then you should definitely check the SSD's health.
Good luck! It might find and fix something. Let me know how it goes!