My Browsers have ground to a halt

[secret santa 2,381]

Today, from nowhere, my browsers have virtually slowed to a halt. When typing from the keyboard, each character takes at least a second to appear on the screen.

There is not a problem typing into a Word document. Similarly, it takes several seconds to open a new tab in either Chrome or Edge.

The scroll wheel on the mouse is similarly delayed in action which makes the sizing of images on a web page impossible.

A broadband check shows that speed is unaffected.

The PC has become unusable.

Any advice out there ?

[oldcopper 286]

40 minutes ago, secret santa said:

Today, from nowhere, my browsers have virtually slowed to a halt. When typing from the keyboard, each character takes at least a second to appear on the screen.

There is not a problem typing into a Word document. Similarly, it takes several seconds to open a new tab in either Chrome or Edge.

The scroll wheel on the mouse is similarly delayed in action which makes the sizing of images on a web page impossible.

A broadband check shows that speed is unaffected.

The PC has become unusable.

Any advice out there ?

Have you checked it for bugs?

[secret santa 2,381]

McAfee scan shows no issues.

[Paddy 1,860]

The usual immediate action is to shut down and restart the computer - see if that helps, if you haven't already done so.

Another frequent cause is if Windows is doing a big download ready for an update. If you bring up the task manager (under settings) you can see what is happening - if the disk drive and ethernet are very busy when you are doing nothing, that could be the issue. You can also check to see if you are working at RAM memory full, which will also slow you down. 

You have checked for bugs, so doesn't seem to be that.

If you don't have a "cleaner" installed, it might be worth trying that. AVG has a good one with a free trial, so you can see if that makes a difference without spending money.

One other possibility - how old is your machine? I have experienced it when a laptop gets beyond a certain age it suddenly slows down massively. It is suspected that the machine makers have deliberate "built in obsolescence" to do this and make us buy a new machine!

[Peckris 2 2,189]

Does Windows have the equivalent of Activity Monitor on Mac? I.e., a utility that shows all the processes using RAM, CPU, network, etc. That way you can see what's using your computer's resources and the answer MAY be nothing to do with your browsers. For example, on OS X there's something called kernel_task which can get out of hand : if relaunching the Finder doesn't work then a reboot will.

[Bronze & Copper Collector 417]

5 hours ago, Peckris 2 said:

Does Windows have the equivalent of Activity Monitor on Mac? I.e., a utility that shows all the processes using RAM, CPU, network, etc. That way you can see what's using your computer's resources and the answer MAY be nothing to do with your browsers. For example, on OS X there's something called kernel_task which can get out of hand : if relaunching the Finder doesn't work then a reboot will.

Windows Task Manager???

[Paddy 1,860]

Yes - the Task Manager, as mentioned before, is the thing that will tell you what resources your laptop is using, and which app is doing it.

Quickest way to launch it is to right click on the window icon in the bottom left corner of your screen. In the pop up list you will see Task Manager about half way down - click on that.

There are lots of things to look at there, and I am not going to try to give a tutorial! Explore the various tabs and see if anything is using a great deal of resource or if any of the measures are running at 100%.

 

[secret santa 2,381]

What should I be looking for - something that takes all the CPU or something that takes all the memory ?

[Bronze & Copper Collector 417]

54 minutes ago, secret santa said:

What should I be looking for - something that takes all the CPU or something that takes all the memory ?

I would suspect using cpu resources first.

[secret santa 2,381]

Onedrive is using nearly 30% CPU; nothing else reaches double figures & most are zero.

[Paddy 1,860]

That does seem high for Onedrive. Have you made big changes to your photos stored in Onedrive recently?

You could try turning off the Onedrive link - in Outlook or the Hotmail website, whichever you are using - and see if that resolves the problem. You can always turn it on again later.

 

[Peckris 2 2,189]

4 hours ago, secret santa said:

Onedrive is using nearly 30% CPU; nothing else reaches double figures & most are zero.

OneDrive uses your network, and is 'always on' IIRC. I stopped using the app for precisely that reason. If I want to use OneDrive I'll login to my account via a browser, do what's necessary then logout.

[secret santa 2,381]

IIRC ?

[Nick 329]

10 hours ago, secret santa said:

IIRC ?

If I remember correctly.

[secret santa 2,381]

I have now installed the Firefox browser which is so far working perfectly which suggests to me that a virus has somehow infected both Chrome and Edge although as I said before, McAfee scans don't find any issues. Strange !!!

[Peckris 2 2,189]

7 hours ago, secret santa said:

I have now installed the Firefox browser which is so far working perfectly which suggests to me that a virus has somehow infected both Chrome and Edge although as I said before, McAfee scans don't find any issues. Strange !!!

You do empty your browsers cache from time to time? If not, they will slow down...

[secret santa 2,381]

This is weird - 24 hours on and Firefox has now slowed to a standstill like the other browsers. It must be a virus.

[secret santa 2,381]

Even weirder - I have downloaded Malwarebytes and run a scan and although it didn't find anything, it seems to have cured the problem in all browsers - but time will tell.

Actually, I've found that it blocked a website called restoro.com which "appears to be malicious" - maybe that's the cause ?

Edited September 24, 2021 by secret santa
addition

[Paddy 1,860]

Interesting. Research on "Is Restoro safe" throws up very conflicting results. I suspect many of the positive reviews are fake, and the negatives are damning. It purports to be a fix for slow PCs, but many of the customers suspect it is a con.

This from the Microsoft forum seems to be the most reliable:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/is-restoro-a-safe-website/33a40afd-74ed-4e9d-b57e-201e65cda0ad?auth=1

 

[Peckris 2 2,189]

Restoro looks like the Windows equivalent of CleanMyMac, who sponsor several You Tubers, but which other experts say to avoid like the plague as it CAN cause severe problems on some machines.

[1949threepence 3,368]

22 hours ago, secret santa said:

Even weirder - I have downloaded Malwarebytes and run a scan and although it didn't find anything, it seems to have cured the problem in all browsers - but time will tell.

Actually, I've found that it blocked a website called restoro.com which "appears to be malicious" - maybe that's the cause ?

That was almost certainly your problem Richard. I too had serious issues with restoro, which I hadn't intentionally downloaded - but there it was anyway. Must have come wrapped up in something else. Similar effects to what you've experienced. I'd bet your PC will be running OK from now on. I wonder if it's some sort of scam whereby it slows down your machine then pops up as a cure if you're willing to pay - you might find this brief exchange about it, quite interesting - link

Apart from the very obvious, PC diagnostics can be incredibly difficult. Sometimes the only way is to have it completely cleaned to flush out whatever has secreted itself away. 

These days I never download anything onto my PC. If there's anything I need I just install an app on my tablet and use that. Tablets and other mobile devices rarely get compromised in the way that PC's do. But the downside is that they're not nearly as convenient.   

[secret santa 2,381]

I've never knowingly downloaded restoro and a search with File Explorer doesn't find it so it's still mysterious. Malwarebytes says it blocked it rather than deleted it. I'll read your link later, Mike - thanks for that.

[Peckris 2 2,189]

12 hours ago, 1949threepence said:

Tablets and other mobile devices rarely get compromised in the way that PC's do. But the downside is that they're not nearly as convenient.   

Horses for courses. I find my iPad is great for TV and radio, music and audiobooks, email, quick notes and reminders, browsing, taking photos, etc. But Photoshop and database management, even proper word processing, have to be on my Mac, there's no tablet software that's as powerful (yet).

Edited September 25, 2021 by Peckris 2

[secret santa 2,381]

Strangely, the problem returned today. For some reason. I then logged into my Google account and the problem was instantly cured. And I don't understand why.

[Rob 3,217]

Google Chrome did an update last night. Maybe that's the issue. Mine's a bit sluggish this morning.