Computer deterioration

[Gabanuka]

So for some reason my computer has taken a serious downturn, its started lagging on games which wroked ine a year ago (Portal 2) and keeps crackling the audio of games from a variety of time (Civ 4 - Skyrim) I seriously have no clue whats going on, its not outdated hardware since this thing is pretty new and cost enough so I'm kinda stuck. Any help

 

[OneCatch]

Yeah, also go through your program list (accessible through "Add/Remove programs" on the Control Panel, and see if there's any crap installed that you don't need. If you've got free trials that have expired for example, they can cause things to slow down.

You could also try a defragmentation, which can also be done through Control Panel.

Lastly, it could be antivirus software conflicting. Check you've only got one installed and running - they generally don't like working in tandem.

If you've got any more specifics, feel free to post em!

 

[Esotera]

Defragment your hard drive, use the disk cleanup utility, and remove any programs that you don't use that much. Also, try and free up hard drive space with an external hard drive, but don't reformat and reinstall, that's a waste of your time until you've tried all this.

And of course, you should run a malware scan, using something like Malware Bytes.

 

[DoPo]

Defragment your hard drive, use the disk cleanup utility, and remove any programs that you don't use that much. Also, try and free up hard drive space with an external hard drive, but don't reformat and reinstall, that's a waste of your time until you've tried all this.

And of course, you should run a malware scan, using something like Malware Bytes.

This. I'll add to that - turn off any programs you don't need from starting with Windows. To do this, press the Windows key + R, then type in msconfig[footnote]There is also a way to get there through lots of clicking in the Control panel, I think but this is faster and less confusing[/footnote] and click on the startup tab. Now you can simply untick what you don't want. Don't worry, you won't break anything - you can safely stop any programs that show there from executing with the OS - a lot would be useless anyway, like for example - the Adobe Reader things (if you have that installed) don't serve much of a purpose to you.

 

[DoPo]

You can also get there by typing "msconfig" into the search bar in Windows 7 and Vista and pressing the return key.

Erm, I know in principle. I grew up with using Run and that why I find it more convenient. I use the search to look for programs - if I have them installed or not or if I don't remember the name.

 

[EternalFacepalm]

Try updating your drivers as well. Also try opening Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), and check if any programs are consuming large amounts of memory. If all else fails, just reformat, I guess.

 

[Gabanuka]

Its not an issue of space I can assure you, there's very little installed. The reason I asked is that its not a full computer problem and its not consistent, ssome days everything works fine and then another something laggy as hell, the only consistent issue is Skyrims audio, everything else just comes and goes.

 

[kurupt87]

Could be a heat issue. Google SIW and download it, it is a program that checks everything about your hardware and software. When you run it go to the hardware -> sensors tab and check the heat, also run it and check again after you've been playing for an hour or so. And especially when you start having your troubles.

Idle the CPU should be around 40, the GPU between 50 and 60. In use the GPU should go up to 70-80, CPU shouldn't get that high. They're likely rated fine up to 100 but consistently running at that temp will damage them.

Edit: Temp in centigrade.

 

[JesterRaiin]

Isome days everything works fine and then another something laggy as hell

- revo uninstaller -> uninstall every game/app you don't need anymore
- CCleaner -> fix the registry
- Full antimalware scan (I suggest Malwarebytes application)
- Full antivirus scan (i suggest Comodo Internet Security with updated antivirus dabase)
- Make a screenshot of msconfig results (both startup and services tabs - with "hide all Microsoft services" selected) and post them here, we'll see...