Windows 10 Issues

Lately my Windows 10 has not been as "snappy" as it should be on my computer. I attributed to installing it over 3 years ago, followed by multiple updates, programs being installed & removed, etc. For the most part it worked properly so I didn't give it much thought. My wife's system has been working fine without a hitch.

Yesterday however, my Win10 computer started misbehaving badly. It came to a slow craw without explanation. Rebooting the system multiple times did not help in the least. I had no reason to suspect malware, but the system was running so badly that I couldn't do any type of malware check. Going back to a previous restore point was useless for the same reasons.

After fighting with it for well over an hour, I gave in and downloaded a Win10 ISO image to my wife's computer and set it up on a flash drive. The process of doing a clean installation didn't go smoothly however, because whatever was going on affected the EUFI boot process. It was painfully slow and remained that through the entire clean installation. I began to suspect a hardware problem, but continued anyway.

Windows eventually installed and after a reboot or two, all appeared to be back to normal. But when I tried downloaded stuff, such as Firefox, it was again extremely slow. I'm talking over 2 hours to download Firefox. So, I headed to my wife's computer to do the downloads.

When I tried downloading files on my wife's computer, I was met with the same extremely slow downloads. What the??? It didn't matter what I tried to download, and it didn't matter what browser I used. Nothing wanted to download, not even the most small, basic files. My internet connection was good enough to watch Netflix in high definition without a problem, so that baffled me even more.

I gave up and went to bed and hacked at it again this morning. Everything is back to normal, and downloads are going quickly. My Windows 10 is fast once more and working as it should. My programs and updates are installing with no issues, and I'm back to about 90% of getting everything in place and customized to my liking.

I never figured out why I couldn't download squat last night, but whatever happened everything is back to normal as far as I can tell. I have no idea if it was coincidence, or something else.

Did you check to see if there was another update over night?  Now that things are back how about creating a new restore point?
'course you know what the ultimate fix is, right?

There was a critical security update on Tuesday, but it was working fine after that update and even after a couple reboots. The problem started yesterday afternoon without any rhyme or reason. I do have a new, current restore point since reinstalling, but I also had several yesterday before the problem began. However, the system was so damn slow that I couldn't access them.

I did manage an SFC /SCANNOW scan, but it came up clean.

I know that creating an image is easiest best, but my data files are on alternate drives and further saved to Dropbox. Keeping those files intact is all that really matters to me. I have a tendency to prefer a clean Windows installation if the need arises. Considering that I normally go years between clean installs, it's not so bad.

Actually what I had in mind was a clean install of Win 7 .

Yes, I agree, but my setup does not like Win 7 for some reason. I have no desire to go through that heartache again.

I noticed that prior to Windows acting up on me, it was using about 42GB of space, despite my keeping things lean and clean. With my new Win10 installation and all programs put back in place, it's now using 31GB of space. I can't explain the 11GB difference.

My wife's system, which is nearly identical to mine, is currently using up 36GB of space. The only difference is that she has scanning software installed on her system.

This is probably what caused my Windows 10 issue, as the problems began after that update installed.

tom's Hardware: Microsoft Inches Towards Reintroducing Windows October Update