I haven’t really bothered to put down a permanent blog post, or anything, but I have spent the last few months fuming on Twitter about the sluggishness of my PC. At different points I have blamed either the Runtime Broker process, or the Windows Search Indexer.
Sluggish PC Bogging Down Workflow
My computer is just two years old, and while I didn’t buy top of the line, I didn’t scrape the bottom either.
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I’m an old school PC guy (when I started, the primary requirement to be able to use the internet was the ability to spell anonymous). When I went looking for a new PC I made sure to get one with plenty of RAM, because Windows and the programs that run on them can never get enough memory. Throw in a current-generation i5 processor, and a 1TB drive, and I figured I should be in business for the next few years.
Wrong.
For the last several months, my PC has been extraordinary sluggish. It has been so slow that when I type I have to wait sometimes for the PC to catch up. I type pretty quick, but not that fast. There is no reason the computer shouldn’t be able to keep up with me.
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Runtime Broker Resource Hog
Search however you would like, and you’ll find TONS of forum posts, help tickets, and even some blog posts speaking to the enormous resource hogging that Runtime Broker does.
Frustratingly, all Microsoft can muster in the way of help is to say that if the Runtime Broker process starts using too much CPU, RAM, or disk access is that there must be a bug in one of the apps you have. You can kill the process but it will bloat back up again.
There is no way to see WHICH app is causing the trouble, which is doubly frustrating because I run a pretty lean PC and there aren’t a ton of “extra” apps floating around on my PC.
Whenever my PC performance gets really bad, I open Task Manager and kill Runtime Broker, but obviously, that’s a less than ideal solution.
Windows Search Indexing
Windows Search Indexing is SUPPOSED to be a wonderful help for the Windows 10 user. The idea is that Windows Search Indexer runs in the background indexing all of your files so when you try and do a search for something on your PC you’ll be able to search not just file names, but also the content inside many file types.
Unfortunately, the Windows Search Indexer can spend a ton of time hammering your hard drive to do its indexing. There really isn’t a way to dial back the indexer to use less resources, and it inexplicably doesn’t seem willing or able to do most of its indexing when you are not using your computer.
It starts up automatically and runs forever in the background.
Windows Search Indexing can be so bad that the HP application that comes with many PCs offers to turn search indexing off even if you don’t complain about performance.
Google Chrome Resource Hog
Lets not pretend that Google doesn’t suck up resources, especially if you keep a ton of tabs open like I do. There are options. It sounds like Microsoft’s Edge Browser manages memory better.
Unfortunately, my problem seems disk based based on the sounds coming from my PC and the 100% Disk utilization shown in Resource Monitor. Chrome is a lot of things, but it isn’t hammering the hard drive.
SSD Hard Drives Speed Up Computer
So, I’ll admit that I’m a bit out of the hardware game, but I can get into a motherboard and swap out cards or sticks of RAM, or whatever. I, of course, knew that SSD (Solid State Drives) drives were much faster than traditional HDD drives, but I’ve never been “drive-bound” on a PC before. The problem has always been not enough RAM, or in the case of very old PCs, too slow of processor.
It turns out that the difference between SDD and HDD is not the difference between walking and running, but rather the difference between walking, and driving along with a lead foot on the gas.
SSD Solves Computer Speed Problems
As Black Friday approached this year, I noticed several deals on Amazon for SSD drives.
In the old days, you couldn’t return things like internal computer parts once you had opened them. Thanks to Amazon’s generous return policies, many of the SSD drives I saw were marked “Prime with Free Returns.”
Can’t hurt to try, right?
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I found a particularly good deal on a Samsung SSD 1 TB drive with good reviews, and high disk speed transfers. I took a shot and placed an order. I installed, the SSD, spent a few hours cloning my old HDD to the new SDD drive. I kept the HDD drive in my computer for when I need extra hard drive space. So far, I fit ok in 1 TB.
The difference between having an SSD versus an HDD?
Holy cow! It’s like have a brand new computer.
Runtime Broker? Still a resource hog, but I never notice.
Windows Search Indexer? I turned it back on. My computer never hangs for even a second. And, even better, I can go back to searching my files since I have tens of thousands of them, and no matter how hard I try I don’t always name them the right way for me to be able to find them by file name when I search for them years later.
SSD Drive Speed
This all comes down to how fast an SSD hard drive is.
Sure, Windows Search Indexer insists on doing just as much indexing and searching as it used to. I just does it so quickly, everything I need my computer to do as a user has plenty of drive access as well.
Runtime Broker definitely still bloats up. I only notice though when I remember to check. My computer runs like a dream without it.
Microsoft SSD Strategy
Once again, Windows’ need to be backward compatible, and to work on millions of previously installed Windows desktops across corporate America proves to be an Achilles heel.
Out there right now, are thousands of people fed up with sluggish laptops or slow desktop computer buying a new Apple computer for the first time, and the speed difference is night and day, and they conclude that Windows sucks.
The reality is that all of the PC manufacturers out there selling new PCs and laptops with traditional HDD drives in order to save a few dollars, or two squeeze out some additional revenue by making an SSD and upgrade are doing their customers an ENORMOUS disservice. These computers are doomed to sluggish performance that can’t be fixed with any Windows update, or by deleting a bunch of pre-installed crapware.
I guarantee, a LOT of them blame Windows, especially if they have a Mac(book) somewhere in their life..
An HDD drive is NOT acceptable on modern computers. If you see a computer for sell without an SSD drive move on. You will be better off with a slower processor and less RAM and an SSD than you will be with a top of the line processor, double the RAM and an HDD.
While Microsoft can’t abandoned an installed base of computers with existing HDDs, it could be requiring SSD installations on all new computers.
Sure it would upset many in the supply chain, and cause the weeping and gnashing of teeth among companies trying to lease cheap PCs, but it would avoid the current tarnish of the company’s reputation that is happening all over the world as PCs with HDD drives are being sold and are already too slow out of the box.
Don’t Buy Computer Without SSD
Be smart.
If you don’t have SSD, upgrade.
If you are buying a new PC, do not accept and computer or laptop without SSD.