Will DX11 slow down laptop?

[Beirut]

Howdy,

My buddy gave me his Toshiba Win7-64 - Athlon64X2 - 1.8ghz\1Gb\ATI 1200 laptop to clean up - he finds it very slow - and I noticed his kid has installed a few games on it and the machine is running DX11. I'm thinking his kid might have put on the DX 11.

Could DX11 be slowing the machine down?

How do I roll it back to DX9?

Thanks.

[Husar]

I don't think it could, the HD 1200 or whatever the graphics card is doesn't sound like a DX 11 card, as such DX 11 can be installed but not really used. Some games may require it to be installed in order to run though, but not in DX 11 mode if the card doesn't support it.

That said, DX 11 comes with Windows 7 so it probably hasn't been installed by any kids, I don't even know whether rolling it back isn't possible but it shouldn't be the reason for the slowdowns anyway.

I'd looks for programs running in the background, scan for viruses and do a defrag first, maybe clean the registry somehow (though, personally, if that seems warranted I usually do a clean install )

[Beirut]

Ahh, thank you for that.

I've been cleaning out oodles of junk his kids have put in and I hope I don't have to do a clean install. Trying to make the machine as lean & clean as possible. Also, I might throw in Norton 2011 Internet Security for him. (I owe him a favour and as I have it on my machines, it's $20 less if I buy it for him.) He's running the free Panda and AVG programs, but I got bugs when I had them, so maybe he has a bug. But since I've had Norton IS, about nine-months, I haven't had a single problem on any of the three machines I have it on.

Thanks again for the reply.

[Xiahou]

Uninstall any apps they don't use via the Control Panel (I'd include Panda/AVG here) and then install Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware (free versions of both) and let each complete a scan. For anti-virus, I'd go with either Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast!- again, both are free.

Another thing I'd consider is disabling the 'Windows Search' service. The service indexes the hard drive to let file searches run a little faster- but I don't think the faster searches are worth the excess drive thrashing. Also, how full is the hard drive? If it's more full than empty, disk fragmentation might also be a concern.

Edit: Heh, this is my 7777th post

[Beirut]

As you remain the nuclear bomb of cool, I expected your reply to my post to be nothing less then your 7,777th.

His laptop has a 150GB HD, about a third full, and I'm sure I'm doing the first defrag since he bought it two-years ago. I took out tons of crap and the defrag in on Pass #6 as we speak and it's taking a looooong time.

I was the one who put Panda and AVG in his machine. I read some reviews that put the free Panda very high on the list. And AVG is decent and it works with Panda. I think Superantispyware and Panda don't get along. Pretty sure I'm going to get Norton 2011 IS for him. We have it on three machines in the house and not one problem since we got it. It doesn't even slow down the prehistoric laptop I'm typing this post out on.

Never knew of the "Windows search" thing. I'll look into that. Any advice for a good (and easy to use) registry cleaner?

Thanks.

[Lemur]

I'm leery about registry cleaning. The gains are minimal and the risks area real. Never encountered a "cleaner" in the wild that actually yielded a result worth the hassle.

I've seen several machines with severe infections that were running AVG. No longer recommended. Xiahou is in the right of it, both Avast and MSE are good substitutes.

[naut]

If the heat sink is easy to get to you may want to check how much dust as accumulated in there, some compressed air should get it out. That was the biggest issue with my laptop, a heat sink chocked full of dust, no cooling = over-heating = performance hit.

[Beirut]

Four mod responses. Flattered am I.

I took out Panda and I think the machine was faster right. Funny, compleletly forgot about Avast. I used it for ages and it worked very well. I can't remember if Superantispyware worked with it or not. I remember there was a conflict somewhere between two freebies I had. Never even considered MSE, but if you say so. Not touching the registry after all. And not even thinking of opening this thing up to clean out the insides - might as well have Winnie the Pooh fix your car as have me mess with electronics.

Put in CC Cleaner and it got rid of 6GB of junk. And defragging this piece of poop took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Also killed a slew of toolbars his kids had installed.

I'm married so I can't give you any advice about women, but if you need some chainsaw advice, I'm happy to return the favour. Thanks again.

[drone]

If the heat sink is easy to get to you may want to check how much dust as accumulated in there, some compressed air should get it out. That was the biggest issue with my laptop, a heat sink chocked full of dust, no cooling = over-heating = performance hit.

Definitely do this. If you don't feel like cracking it open, take a shopvac with a reducer/crevice tool, and suck out as much as you can.

[Beirut]

Definitely do this. If you don't feel like cracking it open, take a shopvac with a reducer/crevice tool, and suck out as much as you can.

If I could flip the case open consequence free, I'd hit it with the vac on reverse. Worked wonders for my game rig. For this thing, though, to get inside it without opening it up would be like threading a needle and I can't imagine I would get very far.

That said, you are probably right about the dust as he uses his laptop in his workshop a lot of the time.

[edyzmedieval]

I suggest CCleaner for a good registry clean up. It cleans up old extensions and old DLL's left behind that are not working any more, plus other junk.

Oh, for the antispyware, I find that Spybot Search & Destroy is the best. Especially with the Immunize option that blocks out the spyware from the browser. Constant updates, and free too.

[Beirut]

I suggest CCleaner for a good registry clean up. It cleans up old extensions and old DLL's left behind that are not working any more, plus other junk.

Oh, for the antispyware, I find that Spybot Search & Destroy is the best. Especially with the Immunize option that blocks out the spyware from the browser. Constant updates, and free too.

Hey Edyz,

Yeah, I CCCleaned it but good. Took out 6GB of crap when I ran CC. And I removed a ton of useless stuff his kids had installed. It was taking him ten or fifteen-seconds to load his home page and longer to load up Word. Both were in the three to five-second range once the machine was dealt with. Just gave it back to him and he's pretty happy.

Funny with the virus stuff, it's like telling someone what the best flavour of ice cream is. You say chocolate, but the guy you're talking to says you're crazy; butter pecan is the best. I'm going to buy him Norton Internet Security, but for the moment I put in the free Ad-Aware Internet Security (which got the editor's choice award at PC Mag) and Malwarebytes. Most important, I told him not to let his kids use his laptop. That alone should save his virtual bacon.

Speaking of Norton... depending on how I connected to their site, through my Norton user account, direct to their site, or through a link, the price of Norton Internet Security 2011 (download) ranged from $40 to $70. The big computer store nearest me has in the box it for $79. But when I bought NIS 2010 (Download) last year for $70, the computer store was selling it the next week for $40 in the box. I've never seen prices freak out like this.

[Xiahou]

I'm leery about registry cleaning. The gains are minimal and the risks area real. Never encountered a "cleaner" in the wild that actually yielded a result worth the hassle.

What I don't get about registry cleaners is... how does it know what registry entries you don't need? Is it psychic? Occasionally, I've done registry searches to remove references to specific program- but how is some program going to be able to tell the difference between what's good and what's trash?

I don't trust em.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Well it doesn't "know" anything. It merely "trusts" that the registry is making sense. Which admittedly is a rather large amount of trust to put in any Windows registry. Still, one heuristic you can employ is iterate over what appear to be installed programs and see if they have a corresponding entry in the Add/Remove programs section of the registry.

[Furunculus]

it is similar to the difference between being DX11 compatible and DX11 compliant.

anything with win7 will have DX11 installed, but if either/or the hardware or the application are incapable of running DX11 then it will work its way down to the lowest common denominator, more or less.