32-bit Windows 10 build 1909 running way too slow, though admittedly it's on a potato PC

R

R. Draconis

TL;DR - Are there any known performance/optimization problems with 32-bit Windows 10 build 1909, specifically on 13-year-old potato PCs that otherwise meet & exceed the minimum specs?

To whom it may concern,

I have a very old netbook -- an ASUS Eee 1000H, released around 2007-ish -- which was originally designed for Windows XP and Linux. Many years ago, I was able to obtain an upgrade to Windows 7 Pro, which -- paired with an SSD upgrade -- actually runs swimmingly well on this little 5-hour potato.

With the ceasing of official support for Windows 7, I've quite extensively explored upgrading to a newer version of Windows on this little potato.


Windows 8.1 runs shockingly well on this little guy, but the 1024x600 screen falls below Win8.1's minimum Metro app screen resolution of 1024x768, and Metro apps will not run at all. While I may ultimately have to settle with Windows 8.1 despite Metro apps not working, it would ultimately not be an ideal solution.

Windows 10 build 1909 32-bit, however, runs like molasses. Despite this netbook exceeding the posted system requirements (1.6 GHz dual core, 2 GB RAM, 240 GB SSD, etc.), it takes 3-5 minutes for Windows 10 to go from the password-entry screen, to drawing & redrawing the desktop over and over, to finally finishing all the laggy background loading going on. After waiting for Windows 10 to become responsive, clicking on the Start menu forces the OS to halt & completely freeze for up to a minute each time while the OS draws the Start menu over the desktop.

I've tried dozens of speed tricks online, from disabling search indexing, to forcing Windows Update through registry/policy tweaks to only check for updates and never download them in the background, to setting Windows 10's visual effects to "best performance" (disabling everything, even "smooth screen fonts"), disabling all startup apps & as many background services as possible... to no avail.

I've also tried both a direct, in-OS upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10, as well as a clean, freshly-zero'ed Windows 10 install from BIOS boot... both ways result in the same crippling lag & load times.

I'm starting to wonder if this is a performance problem in 32-bit builds of Windows 10 1909... I've found several years-old posts through web searches of people upgrading to Win10 on their own similarly-specced ASUS Eee PCs (and other netbooks) and really loving how Win10 runs on it.


I am, of course, aware of the fact that I'm running a 13-year-old low-power netbook whose computer network name is literally "POTATO," and that it might simply fall to the fact that potatoes can't run Windows 10... it just shocks me, the night-and-day performance difference between Windows 7/8.1 and Windows 10 on this thing. My other two computers run 64-bit Windows 10 like champs, though they are significantly way more powerful.

To Microsoft: Do you have any feedback with regards to 32-bit Windows 10 b1909 optimization? Any known issues with 32-bit builds on potato PCs? :)

To everyone else: Do you have any experience with running 32-bit Windows 10 b1909 on your own similarly-specced netbook? Or, any experience running previous 32-bit Win10 builds and now build 1909? Is it still running great for you, all things considered?

Thanks in advance!

(This post was typed on a potato PC currently running Windows 7. :))

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