Hi The Fan!
I would have never thought that hard drive
speed could affect the performance of a system,
but it certainly can.
However, the more common thing in Laptops
and Desktop computers is that the RAM is being
eaten alive by junk.
Here's what I would do to clean up your system:
'''1. Download and run''' [http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner|CCleaner].
I would just get the Free Download (desktop version) for now.
With the program installed:
> Click on Analyze (once done) click on Run Cleaner
> Then click on the Registry tab > click Scan for Issues (once done) click Fix selected issues (don't worry about backing up your Registry if the pop-up comes up)
'''2. Download and run [https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/|Malwarebytes]'''
Again, just download and install the Free Download for now.
Open the program and then click on Update to make sure you have the latest for the program. Then close the program -don't run the cleaner yet.
The tricky thing here is putting your system into Safe Mode before you run the cleaner. Otherwise, malware has a nasty habit of hiding itself in the soup of Windows running in Normal mode.
Here's a Microsoft article on how to [https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode|Start your PC in safe mode in Windows 10].
> Put your system in Safe Mode
> Open and Run Malwarebytes
> Remove any and all items Malwarebytes finds
> Restart your system
> Take your system out of Safe Mode & Restart into Normal mode -should it boot back into Safe Mode.
At this point, you will have dealt with 90% of the common 'slow down' issues. If your system still has issues, could be hardware issues. i.e. Hard drive needs defragging, RAM going bad, overheated components, etc.
My bet, though, is you're good to go after running the above programs.
Warm regards,
Anthony