Very Slow PC - no infections found

I have an ASUS, Model: P2520L, laptop computer which is very slow and at times unresponsive. I went through a series of checks:

1. Created restore point
2. Performed Disk Cleanup including System Files per
   https://www.malwareremoval.com/tutorials/runningslowly.php#1.
3. Checked Disk Optimization (defragmenter)
   Drive C scheduled for weekly optimization
   indicated 1% before analysis; OK 1% fragmented after analysis
4. StartupLite not available; WinPatrol not updated since 2016; downloaded Advanced SystemCare free quarantined by MalwareBytes as PUP.
   I used the Start up Apps in Windows Setting to turn off a number of start-ups that I don’t use.
5. Indexing Service is not listed in Services on Windows 10
6. C: drive has 57.1Gb free of 439Gb
7. Using Disk Cleanup to remove all but latest Restore Point did not show an increase in disk space.
8. Security software: ESET Internet Security v14.2.19.0
9. I have deleted and moved files to external HDD to increase free space on drive c: to 57.1Gb

It will take minutes to respond; for example, on waking from Sleep I need to wait for 2 to 5 minutes for the lock screen to respond and show the Sign In screen and when I try to paste text (say, from a web site) into a Word document, it can take more than a minute to appear (today I was posting 4 words into a new document and, thinking it had not worked, did the Ctrl+V three times before I noticed the word count in the status bar was 12 and the text had still not appeared in the document.

I join a user group Zoom meeting each week and need to start Zoom 15 minutes before the start to be sure I am ready to join the meeting on time.

The specifications of the PC are: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit; Version wef 20210528: 21H1; OS Build: 19043.1055; CPU 2.40GHz Intel Core i7-5500U; RAM 4Gb; HDD 500Gb (472.20Gb usable per Belarc Advisor); ESET Internet Security v14.2.24.0; Malwarebytes Premium v4.4.4

Neither ESET nor Malwarebytes report any infections.

I ran the Resource Monitor and the report is in a Word docx file (I'm not permitted to upload this kind of file, so I saved it as PDF and attached that).

Any help in making this PC more responsive will be greatly appreciated.

I recommend you use Clean Boot to see if anything that is running at boot time is causing the problem.
 
See here: How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 10 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts

Additionally, 4GB of ram is the absolute minimum for Windows 10 X64. Upgrading to 8GB should help some.

A bigger improvement would be made by switching to a SSD instead of the HDD you are currently using. A 1TB Samsung EVO is $139 from NewEgg. A 1TB Samsung QVO is $94 from NewEgg (what I have).
 
Either would make a big difference in overall performance, the EVO being the faster drive.

Thanks for your response, Ztruker.

As always, good advice. I have been toying with the idea of replacing the HDD with an SSD; you have just prompted me to do it! That should make the main difference but I'll do the RAM at the same time. I just have to fit in with my local computer workshop as I no longer have the facility to do that hardware work myself since we down-sized and moved north.

I did the clean boot process. I had one issue: in TskMgr the ESET command line interface item could not be disabled (see attached screen shot for it). Without doing any of the conflict checks, I did the restore to normal boot. Now the boot process is a little faster but I still have programs going into "not responding" mode periodically.

I have to wait till Wednesday week to do the hardware upgrades, so I'll redo the clean boot and check for conflicts procedures in the meantime. My wife says I'll have to do an hour's weeding in the garden for each hour I'm on the computer, so it will be slower than usual.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

You could also try taking a boot trace and posting the results. I'll take a look at it if I can remember how. I was trying to learn 4-5 months ago but have not looked at any since then so I'm very rusty. Maybe some other folks here can also look at it. Here is everything I have on boot tracing ….
 
Download and install the Windows ADK, which also contains the Windows Performance Toolkit.

1. Open a Administrator Command Prompt.
2. Type: cd "%programfiles(x86)%\Windows Kits\10\Windows Performance Toolkit"
3. Type the following command to start recording the boot trace:
wpr -start GeneralProfile -start CPU -onoffscenario Boot -onoffresultspath c:\wpr -numiterations 1 -filemode
4. The results should be in a .etl file under the C:\WPR.

You can also run this via the GUI:
Start Menu
..Programs
….Windows Kits
……Windows Performance Toolkit
……..Windows Performance Recorder

More good info here: Download and Install Windows Performance Toolkit - TenForumsTutorials

And here: How to collect a good boot trace on Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 using WPRUI

This is a course written by [removed] (Zine): Troubleshoot Windows Performance Like An Expert

He told me in a PM:

I've released in the past a course teaching Windows Performance Toolkit. It's a good place to start for people with good IT knowledge like you.

There is a theory part and a practical part with real case studies.

See here for some hints on how to use the data: Analyzing a Slow Boot with Windows Performance Recorder & Analyzer

… and here: Windows Performance Analyzer step-by-step guide