I was working on a company computer, trying to figure out what was wrong with it, why it was running so slow. I started running a chkdsk Friday afternoon, and it took almost an hour just to get to 2% on the first step. So I start thinking, maybe it was a faulty hard drive.
When I came to work this morning to look at the computer, the chkdsk had been finished and I was at the normal logon screen for Windows 7. I clicked on "switch user" and logged on as administrator. It took the PC at least 5 minutes to get from the "Welcome" screen to where I could see the desktop.
The computer is brand new, only a couple months old. On a side note, I did bump up the size for the pagefile and once I restarted the computer, it started running faster.
EDIT: @Mortie -> Here is the screenshot you were looking for on the HDTune
Answer
How much RAM does the machine have?
The page file in Windows-based operating systems is a special file that acts as a sort of "scratch pad" to store modified pages that are still in use by some process. So, in simplistic terms, the page file is used by Windows to hold temporary data which is swapped in and out of physical memory in order to provide a larger virtual memory set.
Having this file full would indeed slow the machine down if it has run out of actual memory (RAM) and is using the page file consistently. I would check to see if all of the RAM is being recognized as accessing the page file is thousands of times slower than accessing the RAM.
A cheaper way to potentially improve performance would be to use a fast SD or USB drive to enable Readyboost in Windows 7. It would be better to resolve the root of the issue, though.
For that, I'd look at the RAM first. You say it's a company computer, so have them buy some more RAM for the machine if all of the installed RAM is currently being recognized.
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