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I have a user that started experiencing a slowdown of his laptop about a month ago. He says it works fine at home, Starbucks, etc., but when he connects to our network(via ethernet), it slows down considerably for an hour or more. He shuts it down daily, so updates are getting installed.

At first he said it was happening in Outlook, and it would take several seconds between clicking on a folder, email, etc. before the subsequent action would happen(opening the folder/email).

We use O365, so it’s not a harddrive/space issue. He has 32GB or RAM, and an M.2 drive(1TB), as well.

After a few more questions, he said everything is affected by this(other programs, internet, etc.). He swears this only happens when he connects at the office.

I have looked into what could cause a computer to slow down, and have changed settings to address that specifically(compacted emails, disabled graphics card accelerator, turned off add-ins, disabled start-up programs, but there must be something I am missing because everything seems to point to the opposite happening to others(computer slows down when off the work network).

Any thoughts on this matter would be truly appreciated

3 Spice ups
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Does your work network force everything through a proxy server? When you say “all programs,” do you literally mean it? Do things like calculator that do not use the internet also open slowly? My bet is everything is not literally everything, and just things that require network connection.

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Set up a time to try this:

Before he connects to the company network, have him open task manager (expand the details).

Have him connect to the network.

Observe the task manager and see if a program pops up that’s hogging a resource (I would guess the disk usage).

1 Spice up
4

Almost sounds like Updates downloading on wired connections and not on wireless connections. Could be related to whether or not “Allow download from other PC’s” is on too. Check the Activity Monitor in PC Settings, Delivery Optimization and see where those downloads are coming from.

1 Spice up
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No proxy server. I’ve only seen it in Outlook, but he said it happens in Teams, Chrome, PowerPoint, Excel, etc. Didn’t ask about the calculator.

6

Yes, I was thinking about that. Good idea!

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randallader, I’ll check that next. I have to catch him when he’s in the office, and has time. It’s a one-hour window once per week!

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If it is just slowing down when he is in the office for 1 hour per week then it has to be something with the settings. For instance, is it set to backup his data in the office, do updates, etc. You could check if his statement is true by disconnecting from your network and using the 4 G network by connecting to the internet via a mobile phone (tethering).