What causes lag and how can I resolve it?
Lag is quite often part of my life. I find it happens most often when I’m working in Gmail. I have to use Gmail, because that’s where my work email is housed. When I’m afflicted, it’s like typing through mud. I have to wait for my computer to catch up with me. I type very fast, but when the ‘lag’ hits, I can’t even type slowly. It really slows down my work progress.
I’ve tried clearing my cache. I’ve turned off apps that might slow things down – even ones I’d like to use like spellcheck and editing apps. I tend to use Chrome when doing my mail because I do prefer to use one app that’s only available through Chrome. I’ve shut down everything but Chrome. Lag is still there dragging me down. I’ve rebooted my computer – repeatedly.
What might cause this? Is there anything else I can do about it?
It seriously drives me nuts.
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19 Answers
You can delete old emails and buy a faster isp plan (Internet service provider ).
Do you have enough RAM? How much stuff do you have stored on your desktop? Every picture or document or photo stored on your desktop is eating up your ram.
And, do you have anti virus running? that stuff is a memory hog.
I am not at all an expert on this stuff, that is what the IT guy at work told me could be eating up my processing speed when I ran onto the same problem on an old windows computer,
I second the RAM question. If you’re just running Gmail in Chrome, it shouldn’t be a problem with the browser or Gmail.
If your computer is running on Windows, then your RAM amount should be greater than your Page File (PF) usage. However, PF usage can vary, so stare and compare when your computer is lagging.
If it’s exceeding your available RAM, then you might be able to have more RAM chips installed, unless all the slots are already occupied.
Also, if you have an anti-virus program that automatically updates, then that might be using 100% of your CPU, which can also cause lag.
If you open your Task Manager or its equivalent, you should see a tab titled “Processes”, or something like it. Sometimes Google will barge in and start running unrequested updates; you should be able to see them and whatever others are running.
I’ve used Task Manager to stop a lot of postponable or needless updates without any negative effects, such as Google Update and some garbage named “Set Up”. However, I advise that you let any anti-virus or other security-related updates run ‘til done.
Another way to avoid a lot of these interruptions is to offline your computer before you start typing.
A lot of updates are RAM and CPU hogs.
I have 8GB of ram.
I could have too much on my desktop. I’ll try tidying that up.
This is my netbook (Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga), so I don’t have much of a hard drive on it. I use an external drive.
I’ll look at the task manager next time it happens. I hate lag!
Thank you everyone.
8gb is plenty, there’s some other problem.
The thing that slows down my laptop like that is Windows Update running in the background. I open it and run updates in the morning or at the end of the day so it doesn’tdrag me down in between.
Another thought – a full hard drive can drag you down. How much free space is there?
Sometimes I’ll get “lag” if my computer virus protection is doing a scan or downloading an update. It goes away in a minute or so when the action is complete.
Use email client software that runs on your computer, and only uses gmail to store and retrieve the messages. Then you can compose and read email unlimited by your Internet connection speed (except for the time to load new incoming messages). Even if your employer is mentally challenged and insists on a pointless rule that you aren’t even allowed to run email client software, you could still load up a text editor and cut & paste text between it at the slow browser window. Again, no lag, unless your computer has too much crud running on it.
In a tangentially relevant way, this thread reminds me of jerv. I hope he’s doing ok.
Where is he @Brian1946. We haven’t lost him have we? I really like him.
Thank you all for your help with this. I will work on tidying up my netbook this weekend and see if that helps. You’ve given me some good clues as to what the problem is.
Looking at the task manager this morning, it was Chrome was the only thing churning along when I hit some lag in Gmail today.
Do you remember what the CPU and PF usages were?
Have you seen the lag in any other place besides Gmail?
Ummm no. I can’t remember.
Mostly Gmail. In the past, I think I’ve noticed it when I’ve been using our learning management system and I’m typing posts there, but mostly the problem is in Gmail. Which is damn frustrating because I get a lot of mail.
Then the trouble could be the CPU usage, intermediate transport, node, or Gmail itself.
To set your Task Manager to monitor for the biggest CPU user, click on the CPU button at the top of the CPU column. Click on it twice, so that the biggest user appears at the top of the column.
Thank you @Call_Me_Jay. I’ll check that out too.
My hard drive is pretty full. I’ll clear that out too.
Upgrade your internet speed link
@zuar! Sensible answers only please! I’m in Australia. My internet options are ‘shitband’ and in the future, I may eventually get access to ‘fraudband’. Internet speed is just a cruel thing other countries like North Korea have.
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