Linux mint 17 would do all you need and much more, also Zorin which was mentioned earlier in this thread.You appear to understand techy stuff so will put some trust in what you say.
Memory is at 51% and cpu is running up to 98%. Is there something I can do without upgrading cpu to make it more efficient ? Can I disable certain features ? I only use this for browsing and general internet use , no gaming or silly stuff like that, very little downloading .
Go to your settings button, under the windows button in the bottom left corner, hit the about tab and tell us what the CPU model is, then we can make an educated reply.You appear to understand techy stuff so will put some trust in what you say.
Memory is at 51% and cpu is running up to 98%. Is there something I can do without upgrading cpu to make it more efficient ? Can I disable certain features ? I only use this for browsing and general internet use , no gaming or silly stuff like that, very little downloading .
It should do for the internet but it is the bottom of the barrel for CPU performance, it even makes the Atom CPU's look goodMega, so far so good and looking/feeling much better. Browsing is on the up and I now have 3 or 4 tabs going plus TM open clicking between them the CPU is coping, Task Manager shows fluctuating % use now ranging from 18 -98% .
Great tip. Switched to best performance, and the only box I needed to turn back on was the 'smooth edges of screen fonts', otherwise text looked a bit blocky.Nealh as others have said your CPU is very likely the problem with your machine. I notice you said it is a notebook and not a laptop so it is likely to have a very basic CPU which was only designed for low intensity tasks and now with the bloat that comes with Windows 10 it is struggling to cope.
It may be worth while making these adjustments that I show below to see if it speeds anything up at all although you do sacrifice the overall look of windows 10 as it gets rid of all the fancy shading of icons etc.
I tend to use this method on low spec laptops that we have at work.
Ok first go to control panel by typing it in to the search bar
View attachment 15881
find the "system" icon and click on it.
View attachment 15882
on the left hand side of this system page go to "advanced system settings"
View attachment 15883
Now go to the "advanced tab" and in performance click on settings
View attachment 15884
The original setting will be "let windows choose whats best for this computer" - change it to "adjust for best performance"
View attachment 15880
you can always change these settings back to the original if you are not happy with the look / feel of windows 10.