Slow?

Installed Zorin 15 Ultimate on a Dell Vostro 3750. Laptop was barely used - it's practically new. Wiped the Windows 7 to install Zorin. No partitions.

Works fine but 2 issues:

1. Touch pad not working very well - pointer moves a little to the side and up when taking the finger off the pad. Hard to position the pointer correctly and tap on the pad to "click".
The problem is not present when using Firefox on the same computer but very obvious when doing anything else. It is not a question of me not controlling my fingers - I tried many different ways and the problem is the same.
Not a problem since I will be using an external mouse most of the time. But didn't expect something like that.

2. Performance is slow. All programs take time to load - from click to a window popping up there are between 3 and 10 (and even more) seconds every time.

Any suggestions/insights how to make the system more responsive? Thank you in advance.

According to this Dell Community thread your best option might be to invest in an SSD?

https://www.dell.com/community/Laptops- ... -p/4152949

With regards to touchpad, I wonder if it might be worth removing the de facto one (highlighted in the screenshot) and choose the last 'synaptic' package, listed at the bottom of that screen. If you don't have Synaptic Package Manager installed, get it from the Software Channel and search for 'touchpad'.

niko wrote:2. Performance is slow. All programs take time to load - from click to a window popping up there are between 3 and 10 (and even more) seconds every time.

Any suggestions/insights how to make the system more responsive? Thank you in advance.

Can you post the contents of /var/log/syslog and ~/.Xsession erros?
Interminal, can you please run

Code:

systemd-analyze blame

and either examine yourself or post the output here?

Certain hardware issues like OVerheating and Memory Failing can cause such slow speeds. I understand that you said the laptop is like new, however, that can be very misleading. Never assume, always check.
Sometimes, cleaning the dust out of the cooling fins can make a big difference.
The Gnome Desktop used by Zorin 15 Core is more resource heavy. many of us prefer a lighter Desktop Environment like XFCE or LXDE. Zorin no longer offers an LXDE version, but you can install LXDE D.E. Right from the terminal.
It Does offer Zorin Lite - which is what I use- with the XFCE desktop.

Swarfendors suggestion of using SSD may also be a good way to go if it is in the budget. I use an SSD on a primitive Toughbook manufactured by the Dinocomp Corp that we dug up on an excavation and it is still very fast (also Zorin 12.4 Lite XFCE).

$ systemd-analyze blame
27.658s plymouth-quit-wait.service
11.154s dev-sda1.device
8.260s NetworkManager-wait-online.service
6.513s networkd-dispatcher.service
6.376s udisks2.service
5.750s ModemManager.service
5.373s timidity.service
4.364s NetworkManager.service
4.249s wpa_supplicant.service
3.810s gpu-manager.service
3.773s grub-common.service
3.536s accounts-daemon.service
3.380s apparmor.service
3.364s speech-dispatcher.service
2.780s snapd.service
2.755s systemd-rfkill.service
2.720s networking.service
2.254s packagekit.service
2.253s user@122.service
2.051s systemd-logind.service
1.947s thermald.service
1.915s apt-daily-upgrade.service
1.870s snapd.seeded.service
lines 1-23...skipping...
27.658s plymouth-quit-wait.service
11.154s dev-sda1.device
8.260s NetworkManager-wait-online.service
6.513s networkd-dispatcher.service
6.376s udisks2.service
5.750s ModemManager.service
5.373s timidity.service
4.364s NetworkManager.service
4.249s wpa_supplicant.service
3.810s gpu-manager.service
3.773s grub-common.service
3.536s accounts-daemon.service
3.380s apparmor.service
3.364s speech-dispatcher.service
2.780s snapd.service
2.755s systemd-rfkill.service
2.720s networking.service
2.254s packagekit.service
2.253s user@122.service
2.051s systemd-logind.service
1.947s thermald.service
1.915s apt-daily-upgrade.service
1.870s snapd.seeded.service
1.803s alsa-restore.service
1.700s polkit.service
1.663s fwupd.service
1.490s systemd-udevd.service
1.346s dns-clean.service
1.190s upower.service
1.125s rsyslog.service
1.075s systemd-modules-load.service
1.036s binfmt-support.service
1.026s bluetooth.service
801ms gdm.service
742ms systemd-journal-flush.service
709ms switcheroo-control.service
677ms virtualbox.service
675ms swapfile.swap
666ms keyboard-setup.service
570ms systemd-udev-trigger.service
559ms systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
553ms systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service
469ms systemd-journald.service
426ms systemd-sysctl.service
358ms systemd-machine-id-commit.service
lines 1-45

It would appear that 'plymouth' (boot splash) is giving you most issues. Possible speed increase suggested here:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/766973/ ... l-plymouth

Your next one is the boot up of your hard drive - solution SSD if funds allow - that would make for a far snappier machine but you would need to check that your particular notebook supports SSD.

After setting
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
to
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"
------------------------------------------------

21.141s apt-daily.service
12.515s plymouth-quit-wait.service
11.487s snapd.service
10.317s NetworkManager-wait-online.service
10.029s dev-sda1.device
8.342s networkd-dispatcher.service
7.493s apparmor.service
6.745s ModemManager.service
6.597s udisks2.service
5.712s timidity.service
4.798s wpa_supplicant.service
4.601s NetworkManager.service
4.418s gpu-manager.service
3.991s accounts-daemon.service
3.779s dev-loop6.device
3.736s colord.service
3.342s grub-common.service
3.033s dev-loop5.device
2.987s dev-loop3.device
2.855s thermald.service
2.790s dev-loop4.device
2.766s polkit.service
2.664s dev-loop0.device
lines 1-23...skipping...
21.141s apt-daily.service
12.515s plymouth-quit-wait.service
11.487s snapd.service
10.317s NetworkManager-wait-online.service
10.029s dev-sda1.device
8.342s networkd-dispatcher.service
7.493s apparmor.service
6.745s ModemManager.service
6.597s udisks2.service
5.712s timidity.service
4.798s wpa_supplicant.service
4.601s NetworkManager.service
4.418s gpu-manager.service
3.991s accounts-daemon.service
3.779s dev-loop6.device
3.736s colord.service
3.342s grub-common.service
3.033s dev-loop5.device
2.987s dev-loop3.device
2.855s thermald.service
2.790s dev-loop4.device
2.766s polkit.service
2.664s dev-loop0.device
2.624s systemd-rfkill.service
2.608s dev-loop1.device
2.554s dev-loop2.device
2.219s systemd-udevd.service
2.087s systemd-user-sessions.service
1.607s systemd-journal-flush.service
1.363s dns-clean.service
1.310s systemd-modules-load.service
1.268s gdm.service
1.231s networking.service
1.090s systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
1.067s motd-news.service
1.009s fwupd.service
897ms systemd-sysctl.service
872ms swapfile.swap
870ms snap-wine\x2dplatform\x2druntime-62.mount
859ms snap-notepadqq-855.mount
848ms snap-core-8268.mount
818ms snap-gtk\x2dcommon\x2dthemes-1353.mount
794ms user@122.service
747ms snap-core18-1288.mount
674ms snap-wine\x2dplatform\x2d3\x2dstable-6.mount

Yes, things got faster. But now I got the apt-daily.service

Thank you for your help!

Look at the solution posted here with 44 votes - scroll down to it, to resolve the apt-daily.service issue:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/800479/ ... ly-service