The Windows telemetry runs in the background, more or less in bursts all the time; moreover, it uses multiple IP addresses that you will find very difficult to block via a firewall, hosts file, etc.

For the curious,
Fiddler to watch Windows Telemetry in action!!

xDDDD

@blackbird71 And how is telemetry going to tell them that my entire laptop runs like crap? It's not crashing, not having lockups, errors or freezes, it's just horrendously slow for no logical reason. I don't even know who to contact at Microsoft to get it fixed...

The Windows telemetry runs in the background, more or less in bursts all the time; moreover, it uses multiple IP addresses that you will find very difficult to block via a firewall, hosts file, etc. Depending on certain settings options, various kinds and details of data are phoned home. As to many of the specific details, Microsoft has been less than forthcoming. This, in turn, has been the source of many privacy questions and criticisms from users ever since Win10 first emerged.

Moreover, regarding telemetry, Microsoft couldn't care less about your particular system... they're collating data from millions of users looking for various pattern failures that they can then fix before they ship the updates to their more lucrative (and stability-demanding) Enterprise users. Home and Pro users may be able to delay the forced updates for varying amounts of time, but they can't pick and choose among them nearly as easily as in previous Windows versions - hence they can't avoid the early-adopters' problematic ones as easily as in the past. It's more than likely Microsoft's telemetry indeed has data indicating the slowdown on your system after whichever update was involved, but that merely represents a single occurrence to Microsoft. Only if they see enough similar field problems will anything be done to fix/re-build the update for later users, none of which will do your system any good unless the problem is sufficiently widespread.

Microsoft's object in doing this is to use the "free" field testing by users as a substitute for more costly in-house QA testing... but that goal does not include helping a specific user fix a problem caused by one of their updates. Since the 1709 "Fall Update" first emerged last autumn, there have been literally multiple dozens of updates issued (clustered in groups), of which perhaps 10-20 have caused multiple users a wide variety of issues. One of the most common causes have been update conflicts with various hardware drivers on certain systems.

I wish things were otherwise, but sadly they're not. Unless a user is something of a Windows guru, about all they can do is to install the basic Win10 OS and block the Windows update service from functioning. Then the user manually downloads each Win10 update one-at-a-time and checks operation after each to try to find the problematic update. If he finds one, he can "hide" it from the auto-updater's view (for a time period not clearly defined by Microsoft) if he wants to resume allowing the Windows updater to function. It's messy and labor-intensive; but for some users, it's about all they can do unless they know somebody who is skilled and experienced in Windows update problems.

I think I found a culprit. ... I need to figure out which update exactly totally screws up performance. I don't get it, am I the ONLY user that experienced this from entire freaking world? Seems weird...

Unfortunately, you're not the only one experiencing system issues from Windows updates. Since Microsoft reduced their Quality Assurance staff several years ago and instead started using telemetry feedback from Windows Home and Pro users in the field for their debugging, problematic Windows updates on certain systems have become the order of the day. Even more problematic are driver updates being also pushed by Microsoft to users' systems.

How can I try older Opera version? I tried FileHippo and it just offered me a stub downloader instead of actual old version...

Look here for the version you want: https://ftp.opera.com/pub/opera/desktop/
I always recommend using Opera's own FTP site for old versions... it's a safer way to go, since Opera never bundles anything else with its downloads.

However, I do suggest you perform the following steps: download the version you want from Opera's FTP site, disconnect the computer from the Internet, uninstall your present Opera (using the option to keep your personal data), then install the version of Opera you've downloaded. Next, locate the "opera_autoupdate.exe file" (it should be located in the Program Files/Opera/**.*.****.** subfolder associated with the version number you've just installed) and rename that autoupdater file to something different (eg: opera_autoupdateORIG.exe). Then and only then reconnect the computer to the Internet. Otherwise, the autoupdater will update your installation to the latest version as soon as you finish installing the downloaded one.

Do keep in mind, however, that until/unless you rename the autoupdater file back to its original name, your system will not automatically keep Opera current (unless you manually update it at some point).

Everything but Edge runs like absolute garbage. Opera, Firefox, Vivaldi, you name it. Not even override software blocklist does anything compared to how it helped on AMD E-450. It's crazy and absurd.

You might have better luck filing this for Chrome/Chromium. If it's something they can fix, Opera should inherit the fix.

You said Edge works fine, but have you checked Chrome, Chromium and Vivaldi (while taking note of the Chromium version they're using) to see how they behave? Did you try Developer/Snapshot versions of Opera, Vivaldi, Chrome and Chromium?

Did you try a few older builds of Opera to see if you can find out when the issue started?

The problem might be due to a change in Chromium instead of Opera. Or, it might be a certain version of Opera where it started. It might work fine in Chrome (Chrome uses all of FFMPEG while Opera uses Windows APIs for proprietary codecs), but not in other Chromium browsers.

Anything special about your monitor and DPI settings? High refresh rate? High DPI? Does messing with those (as a test) show improvement?

Can you find some 1080p@60 mp4 files, download them and play them locally in Opera? Try same thing with webm. Do they play fine?

Your GPU should be able to decode all kinds of codecs in hardware.

Everything but Edge runs like absolute garbage. Opera, Firefox, Vivaldi, you name it. Not even override software blocklist does anything compared to how it helped on AMD E-450. It's crazy and absurd.

@zalex108 said in Terrible performance, how to figure out what's causing it?:

@rejzor

Have you tested on a clean profile?

I have and t makes zero difference,

Have you tested on a clean profile?

Did you try a few older builds of Opera to see if you can find out when the issue started?

The problem might be due to a change in Chromium instead of Opera. Or, it might be a certain version of Opera where it started. It might work fine in Chrome (Chrome uses all of FFMPEG while Opera uses Windows APIs for proprietary codecs), but not in other Chromium browsers.

Anything special about your monitor and DPI settings? High refresh rate? High DPI? Does messing with those (as a test) show improvement?

Can you find some 1080p@60 mp4 files, download them and play them locally in Opera? Try same thing with webm. Do they play fine?

Your GPU should be able to decode all kinds of codecs in hardware.

Graphics Feature Status
Canvas: Hardware accelerated
CheckerImaging: Disabled
Flash: Hardware accelerated
Flash Stage3D: Hardware accelerated
Flash Stage3D Baseline profile: Hardware accelerated
Compositing: Hardware accelerated
Multiple Raster Threads: Disabled
Native GpuMemoryBuffers: Software only. Hardware acceleration disabled
Rasterization: Unavailable
Surface Synchronization: Enabled
Video Decode: Hardware accelerated
Viz Service Display Compositor: Disabled
WebGL: Hardware accelerated
WebGL2: Hardware accelerated
Driver Bug Workarounds
clear_uniforms_before_first_program_use
decode_encode_srgb_for_generatemipmap
disable_discard_framebuffer
disable_dxgi_zero_copy_video
disable_framebuffer_cmaa
exit_on_context_lost
force_cube_complete
scalarize_vec_and_mat_constructor_args
texsubimage_faster_than_teximage
Problems Detected
Rasterization not working on AMD cards with Windows 10 Creators Update.
Disabled Features: gpu_rasterization
Some drivers are unable to reset the D3D device in the GPU process sandbox
Applied Workarounds: exit_on_context_lost
TexSubImage is faster for full uploads on ANGLE
Applied Workarounds: texsubimage_faster_than_teximage
Clear uniforms before first program use on all platforms: 124764, 349137
Applied Workarounds: clear_uniforms_before_first_program_use
Always rewrite vec/mat constructors to be consistent: 398694
Applied Workarounds: scalarize_vec_and_mat_constructor_args
ANGLE crash on glReadPixels from incomplete cube map texture: 518889
Applied Workarounds: force_cube_complete
Framebuffer discarding can hurt performance on non-tilers: 570897
Applied Workarounds: disable_discard_framebuffer
Use GL_INTEL_framebuffer_CMAA on ChromeOS: 535198
Applied Workarounds: disable_framebuffer_cmaa
Disable KHR_blend_equation_advanced until cc shaders are updated: 661715
Applied Workarounds: disable(GL_KHR_blend_equation_advanced), disable(GL_KHR_blend_equation_advanced_coherent)
Decode and Encode before generateMipmap for srgb format textures on Windows: 634519
Applied Workarounds: decode_encode_srgb_for_generatemipmap
Zero-copy DXGI video hangs or displays incorrect colors on AMD drivers: 623029
Applied Workarounds: disable_dxgi_zero_copy_video
Don't expose disjoint_timer_query extensions to WebGL: 808744
Raster is using a single thread.
Disabled Features: multiple_raster_threads
Native GpuMemoryBuffers have been disabled, either via about:flags or command line.
Disabled Features: native_gpu_memory_buffers
Viz service display compositor is not enabled by default.
Disabled Features: viz_display_compositor
Checker-imaging has been disabled via finch trial or the command line.
Disabled Features: checker_imaging
Version Information
Data exported 2018-07-05T06:48:40.843Z
Browser version OPR/54.0.2952.41
Operating system Windows NT 10.0.17134
ANGLE commit id unknown hash
2D graphics backend Skia/67
Command Line "C:\Program Files\Opera\54.0.2952.41\opera.exe" --enable-quic --ran-launcher --started-from-shortcut --use-turbo2 --ran-launcher --flag-switches-begin --flag-switches-end --use-turbo2 --enable-quic
Driver Information
Initialization time 1267
In-process GPU false
Passthrough Command Decoder false
Direct Composition true
Supports overlays false
Sandboxed true
GPU0 VENDOR = 0x1002, DEVICE= 0x98e4 ACTIVE
Optimus false
AMD switchable false
Desktop compositing Aero Glass
Diagonal Monitor Size of \.\DISPLAY1 15.5"
DX12 false
Vulkan false
Driver vendor Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Driver version 23.20.808.3840
Driver date 4-2-2018
Pixel shader version 5.0
Vertex shader version 5.0
Max. MSAA samples 8
Machine model name
Machine model version
GL_VENDOR Google Inc.
GL_RENDERER ANGLE (AMD Radeon(TM) R5 Graphics Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0)
GL_VERSION OpenGL ES 2.0 (ANGLE 2.1.0.unknown hash)
GL_EXTENSIONS GL_ANGLE_client_arrays GL_ANGLE_depth_texture GL_ANGLE_framebuffer_blit GL_ANGLE_framebuffer_multisample GL_ANGLE_get_d3d_texture GL_ANGLE_instanced_arrays GL_ANGLE_lossy_etc_decode GL_ANGLE_pack_reverse_row_order GL_ANGLE_program_cache_control GL_ANGLE_request_extension GL_ANGLE_robust_client_memory GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt3 GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt5 GL_ANGLE_texture_usage GL_ANGLE_translated_shader_source GL_CHROMIUM_bind_generates_resource GL_CHROMIUM_bind_uniform_location GL_CHROMIUM_color_buffer_float_rgb GL_CHROMIUM_color_buffer_float_rgba GL_CHROMIUM_copy_compressed_texture GL_CHROMIUM_copy_texture GL_CHROMIUM_sync_query GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_color_buffer_half_float GL_EXT_debug_marker GL_EXT_discard_framebuffer GL_EXT_disjoint_timer_query GL_EXT_draw_buffers GL_EXT_frag_depth GL_EXT_map_buffer_range GL_EXT_occlusion_query_boolean GL_EXT_read_format_bgra GL_EXT_robustness GL_EXT_sRGB GL_EXT_shader_texture_lod GL_EXT_texture_compression_dxt1 GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc_srgb GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_EXT_texture_format_BGRA8888 GL_EXT_texture_rg GL_EXT_texture_storage GL_EXT_unpack_subimage GL_KHR_debug GL_NV_EGL_stream_consumer_external GL_NV_fence GL_NV_pack_subimage GL_NV_pixel_buffer_object GL_OES_EGL_image GL_OES_EGL_image_external GL_OES_compressed_ETC1_RGB8_texture GL_OES_depth32 GL_OES_element_index_uint GL_OES_get_program_binary GL_OES_mapbuffer GL_OES_packed_depth_stencil GL_OES_rgb8_rgba8 GL_OES_standard_derivatives GL_OES_surfaceless_context GL_OES_texture_float GL_OES_texture_float_linear GL_OES_texture_half_float GL_OES_texture_half_float_linear GL_OES_texture_npot GL_OES_vertex_array_object
Disabled Extensions GL_KHR_blend_equation_advanced GL_KHR_blend_equation_advanced_coherent
Disabled WebGL Extensions EXT_disjoint_timer_query EXT_disjoint_timer_query_webgl2
Window system binding vendor Google Inc. (adapter LUID: 000000000000f9e4)
Window system binding version 1.4 (ANGLE 2.1.0.unknown hash)
Window system binding extensions EGL_EXT_create_context_robustness EGL_ANGLE_d3d_share_handle_client_buffer EGL_ANGLE_d3d_texture_client_buffer EGL_ANGLE_surface_d3d_texture_2d_share_handle EGL_ANGLE_query_surface_pointer EGL_ANGLE_window_fixed_size EGL_ANGLE_keyed_mutex EGL_ANGLE_surface_orientation EGL_ANGLE_direct_composition EGL_NV_post_sub_buffer EGL_KHR_create_context EGL_EXT_device_query EGL_KHR_image EGL_KHR_image_base EGL_KHR_gl_texture_2D_image EGL_KHR_gl_texture_cubemap_image EGL_KHR_gl_renderbuffer_image EGL_KHR_get_all_proc_addresses EGL_KHR_stream EGL_KHR_stream_consumer_gltexture EGL_NV_stream_consumer_gltexture_yuv EGL_ANGLE_flexible_surface_compatibility EGL_ANGLE_stream_producer_d3d_texture EGL_ANGLE_create_context_webgl_compatibility EGL_CHROMIUM_create_context_bind_generates_resource EGL_CHROMIUM_sync_control EGL_EXT_pixel_format_float EGL_KHR_surfaceless_context EGL_ANGLE_display_texture_share_group EGL_ANGLE_create_context_client_arrays EGL_ANGLE_program_cache_control EGL_ANGLE_robust_resource_initialization EGL_ANGLE_create_context_extensions_enabled
Direct rendering Yes
Reset notification strategy 0x8252
GPU process crash count 0
Compositor Information
Tile Update Mode One-copy
Partial Raster Enabled
GpuMemoryBuffers Status
ATC Software only
ATCIA Software only
DXT1 Software only
DXT5 Software only
ETC1 Software only
R_8 Software only
R_16 Software only
RG_88 Software only
BGR_565 Software only
RGBA_4444 Software only
RGBX_8888 GPU_READ, SCANOUT
RGBA_8888 GPU_READ, SCANOUT
BGRX_8888 Software only
BGRX_1010102 Software only
RGBX_1010102 Software only
BGRA_8888 Software only
RGBA_F16 Software only
YVU_420 Software only
YUV_420_BIPLANAR Software only
UYVY_422 Software only
Display(s) Information
Info Display[2528732444] bounds=[0,0 1920x1080], workarea=[0,0 1920x1040], scale=1, external.
Color space information {primaries:BT709, transfer:IEC61966_2_1, matrix:RGB, range:FULL}
Bits per color component 8
Bits per pixel 24
Video Acceleration Information
Decode h264 baseline up to 4096x2304 pixels
Decode h264 baseline up to 2304x4096 pixels
Decode h264 main up to 4096x2304 pixels
Decode h264 main up to 2304x4096 pixels
Decode h264 high up to 4096x2304 pixels
Decode h264 high up to 2304x4096 pixels
Encode h264 baseline up to 3840x2176 pixels and/or 30.000 fps
Encode h264 main up to 3840x2176 pixels and/or 30.000 fps
Encode h264 high up to 3840x2176 pixels and/or 30.000 fps
Diagnostics
... loading ...
Log Messages
GpuProcessHostUIShim: The GPU process exited normally. Everything is okay.

Did you check opera://gpu? It may give you some info.

I'll check that. Though with AMD E-450, it was Opera that was blacklisting the GPU most of the time and that was why it wasn't working. This one has A LOT more powerful GPU, several generations newer. Even if it shows it's not enabled, it doesn't tell me whether Opera is doing it or AMD.

@nvmjustagirl said in Terrible performance, how to figure out what's causing it?:

@rejzor if ya don't mind me ask 'n.. is hp laptop dual processor or Quad.. and is turbo enabled.. *i'm guess 'n 3 GHz up to 3.6 GHz

what power plan in win 10 ya use is it called - Hp recommended power plan.. and or do ya have a - high performace power plan..

Hp recommended power plan parks processors unless needed..

3.6GHz dual core. But that's besides the point since video should be decoding on GPU not CPU. But it's not apparently because it runs like garbage.

@nvmjustagirl said in Terrible performance, how to figure out what's causing it?:

Windows 10 core parking (Core Parking Index) is controlled by the computer power plan. Setting the power plan to "High Performance" disables any core parking (all cores un-parked). Setting the computer power plan to "Balanced" or "Power Saving" parks any core with less than 5% usage..

To see n e parked cores - Open task manager - under performance tab click open resource monitor and click on CPU tab to check the parked cores..

if ya don't see all your cores on the right side..in graphs

look above that CPU tab - you will see the 3 titles called - File - Monitor - Help.. Click Monitor - in dropdown menu click Select Processors - a box window will open - check mark box < All CPUs >..

whats the use of have 'n a quad or 6 cores if 3 or 5 of them Are Parked..

For me i like all my cores Un-Parked.. *better performance.. better game play, no freezes lag 'n, ect..

The moment I bought laptop I formatted it and installed clean Windows to get rid of HP junk. Running Balanced power plan which is normal for day to day use. But at that point it was still running smoothly. Everything. But now, everything in browser feels a lot slower and Youtube is literally unusable. Finding what's causing it is so hard because there were endless Opera updates, AMD updated drivers and Windows also updated. Finding who to blame and where to seek help is almost impossible.

To see n e parked cores - Open task manager - under performance tab click open resource monitor and click on CPU tab to check the parked cores..

if ya don't see all your cores on the right side..in graphs

look above that CPU tab - you will see the 3 titles called - File - Monitor - Help.. Click Monitor - in dropdown menu click Select Processors - a box window will open - check mark box < All CPUs >..

whats the use of have 'n a quad or 6 cores if 3 or 5 of them Are Parked..

For me i like all my cores Un-Parked.. *better performance.. better game play, no freezes lag 'n, ect..

what power plan in win 10 ya use is it called - Hp recommended power plan.. and or do ya have a - high performace power plan..

Hp recommended power plan parks processors unless needed..

Youtube runs smoothly at 1080p60 in Edge. But in Opera, it runs like total garbage. Literally over night. Why? Why was it all smooth as silk when I bought it just 6 months ago even in Opera and now it's unusable? Also, why can it work perfectly in Edge but not Opera. This isn't some bottom of the barrel APU. It has Radeon R5 graphics which can run quite demanding games but can't run one damn browser smoothly somehow. This makes no sense at all.

It seems like HW acceleration is totally non existent. The laptop is powerful enough to run a silly browser or play anything on Youtube smoothly. And yet it just doesn't.

I've installed latest display driver clean from HP webpage which had the latest one from June 2018 which is super recent. No change. ProTube super smooth, browser, basically entirely useless.

Also check if your graphic card drivers are up to date. Try using official ones instead of the ones provided by Microsoft.

Checking the connection may be interesting too.