TriMech Technical Support has received a large amount of calls from our clients indicating that their SOLIDWORKS performance has suddenly come to a screeching halt for seemingly no reason at all. We have learned that this is being caused by a Windows Update pushing out a new, unsupported version of your graphics card driver within the normal updates and patches. So, how do you fix this? 

Steps To Fix SOLIDWORKS Slow Down:

First, be sure to go to http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/videocardtesting.html and download the correct, certified graphics card driver for your hardware and software configuration and reinstall it. Next, prevent the Windows Update from overwriting your driver in the future by following these steps:  

Step 1: Right-click “This PC” and choose “Properties”

Step 2: Choose Advanced System Settings > Hardware > Device Installation Settings

Step 3: Choose “No” and Save Changes

This setting can also be updated via the Group Policy Editor. We recommend to do this in both places.

Step 1: Open Group Policy Management Editor by clicking “Start” and typing “gpedit” (no quotes) > Choose “Edit group policy”

Step 2: In the navigation pane, open Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Internet Communication Management > Internet Communication settings *In the details pane, double-click “Turn off Windows Update device driver searching”

Step 3: In the settings pane, select the “Enabled” radio button, and choose “OK”

Note: If you edit policy settings locally on a computer, you will affect the settings on only that one computer. If you configure the settings in a Group Policy object (GPO) hosted in an Active Directory domain, then the settings apply to all computers that are subject to that GPO. Subscribe to our blog or follow us on Twitter to get the latest updates on SOLIDWORKS.