Why is my computer running slowly?

A slow computer can be caused by many things and sometimes requires professional technical help to resolve.  However, in many cases there are some simple and easy steps to take when your computer is running slowly.

The following tips provide some simple items that you can check when you have a slow computer and in many cases, can be resolved inexpensively or for free.

Do you have enough memory in your computer?

Sometimes when a computer is running slowly it is because the system does not have enough memory installed.  When this happens, the system uses what is called a pagefile on the computer’s hard-disk to swap things in and out of the computer’s installed physical memory.  You can use the built-in Windows Task Manager as a tool to check the memory usage of your computer.  To do this, follow these simple steps:

  1. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL
  2. Click the button for Task Manager.  This will vary depending on the version of Windows that you are running, but it should say something like “Start Task Manager”.
  3. Click on the Performance Tab of the Task Manager application.  You should see a screen like the one shown below:
  4. You want to review the Physical Memory section of the displayed screen.  If you are using all of your available physical memory, you may want to consider upgrading the memory in your computer.  In the image above, it shows that my laptop is using 1.08GB of memory.  I know that I have 2GB installed, so I am only using about 50% of the available memory.  A computer using 85% or more of its available memory is likely to be using the hard-drive pagefile which results in lots of hard-disk reads for memory operations.  This can drastically reduce the overall performance of the computer.

Is your Hard Drive fragmented?

Many times a slow computer is running slowly because the hard-drive is fragmented.  This means that the files you have saved on your hard-drive are broken into many small pieces that are stored in different parts of the hard-drive.  Whenever you attempt to open a file that is fragmented on the hard-drive, the computer is forced to read the hard-drive multiple times to reassemble the many pieces of the file that you are trying to open.  This can make a computer run very slowly.  It is important to regularly defragment your hard-drive to avoid this situation as fragementation of the hard-drive data can occur over time as files are created and deleted.  To defragment or check the fragmentation level of your slow computer’s hard-drive, just follow these simple steps:

  1. From the start menu, select Accesories –> System Tools –> Disk Defragmenter

From within this application you can defragment the hard-drive or run analysis reports that detail the level of fragmentation of the hard-drive.  Note that the options availabe in this tool depend on the version of Windows that you are running.

Do you have adware or spyware on your slow computer?

This (in my experience) is the most common reason for a slow computer to run slowly.  Adware and Spyware applications are added to your system primarily as you browse the internet and through the installation of some software applications.  Their presence on a computer that is running slowly is often not known as they run as hidden applications.  The most effective way to elminate adware and spyware applications is through the use of an adware or spyware removal application.  These tools maintain a list of known adware and spyware applications and remove them from your system when detected.  There are many adware and spyware tools available on the internet ranging from completely free utilities to paid services.  I recommend ADWareAlert as it provides support for removal of adware and spyware, automatic online updates to the application and scrubbing of applications on your slow computer to ensure that no remnants of the adware or spyware remain.

Do you have a virus?

This is the (again in my experience) the second most common reason for a slow computer to perform slowly.  Viruses can be installed onto your computer through e-mail attachments, file downloads or data copied from other systems via a floppy disk or CDRom.  There are numerous anti-virus applications available many for a fee.  I recommend the free version of AVG AntiVirus.  It is absolutely free for personal use, provides automatic updates and scheduled scans as well as a repair and virus vault.  My employer uses the commercial version of this product  for all of our professional software development systems and I personally use it on all of my home computers.

Is your registry broken?

Every version of the Windows Operating system has a system registry.  The system registry stores an enormous amout of data about your computer and is vital to the health and performance of your computer.  Broken or corrupt registry entries can turn your once snappy PC into a very slow computer.  Fortunately, there are software packages available to eliminate the symptoms caused by broken and corrupt system registry. 

RegistryFix provides a very good product that can correct errors in your registry that cause many computer problems including:

RegistryFix scans the computer system registry and hard-drive for broken and invalid system and file references which can lead to system instability, errors, system crashes and a slow computer.  The product is backed by a 8 week unconditional money back gurantee.  Learn more …

What else can I try?

If you have reviewed and tried the above suggestions for improving the performance of your slow computer and the computer is still running slowly, you may want to consider investing in more in-depth training material for computer repair.  There is a really good e-book covering basic computer training including:

The author also offers a volume 2 addition that covers home networking basics like:

The eBooks are written by Rich Pryor who has 20+ years experience in the IT industry.  The book is easy to follow and packed full of great information Learn More …

 

 

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