Top 5 Reasons Why Your Computer is Slow
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 11:12AM It happens to the best of us. That blazing fast computer we bought a few years ago has been relegated to a sluggish, limping shadow of it's former self. However, the inevitable downward spiral of responsiveness from your computer can possibly be stopped, or even reversed, by looking at exactly what is causing it in the first place.
Here are 5 of the most common reasons why your computer may be running slowly, and what you can do about it!
Malware Infection
Malware can be anything from pesky advertising tool bars, spyware, or a virus. Normally if you observe a sudden dramatic slowdown of your computer responsiveness, malware is to blame.
The best way to protect against malware is to make sure your virus protection software is up-to-date. Also, make sure you follow good web surfing practice by only visiting web sites of companies that you have heard of outside of the web and by not downloading files from questionable sources.
Too Many Programs Running in the Background
Although you may not have a lot of windows open, many programs run in the background automatically when you start your computer. When enough of these programs are running, it can burden your system resources.
The easiest way to see what is running is to check your System Tray...that area of small icons next to the clock in the lower right corner of the screen. Hover your mouse over each icon and see what it is. You can normally right click it and choose to exit if you feel it doesn't need to be running all the time.
Full Hard Drive
Your hard drive is the place in your computer that stores all of your data, including programs, files, and media. Over time, as you install more programs and add more pictures, music, and videos to your computer, the hard drive fills up. When it's close to being full, funny things can happen to your system, including significant performance problems.
Check how much space you have on your hard drive by double-clicking going to your My Computer icon and then right-click on your hard disk, usually called Local Disk (C:), and select properties. A window will open that will show you Used and Free space. If your used space is 90% or more of your free space, you might want to look at either clearing some space by uninstalling some programs, or purchasing a bigger hard drive.
Under Powered Hardware
As your computer ages, the rest of the technology world continues to push forward. That means newer software is developed to take advantage of current technology. You may find that, on older systems, if you attempt to install the latest version of a program, it will result in slowing your entire system down. You may want to choose to stick with using the older version of the software, but we aware that this may result in security risks or compatibility issues with other programs.
I recommend upgrading or replacing your computer system every 3-5 years to take advantage of newer technologies and ensure you'll be able to run the latest software safely.
Too Much Junk
No matter how diligent you are at keeping your system clean, inevitably over time it will start to accumulate temporary files, system files, and other "junk" that may be clogging up your hard drive. While running Disk Cleanup (from Programs>Accessories>System Tools) can fix this temporarily, eventually you may be better off just starting with a clean slate and reinstalling Windows. If you are not familiar with this process, I recommend contacting a professional to do it for you.
If you have any questions about the above list, or need help figuring out which one of these is the cause of your sluggish system, contact us today and we'll check it out for you!
Reader Comments (3)
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