Slow Computer

Very Slow Computer

One thing that you cannot afford to have around your office or home is a slow running computer. A very slow computer can literally make your life a nightmare. You may miss deadlines, lose important documents, or eventually even lose your job because of a slow computer. With all of the recent innovations in technology there should be no reason to have to deal with a problem computer.

One of the very first things that you do when you buy a computer is install a firewall and antivirus software. There are literally thousands of malicious programs that can be unknowingly downloaded from the Internet. Programs like spyware and other types of viruses can make your computer very slow and ruin your day. These programs can be downloaded in a piggyback fashion when you are downloading a legitimate program or can be uploaded into email attachments or directly from websites. When you are using the internet you should be careful to avoid sites that you are unfamiliar with or have a history of infecting computers with viruses. If you choose to download files you are running a high risk for viruses. Be sure that any file you download is from a trusted source before you bring it onto your computer.

Another thing that can be done to fix a slowing computer is storing large files on an external hard drive. External hard drives are great because they can free up your computer’s internal hard drive and speed your computer up significantly. Files like music and videos can be stored on a portable hard drive and used when needed.

Installing extra random access memory (RAM) or a larger hard drive may be other good options when you are dealing with a very slow computer. These hardware upgrades are usually very simple and can wither be done yourself or by a professional at a local computer repair shop. The upgrades are for the most part very price friendly, with new parts only costing a few hundred dollars at most.

There are many different tricks that you can use to speed up your machine but in the end it may just be time to ditch your very slow computer and buy a new machine all together. Keeping your computer fast is most likely the best option that you have because once your computer lags you will be playing a constant catch up game trying to get your old speed back.

The Slow Computer website has additional information that you might find useful.

Slow Computer Startup

No one wants to feel that feeling that far too many people are faced with each time they turn on their computer. You reach down and turn the computer on and wait as you hear the familiar whirring and humming of the machine starting up. But then five minutes have gone by, and then ten, and then fifteen and so on and so on. It becomes almost unbearable as you sit and sit and sit and there is nothing you can do about it. Everyone thinks that won’t happen to them. People think that because they have the latest and greatest model or the model from the best manufacturer that such problems won’t ever affect or impact them. What these types of people don’t realize is that slow computer startup problems and others like it affect everyone, including them.

There are a few basic causes of slow computer problems. The biggest one is you have too many background programs running that are set to automatically run in the default. What happens is every time you shut down your computer these automated programs shut down. However, they are programmed to begin again each time you turn on your computer. This means that every time you turn on your computer numerous little programs are firing up and beginning to tie up the valuable capabilities of your computer. In order to combat this symptom of slow computer startup, it’s necessary to clean up your hard drive, particularly of files or programs that are automatically starting. If you can trim down the process of your startup to only essential programs, that goes a long way in alleviating a slow computer problem.

Another thing that can cause slow computer startup is the presence of viruses, worms, or other malware on your system. You have to do all that you can to protect your computer from such issues by having up to date antivirus software. This will do a much better job than you can as an individual at monitoring what comes on to the computer. If there’s anything trying to gain access to the computer that should not be, or that could be a potential threat the antivirus programs will quarantine and delete it so that it can’t do any damage and bog down the computer. Another advantage of most antivirus software programs available today is that they offer identification of and protection from adware and spyware. These are the types of programs that can run in the background and significantly reduce computer performance. Just try and be as aware as you can and let technology help you in your goal of having speedy response times in your computer.

The Slow Computer website has additional information that you might find useful.

Why is My Computer Running Slow

Is your computer slowing down? Do you want to know why is my computer running slow. Windows XP is the problem because it is not a self-tuning operating system and begins to slow down right after you install it. Just browsing the Internet you will pick up performance robbing spyware and data mining programs that try and determine what your interests are so that targeted advertising can be sent to you. Windows XP also has a large complex registry that tries to keep track of all the hardware and software changes to your computer. Every time you install a new program or utility it makes changes to the registry. Every time you remove a program or utility it tries to remove the file pointers and configuration changes it made to accommodate the program. Sometimes it doesn’t remove or reset all the file pointers so the next time you restart your computer it seems slower as Windows looks for files that are no longer there. It also has to take more time during startup to load all the new programs you have added making for a slow computer. It also has to take more time to run all these new performance hogging programs that you installed thinking they were going to help you. Some of the worst offenders are the newer anti-virus programs that now have to scan every Web site connection, email, and downloads. Also these anti-virus programs will do background system and hard drive scans that eat up more performance. You hard drive gets fragmented just running Windows, and with all the programs you install and then later remove you will fragment the hard drive even more. Sometimes hardware and software drivers are not compatible with the operating system and can slow your computer to a crawl.

What To Do

When I first buy a computer, or repair one, I reformat the hard drive and remove all those offending programs. Reformatting also restores the hard drive by removing any fragmentation problems, scans and checks the media for errors, and provides a fresh partition to install Windows on. When you install Windows you have a fresh clean registry and I only install the absolute minimum software that I need to do my work. If I want to play games, download files, and install new programs to test I do this either on a different computer, a different partition, or the best choice, a virtual machine.

Second Computer For Downloading and Testing New Software or Games

Having a second computer for downloading and testing new software or games will help to safeguard your primary operating system. You can also create a second partition on your hard drive and install a second Windows XP just for this purpose. Better yet you could use a virtual machine to do your downloading and testing of new software.

Virtual Machines

Virtual machines run just like a regular operating system and appear like a complete computer to the host. You can install any operating system, including Linux, and run it inside Windows. The virtual machine will even connect to the Internet and act like an independent computer. The virtual machine is only a single file that can be copied to create backups or additional machines that can be run at the same time to create a network of computers. If one of the virtual machines get corrupted you just restart it without saving the corrupt changes or delete it and use a backup. Virtual machines have become very popular because of their ease of use, performance, and portability. They are portable because they will run on any computer that can host or run virtual machine software.

Imaging Software

Imaging software, such as, Norton Ghost, Acronis, Partimage, and others have become very popular for maintaining and cloning large numbers of computers. Also you can create copies of partitions on your personal computer that will allow you to restore your files or operating system in minutes. This is what I use and recommend because it keeps my computers running at their optimum performance 24/7/365. I have not had a slow or poor performing computer for more than a few minutes for over 10 years now and I daily run and maintain over 35 computers. It takes no longer than 5 minutes to completely restore a computer to its optimum performance using imaging software. Why is my computer running slow is never a problem for me anymore.

You might find some of the following links helpful for maintaining your computer.

Slow Computer web site has many helps and video links.

YouTube Channel Frenchge has many computer related video helps.

Fast Computer

Have a fast computer should always be the goal. Computers run their fastest when the operating system is first installed and the computer registry and the hard drive are both fresh. The registry is a very large complex data base for all the software and hardware settings. As programs are installed, configured, and removed the registry can become corrupted from all these changes and you begin to notice that boot times are longer as the registry is looking for files that are no longer installed. Also in time the hard drive gets fragmented with all the files being written and deleted leaving many holes that are never filledwith exactly the same size files. This causes files to spill over to other tracks which makes the read write head work harder trying to read these fragmented files. To keep your computer running at its optimum a fresh install with a newly formatted hard drive can make a big improvement. I do this daily with a lab of 35 computers and it only takes me about 10 minutes. My students are always remarking about how fast the lab computers perform compared to other computers they use both at school and at home. Since my students are studying computer repair and maintenance they have complete admin rights and they can modify and change any setting on these computers. So with 6 classes using these computers each day they get quit a work out and need some daily maintenance. I use several Open Source (free) partitioning and imaging programs to maintain these computers and teach these skills to my students. I have produced several Computer Repair Training YouTube videos and many articles that are available if you are interested.

Slow Computer is a website where you might find some helpful information.

Slow Computer

There are several reasons for your fast computer to become a slow computer. Your operating system might have too many programs installed and the registry has become corrupted and needs cleaning. Every time we install and later remove programs the registry can become corrupted. Other problem areas might be more RAM memory needed for some newer programs your running, your hard drive might be getting full, your hard drive might be corrupted or fragmented, you might have a virus, or some malware infection.

The registry always needs cleaning and correcting. It holds all the configuration information for your operating system, all installed programs, and hardware devices. Sometimes when you remove programs file pointers are not removed or reset and still point to files that are no longer installed. When you start your computer the operating system slows as it looks for files to load that are no longer on your computer. There are many good registry cleaner programs available including some free ones that should help. I usually look at CNET download.com and read all the user reviews to find the better ones. Right now Registry Mechanic seems to be the favorite. I also like Obexo which is a free registry cleaner.

Ram memory is easy to upgrade and not very costly. If you have a notebook, there is a cover plate on the bottom to get access to the memory. There is 2 clips that hold it in place. I have a YouTube video that takes you set by step.

You should also make sure you have a top rated anti-virus program install and updated daily. One of the best is AVG and it’s free for personal use. You can download it at the link provided.

Another problem might be malware, spyware, or data mining programs that get installed while we are surfing the Web. They are easily remove by a top rated free program called Adaware (WARNING: not Adware) This program is also free for personal use.

The hard drive can also be causing problems either through corruption or fragmentation. There is another free program called Smart Defrag that will keep your drive running at its optimum.

I also have another YouTube video showing how the hard drive acts when fragmented.

If you address each one of these problem areas you should notice a considerable speed improvement. If you want to learn more about computers you might also check out my Computer Repair Training series.

Slow Computer is a website where might find some helpful information.

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