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.