No, it’s not you. Computers slow down over time, and for a variety of reasons. Most often, the problems are correctable if you can find them, but correctly diagnosing why you have a slow computer can be tricky.

Your computer writes millions of bits of information to its hard drive every day. Writing information to the hard drive isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. Removing information, which you assume is as simple as moving an unwanted file to the trash, leaves behind a lot of material that can cause the performance of your computer to suffer. Over time, files get fragmented, and the disk space you have available diminishes as the computer struggles to find a place here or there to store your latest information. Meanwhile, space that contained files you’ve since deleted goes unused.

Clearing Disk Space

Clearing disk space is only one part of the equation. When you delete files, in theory, you make that space available for other new files, but the computer doesn’t always handle these newly opened disk spaces very gracefully. Over time, you end up with a patchwork of free and used space on your disk. You also end up with a large collection of temporary files that are abandoned when you log out. In addition to simply deleting files you don’t need anymore, one way to speed your computer is to de-fragment it, so the computer can more quickly access existing files and find free space.

Another way is to keep the registry free of unneeded instructions and code that do nothing except slow the operating system down. Registry entries are made when you load a program or configure your computer. Removing a program doesn’t always remove the registry entries, leaving plenty of useless information to slow your computer’s performance to a halt.

Disk Errors Can Slow Your Computer

Computers aren’t perfect. They can write information on the hard drive incorrectly. Other events like malware can cause files to become corrupted. Even an accidental shutdown or loss of power can damage files and slow the computer’s performance. These events can leave behind disk errors on your computer. Disk errors can cause the computer to read files more slowly, or abort operations when they encounter damaged files. Keeping your file system healthy is an important strategy n keeping the performance of your PC optimized.

Spyware Means A Slow Computer

Spyware, viruses and other malware can slow your computer, either by taking up the processor’s time, clogging memory with dozens of application windows, or by introducing programs that run surreptitiously in the background while you work. Identifying and removing spyware can correct a slow computer.

RegCure from ParetoLogic can take care of all of these problems and more. RegCure is the standard for registry cleaners and can help your system remain free of problems that will slow the performance of your computer. RegCure removes useless registry keys, dud DLL files, and can restore files you thought you deleted or lost.

Don’t suffer with a slow computer. Get up to speed with RegCure.

Photo Credit: Daniel Andres Forero