If I had a nickel for every time a user complained of a slow computer, I’d be retired by now. Slow computer performance is one of the major complaints that prompts users to call me, and it’s also one of the most difficult problems to diagnose.

What Goes Into A Slow Computer?

One reason computer speed problems can be tough to diagnose is that they don’t appear overnight. Slow computers seem to evolve and are often the product of many little problems rather than a few large ones.

If your computer slows suddenly, there are a few “triage moves” you can make to see if you can speed things back up. I’ll cover them in this post. First, if your computer is not responding, applications are slowing to a halt and things just suddenly seem to go bad for you, try rebooting your computer. Sometimes a quick reboot can clear the computer’s memory of whatever has bogged it down.

If a reboot doesn’t work, then do a little prodding on your computer. Find out how much RAM is actually available. If some portion of your installed memory fails, you can bet that you’ll see a sudden performance hit. Try reseating the SIMM or DIMM in the computer to see if that “recovers” your lost memory. If that doesn’t work and your computer can’t see or use the entire installed RAM, you may have to replace a memory module. If you have more than one module installed, you’ll need to determine which module has gone bad. Do this by rotating the modules into Slot 0 and rebooting. The computer will likely refuse to boot when the bad module is in Slot 0.

If your computer boots up and is able to access all of its RAM, you may find that your hard disk is very full. If this is the case, you’ll need to free of space on the disk to improve computer performance. As a rule, your computer needs up to 20% of your hard disk space for temporary files and paging memory. If your available disk space falls below 20%, consider removing files or adding external storage.

Check for viruses and malware. These nasties can be a persistent cause of poor computer performance. Viruses load themselves, but malware is invited onto the computer by the user. Do a quick review of recently added applications. If you suspect malware, do a little research (particularly on “free” applications) to see if you may have gotten more than you bargained for.

Photo Credit: William Hook, via Flickr

Tags: slow computer, slow computer performance, speed up computer