Header

Posts Tagged ‘slow computer performance’

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Malware May Not Be The Cause Of A Slow Computer

Posted by paul on February 20th, 2010

Malware May Not Be The Cause Of A Slow Computer

Malware May Not Be The Cause Of A Slow Computer

If your computer suddenly slows to an agonizing pace, you may be tempted to think that a virus or other type of malware is the problem. You may race to perform anti-virus scans or malware scans, and start thinking about what you’ve downloaded recently. The good news is that not all computer slowdowns are the result of malware or viruses.

Don’t Jump To Conclusions

When you’re trying to diagnose a slow computer, it’s important NOT to jump to conclusions about what the problem might be. An erroneous diagnosis can produce a great deal of unnecessary work, lost time and rarely gets you to the correct solution.

It’s never a bad idea to scan your computer regularly for viruses and malware. In fact, your anti-virus and anti-malware programs should be set to update themselves automatically, and should also be set to scan your computer frequently. For computers that have a reliable and trusted anti-virus/anti-malware program running on them, a viral infection is rarely my first suspect when a slowdown occurs.

I like to look at the performance of the computer to see if there’s something specific that’s causing the computer to misbehave. I also like to know what’s running at the moment. The Task Manager can give you an instant look at which applications and processes are running. A word of caution: don’t kill a process or application simply because you don’t recognize it by name. Some necessary OS processes have strange names. Take a moment to figure out what’s consuming the CPU’s time. If a process is consuming 100% or nearly 100% of the CPU, you may want to end that particular task, though.

Perfmon is a built-in tool from Microsoft that can provide a detailed graphical look at what your CPU is doing. This is a good troubleshooting tool that can help you pinpoint trouble because you can see the impact of starting and stopping applications instantly. It will also show you the impact of even simple things, like moving the mouse cursor around the screen. Use this tool in conjunction with the Task Manager to pinpoint applications that are misbehaving or that don’t get along with other applications you may have running on your computer.

Once you locate the troubled application(s), check with the software publisher to see if an update to your software has been published. If so, apply it, and any other patches to the OS that you may have missed.

If that doesn’t resolve the issue, consider running a registry cleaner like RegCure to remove registry entries that have been left behind or replaced with newer ones.

Photo Credit: Bunchofpants, via Flickr

Start Up Can Really Slow Your Computer Down

Posted by paul on February 12th, 2010

Start Up Can Really Slow Your Computer Down

Start Up Can Really Slow Your Computer Down

If you’re looking for a faster computer but can’t afford to replace the computer you have, consider this: much of what slows your computer down is resolvable. You can get additional speed out of your computer by making some relatively simple changes to your start-up routine.

Why You Should Look At Your Startup File

Standard installation routines are good in some respects and bad in others. It’s easy to click a few buttons and get your latest download to install, but unless you really look at the “recommended” or “standard” installation routine, you may not know exactly what the installer will do to your computer.

Setting aside the nefarious possibilities, installers will add information to your applications folder (or whatever folder you specify); make entries to your registry; create icons and shortcuts that reside on the desktop, or in the system tray; and they may even add your new download to the computer’s Start Up file. In doing so, each of these actions requires the computer to either spend or devote some memory to this application. The application’s memory usage goes beyond the space it takes up on your hard disk. The application will claim a little bit of RAM, even when you don’t intend to use it.

To eliminate the extra memory usage, periodically review your Start Up Items file. Determine which applications you cannot (or don’t want to) start yourself when they’re needed. Leave those items in the Start Up file. For those applications you don’t need, or don’t mind starting on your own, remove them from your startup file. Your boot time will improve and your computer will have more memory available for the applications you do want to use.

While we’re on the subject of memory usage, take the time to close application windows you don’t need any longer, and close applications when you’re finished with them. Having multiple windows open can take up additional memory and slow your computer performance down. When you’re using a browser, consider opening multiple tabs in the same window instead of opening multiple windows when you need to see more than one Web page. Tabbed browsing is more efficient and eliminates clutter from your desktop.

When you finish with an application and close app windows without actually closing the application, you can use up memory. Quit an application as you finish with it and restart it if you need to. Also, don’t store documents on the desktop. Store documents and files in the file system to maximize your memory usage.

Photo Credit: Jonas Ahrentorp, via Flickr

The Need For Speed: Speeding Up Your Computer

Posted by paul on February 8th, 2010

The Need For Speed: Speeding Up Your Computer

The Need For Speed: Speeding Up Your Computer

Speeding up your computer may or may not be high on your priority list. As your computer ages, however, you’ll begin to wonder whether you can get more out of your existing computer without needing to replace it. Computers slow down for a lot of reasons. Some of these issues are temporary; a process is using most of the computer’s memory or CPU resources, or an application has gone “rogue.” In this case, the quick fix is a simple restart. Each time you restart the computer, you will reinitialize the computer’s memory. This will remove any processes that have gone off on their own.

Fixing Computer Speed and Performance Issues

In other cases, an external problem that isn’t “temporary” may be causing the computer to work harder or less efficiently. These external actors include hardware malfunctions, viruses, malware, and inappropriate hardware configurations for the tasks you’re trying to accomplish. These problems are resolvable, provided that you know what they are. Make absolutely sure that you’re working with a clean, capable computer.

In yet other cases, the culprit is infrequent or incomplete maintenance. For the most part, when it comes to computers “deferred maintenance” doesn’t have the same permanent long-term impact that deferred maintenance would have on a house or an automobile. “Deferred maintenance” can be addressed with techniques like disk defragmentation, regular viral scans, regular malware scans, and registry cleaning.

Registry cleaning turns out to be an important component of regular maintenance because leftover bits of abandoned code can accumulate the registry. These useless bits of code will slow down the computer’s performance because, even though they’re no longer needed, the computer will read them and follow these instructions to the extent that it is able.

Sometimes, these abandoned code bits cause the computer to wait for a response, or search for something that is no longer available on the computer. A registry cleaner will clear out all of this useless code and eliminate the computer’s need to read and follow these instructions. If you read regularly, you know that I recommend RegCure. Millions of users have downloaded it and trust it to keep their registries clean.

Performing regular maintenance on your computer, including defragmenting the hard disk, scanning for viruses and malware, making regular system and driver updates, applying patches, and keeping your registry clean will take care of many issues that would otherwise eventually slow your computer down.

Photo Credit: Ethan Prater, via Flickr

Keeping Things Tidy Eliminates Slow Computer Performance

Posted by paul on December 31st, 2009

Keeping Things Tidy Eliminates Slow Computer Performance

Keeping Things Tidy Eliminates Slow Computer Performance

If you’re looking for ways to eliminate slow computer performance, take a look at these suggestions. While these may not provide a tremendous performance boost for your computer, every little bit helps when you’re trying to squeeze the most out of your computer.

Neat Equals Speed

Sometimes computer users have problems finding files, so they like to load up their desktops with files, aliases, shortcuts and folders. This is a performance killer. You can find your files just as easily by creating a default folder in the file system for saving new files and file downloads. Windows automatically saves files to your Downloads folder if the file’s coming off the Internet, or to your Documents file if you’re creating something locally on your computer.

You can always use these files for your default arrangement and move them to specific locations within the file system. Your desktop doesn’t operate the same way that other file spaces do, so saving or storing files to the desktop long-term requires your computer to use additional memory on top of what it’s already devoted to the file system. When you save files to the desktop you are, in essence, creating two separate file systems and the Desktop happens to be a very expensive file system in terms of memory. In short, put your files where they belong. The file system is perfectly adapted to handle files. If you insist upon using your desktop to save files to, move the files to a proper space within the file structure before you shut down. At least that way, your next computer session won’t be hampered by files scattered across your desktop!

Along with keeping things neat, try defragmenting your hard disk periodically. When you write and delete files, your hard disk gets fragmented. That is, parts of files get scattered around the disk and your computer has to keep track of where all the parts are. Reassembling the file so it can be read and used takes time and slows down computer performance. By periodically defragmenting your hard disk, you bring the parts of scattered files together and make it easier for your computer to find the files you want. In making things easier to find, you also speed up your computer. If you write a lot of files to the hard disk, you’ll want to defragment more often. If you only write a limited number of files to the disk or write mostly temporary files (as you might if you’re mostly surfing the Internet), you can defragment a little less often.

Photo Credit: Jesus Corrius, via Flickr

Related Blogs

Related Blogs

Slow Computer Performance: Graphics and Networking

Posted by paul on December 29th, 2009

Slow Computer Performance: Graphics and Networking

Slow Computer Performance: Graphics and Networking

I’ve said it before but there are many different causes for slow computer performance. If you use your computer for graphics-intensive activities like playing computer games, or network-intensive activities like surfing the Internet, your computer may take a noticeable hit on performance.

Graphics Can Slow Even The Fastest Computers

Graphics processing is notoriously hard on processors. All modern video cards have their own graphics processors and memory to help ease the burden on the central processing unit. These graphics processors also make modern game-play possible. The great 3-D graphics you see on today’s computer games wouldn’t be possible without a good graphics processor. Often, game you purchase in the store or online will have specific graphics requirements. Games won’t work without them or won’t work well enough to make game-play fun.

If your graphics processor is stretched to the limits, you may find that your computer performance is suffering as a result. This may be especially true if your computer is older and you’re trying to play the latest multi-player games on it. You may also notice extreme delays when you’re connected to a game server somewhere on the Internet.

Check your graphics card’s capabilities carefully and make sure you’re not asking the graphics processor to do more than it’s able to. If your graphics processor is good, see if you can upgrade the graphics memory. Make sure you have the right kind of memory installed in your graphics processor. Without the right kind of card or the right kind of memory, your performance is likely to be less than optimal.

You’ll also want to make sure that your computer’s network connection is solid. A bad network interface card can cause trouble, not just for you but also for other devices on the network. If your computer is at home and you connect to the network through a high-speed network service provider, consult with your provider to help you determine whether your network card is working properly. Your provider may show you how to conduct speed tests to verify that it can download and upload information properly.

The provider may also want you to verify the operation of any firewalls you may be running. Firewalls can block or slow traffic and cause a very slow performance response on your computer. On some Windows computers, a firewall is automatically enabled. I don’t recommend disabling the firewall but I do recommend learning how firewalls work and how you can safely permit desired traffic to pass through the firewall unimpeded.

Photo Credit: Alan_D, via Flickr

Related Blogs

Related Blogs

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »