You may not notice it at first, but your computer may be slowing down. Each time you use the computer, you may become suspicious that your computer is taking slightly longer to perform certain functions than it did in the past. For awhile, you may wonder “Is this happening?” Later, it becomes undeniable. Yes, your computer is slow, but why? And more importantly, what can you do to fix this?

Don’t Jump To Conclusions And Don’t Make Hasty Decisions

Some people become so frustrated with a slow computer that they convince themselves the real solution involves reloading Windows or something even more drastic – reformatting the hard drive. If you’re at the point of reloading or reformatting, my only piece of advice to you would be: “Stop!”

There are a few occasions on which reformatting the hard disk is appropriate. Likewise, there are select circumstances under which an OS reload is the choice course of action. These aren’t common remedies, so don’t reach for your system disks if you haven’t tried a whole lot of other potential remedies first.

Slow is slow, and slow is frustrating. There’s no doubt about that. Reloading or reformatting may solve your problems, but it’s time-consuming and you’re unlikely to be happy with the results. Instead, a little troubleshooting is in order. You may find the source of your slow computer, and fix it without having to resort to the “final solution.”

First, find out what’s running on your computer. Your computer could potentially be loaded with toolbars, applications, utilities and other silent-running processes that load your computer’s available memory down. To see what’s cooking, open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del. Check the active processes and shut down the applications. (These will be processes that have the .exe extension.) Don’t kill Explorer.exe or other Windows components. See if your computer responds faster.

If so, the problem is likely that an application is hogging your available RAM, or simply that you have too many applications loading at startup. Use the Control Panel to manage your Startup Items. Disable the auto-start for any application you don’t need all the time. Instead, start your applications manually. Use the Add/Remove programs tool (Program Management) to uninstall applications you don’t want or need.

If your computer still doesn’t perform well, find out how much RAM is installed in your computer. Compare your installed RAM to both the recommended minimum for the operating system, and the maximum possible RAM you can have in your computer. If you’re on the low side, consider performing a memory upgrade. This is a good move, especially if you use a lot of large applications.
In my next post, I’ll cover some more basic troubleshooting steps for diagnosing a slow computer.

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I was watching TV last night when a commercial appeared, and the spokesperson claimed that a slow computer was a sure sign of a computer virus. The cure, he said, was the service he was promoting. Now, advertising is advertising, but my first thought about this commercial was that the person doing the talking didn’t really understand what causes a slow computer, and couldn’t really say with certainty that an anti-virus service would clear things up immediately.

So Many Problems, So Little Time

In reality, most slow computer complaints aren’t rooted in viral infections. Some viral infections don’t have any noticeable impact on the computer’s overall performance, meaning that a computer can be seriously compromised and not give any outward indications of performance problems. Rootkits are famous for this.

If you want to sneak into someone’s computer and you don’t want them to find out about it, you’d better not do anything or load anything that could potentially tip off the victim that a problem is afoot. By being careful about not taking up too many computer resources, you can have much better access and for a much longer time than you would if you loaded some big, slow resource hog onto the computer, right?

Viruses can indeed slow a computer down, but they’re not the only cause of a slow computer, and they’re often not even the most likely suspect! Computers slow down for a number of reasons – the likeliest being a lack of memory. A computer can do a lot when it has the right amount of memory. If its memory is consumed either by the operating system or by a number of applications that are running simultaneously, or even by a single application that is doing some heavy computation, the computer will definitely slow down.

Beyond memory, other simple problems can cause real performance headaches. Lack of disk space, client-server operations across a network, bad network hardware, runaway processes and similar snags can slow a computer down to a crawl.

Corruptions and abandoned code in the computer registry can also cause a performance hit. Making sure the computer registry is clean and highly functional will do a lot to restore performance on any Windows PC. I recommend SpeedUpMyPC 2011 to handle all of my registry cleaning.

The bottom line is this: if you suspect a viral infection, run a virus scan and clean up anything you find. Make sure your virus definitions are up-to-date and act immediately if you think your computer has been compromised, but don’t automatically assume that your computer performance problems are related to a viral infection. There’s a very good chance that slow computer performance is related to a less dire, easier-to-fix and easy-to-prevent problem!

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I’d like to spend some time talking about slow computer performance as it relates to anti-virus applications. Many users don’t understand that their anti-virus software can actually be a big component of slow computer performance. When they first get the computer, there are few files for the computer to check, and the anti-virus software doesn’t appear to introduce much of a delay. As time goes on, however, the file system becomes filled with data that must be examined each time the A/V software runs. Over time, this can slow the computer down.

Active File Checking Isn’t The Only Slow Spot

The anti-virus software runs all the time. For some reason, people think that the activity of the A/V software is limited to the scans they set up. Realistically, the A/V software loads at startup, before anything else loads. When it loads, it reserves a section of memory for itself. That memory is no longer available to the rest of the programs on the computer, including the operating system. As time goes on, more programs are installed and some may be configured to run at startup. Each of these items – just like the A/V software – take a chunk of the available memory and reserve it for themselves. Ultimately, a large portion of the computer’s operating memory is reserved before the user even opens his or her first application.

Depending upon the A/V product you choose, the software could be doing active scanning, or it may just scan when new information is added to the computer from an outside source. It also interferes with each download to verify that the document or application is free from known viruses and other malware. These interruptions can take a while to complete.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a major proponent of anti-virus software. I never recommend disabling it or limiting what it does. Its job is to protect the computer, and if a user disables it because it appears to be slowing the computer down, a whole new list of problems can crop up. In this case, users may need to accept that certain necessary functions must take place and cannot (or should not) be interfered with. In the long run, having to clean up a virus infection will take a lot longer than sitting through whatever delay an A/V software package will cause.

If you really dislike the delay your A/V package generates, consider switching products, but don’t disable it, remove it or turn it off. Unless, of course, you like removing viruses and malware.

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You’ve probably heard a lot of conflicting information about registry cleaners. Some technicians recommend them; others won’t touch them. To be fair, the performance of a registry cleaner can be less-than-stellar if you’re not using the right product. How do you know which registry cleaners to use and which ones to stay away from?

Go With The Top Choice Among Registry Cleaners

The registry is a sensitive and highly essential part of any Windows computer system. When you fool with the registry, you’ve got the bull by the horns so you have to know what you’re doing. If you know what’s in the registry and how to make changes, you’re probably a technical professional. If you’re a home user, I don’t recommend editing the registry.

The problem, of course, is that the registry gets loaded up with bits of code that shouldn’t be there. New applications you download and configure make entries in your computer’s registry. If you remove the program or update it, the uninstaller/updater may not handle the existing registry entries correctly. Likewise, if you don’t uninstall the software properly, you could leave behind a lot of unnecessary information.

Viruses and malware love to make entries into your registry. Removing the malware doesn’t always remove the junk they leave behind. All of this accumulated code in your registry can slow your computer down, sometimes to a crawl. That’s where a trustworthy registry cleaner can come in handy.

RegCure is a great product that’s been downloaded more than a million times by users like yourself who are looking for a way to speed up a slow computer. RegCure is one of the most well-known and well-liked registry cleaners available today. One reason RegCure is so trusted is because it makes a backup of your registry before it makes any changes. With a complete registry backup on hand, you can revert your computer back to this starting point if you don’t like some of the changes RegCure has made.

You also have the option of accepting or rejecting suggested changes, so you’re always in control of what RegCure does. With RegCure, you don’t have to be a professional computer technician to take care of your computer. RegCure gives you the tools you need to modify and clean up your computer’s registry safely, quickly and accurately. RegCure is easy to download, install and use. You can even get a complimentary registry scan to let you know if any serious issues may be affecting your performance. Download RegCure today!

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As a technician, I deal with complaints of slow computer performance all the time. Computers invariably tend to slow down over time, but why? Is it the computer? Is it the software? Is it the network connection? Is it a virus? There are far more things that can cause a slow computer than I can discuss in a single post, or even in a year’s worth of posts. Some elements are under the user’s control; some are not. So where do you start when determining what constitutes slow?

Diagnosing A Slow Computer From Memory

One of the first things I like to do with a computer accused of being slow is to restart it. This does two things. First, it allows me to observe the boot-up routine. Each computer’s boot-up period is unique. The speed with which a computer boots is determined, up to a point, by its hardware. By rebooting the computer, I can look at the “hardware-only” portion of the boot process to make sure something hasn’t gone horribly wrong with the computer’s working parts.

One example of a hardware failure that can impact performance noticeably is a memory failure. Whether a memory module has become unseated, or isn’t responding properly, this effectively cuts down the amount of available memory and can slow things to a crawl. Laptop computers are more likely to suffer a physical dislodgement, especially if they’ve been dropped (it happens!) or handled roughly – such as could happen when you’re moving through an airport.

In other cases, memory modules simply burn out. They’re integrated circuit boards, and they can experience component failure. The boot up process can reveal how much memory the computer thinks it has. You can also check for installed memory once the system is up and running. If what you have installed doesn’t match up with what the computer thinks it has, a trip to the repair shop may be in order.

Computers also seem to do better with an “even amount” of installed memory. If you have two memory slots, put something in both. If you have four slots, put an equal amount of memory in two or four slots, but don’t try to fill up one slot or three slots, even if the computer allows it. If you only have one slot, stick with an even amount of RAM (e.g., 2 Gb, 4 Gb). The computer can work with “odd” amounts of memory (e.g., 1 Gb, 3 Gb) but from experience, they seem to like even numbers better than odd ones when it comes to RAM.

In the next post, I’ll talk about benchmarking a computer to give some basis for comparing performance over time.

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