What Can cause My Computer To Run Slow?
By Wolfdave
To understand why your computer is running slow, you need to ask yourself if it has suddenly started to run slow, or has it gradually gotten slower over time, or as it always been slow. I have covered ‘suddenly slow’ in a recent article. There are many reasons for a PC that has always been slow or has had a gradual slowing down of performance. In this article I will focus on the most common causes in these two categories.
First thing I need you to do, is check under the hood of your computer, to see what is powering your machine. So, click on Start then Control Panel. There are other ways to find this information, but this is the simplest. Once you have the Control Panel, look for ‘System’ and double-click to open it. You will now see your system information panel and on this panel will be shown the type and value of the Processor and Memory installed on your PC.
If you are running Windows XP, you need at least a 1Ghz CPU and 512Mb Memory. This will give you an average performance, maybe a bit slow to start-up and load everything, but once loaded will deliver an acceptable level of power. For a faster start-up and a better overhaul performance, I would recommend a CPU of 1.8Ghz or faster and 1Ghz or more of memory.
Check the values on your System Information Panel, if they are lower than 1Ghz/512Mb, then you have found the reason for your slow computer. XP will operate with a CPU as low as 600Mhz and only 256Mb RAM, but it will struggle. This also applies to computers gradually becoming slower. A couple of years ago, your computer may well have performed ok with just 256Mb of RAM. However, many programs and utilities, such as your Security Suite, are now much more powerful than they were even two years ago. And as such, they demand more of your system resources. More memory = more resources.
If the CPU and Memory values are ok, you can close the System Panel and the Control Panel. Next, I would like you to check your hard drive for free space. You may have a ‘My Computer’ short-cut on your desktop, if so double-click on it. No short-cut? Click on Start and then click once on My Computer. Next screen, look for your hard drive, usually labelled HDD (c). Right-click once on this drive. From the drop-down menu click on Properties, near the bottom of the menu. You should now see a Pie Chart of your hard drive’s storage. Blue is Used Space, pink is Free Space.
How much Free Space do you have? Three quarters in pink is excellent, even half still pink is ok, and you have no worries here. However, if you only have a quarter or less Free Space, then you have found another reason for your computer running slow, you will need to take action or performance will suffer further. This is because your computer uses the free space on your hard drive as Virtual Memory, to supplement System Memory to make programs load and run faster. In effect, Virtual Memory is like a Back-Up to the RAM installed on your PC.
You may even get a warning message, Virtual Memory Low! So, the less free hard drive space you have means less available Virtual Memory and a slower computer. Not only that, but your hard drive also needs a certain amount of free space to be able to move files around in. If this space is reduced then programs will also be much slower to load.
Check out my other free articles on Disk Drive maintenance and dealing with Low Virtual memory. As well as several other, Slow Computer, articles.
Tuesday 18 May 2010
My Computer has Started Running Slow
My Computer has Started Running Slow
By Wolfdave
If your computer has suddenly started to run slower than normal, then this is usually easier to fix than a computer that always runs slow. Suddenly slow, is almost always caused by a recent addition to your computer. This could be a new piece of hardware or new software. The problem becomes harder to fix, if you have installed or added more than one new item, at the same time.
I have already covered many issues affecting computer performance in previous articles, including: Viruses, Spyware, Resources and Low System Memory.
If you have read any of my earlier Articles, you will know that I keep ‘banging on’ about only adding one new thing at a time to your computer. If you add one new piece of hardware, for instance, and your computer starts hanging or crashing or suddenly it runs a lot slower, then you know what is causing the problem. You also know how to fix it. Simply remove the new hardware.
Why your new hardware is causing issues, is another matter. It could be faulty or it may not be compatible with your motherboard. It is also possible that the software or drivers for your new hardware are causing a conflict. Check out one of my previous articles for help with this. But for now, you know what has caused your computer to slow down and you can return it to its previous state.
So what happens if you install two new pieces of hardware and your computer starts dragging its feet. You could for example, upgrade your Video card and at the same time add another memory module, as many people do without any problems. How do you know now which component is causing the trouble. It may be both, there could be a conflict between the two components own memory and your systems memory.
You will now have to remove both components and any associated drivers and then install them again, one at a time so that you can determine which component or its drivers have caused the problem. Once you have identified the culprit, contact the manufacturer to see if there are any know issues or updated drivers.
It is for the same reason that you should only install any new software, one at a time. If after installing a new PC Game or utility your computer runs slow, you can simply check for any ‘patches’ on-line to fix the problem, or uninstall it. But what if you installed a new game and during the same day, you downloaded a new media player for instance, and maybe a video or a couple of music files. How are you going to figure out which one is the villain. And as we all know with any software, there is always the added possibility of viruses to think about. So you will now have to run a virus scan on your computer even if you know which software to uninstall.
So, if your computer has suddenly become slower, try to determine exactly when you first noticed it. If you have fitted any new hardware, then you will have to remove it. If you have installed any new software, including Games, downloads or updates around the time it first started to be slow, you will need to uninstall these.
You can do this one at a time if you want, you might just get lucky and uninstall the rogue software first time. Do not uninstall any Windows or Anti-virus updates.
It is a fact that sometimes you do get damaged or corrupt software, particularly downloaded software. If you have managed to identify and uninstall the software causing the problem, you may find that a second download and installation will work just fine. Remember to do a Full System Scan with your Anti-Virus suite, just in case, after any download.
An alternative solution for software glitches is to use System Restore. Choose a point before the problem started. This will turn your computer back in time, to a point when everything was fine. This method will however, remove all software installed since that point, apart from your saved files.
Quite recently, I had a customer with a slow computer who had installed a new Video card and he had also installed a downloaded version of a well known Security Suite. I will leave you to guess which one was causing the slow-down.
By Wolfdave
If your computer has suddenly started to run slower than normal, then this is usually easier to fix than a computer that always runs slow. Suddenly slow, is almost always caused by a recent addition to your computer. This could be a new piece of hardware or new software. The problem becomes harder to fix, if you have installed or added more than one new item, at the same time.
I have already covered many issues affecting computer performance in previous articles, including: Viruses, Spyware, Resources and Low System Memory.
If you have read any of my earlier Articles, you will know that I keep ‘banging on’ about only adding one new thing at a time to your computer. If you add one new piece of hardware, for instance, and your computer starts hanging or crashing or suddenly it runs a lot slower, then you know what is causing the problem. You also know how to fix it. Simply remove the new hardware.
Why your new hardware is causing issues, is another matter. It could be faulty or it may not be compatible with your motherboard. It is also possible that the software or drivers for your new hardware are causing a conflict. Check out one of my previous articles for help with this. But for now, you know what has caused your computer to slow down and you can return it to its previous state.
So what happens if you install two new pieces of hardware and your computer starts dragging its feet. You could for example, upgrade your Video card and at the same time add another memory module, as many people do without any problems. How do you know now which component is causing the trouble. It may be both, there could be a conflict between the two components own memory and your systems memory.
You will now have to remove both components and any associated drivers and then install them again, one at a time so that you can determine which component or its drivers have caused the problem. Once you have identified the culprit, contact the manufacturer to see if there are any know issues or updated drivers.
It is for the same reason that you should only install any new software, one at a time. If after installing a new PC Game or utility your computer runs slow, you can simply check for any ‘patches’ on-line to fix the problem, or uninstall it. But what if you installed a new game and during the same day, you downloaded a new media player for instance, and maybe a video or a couple of music files. How are you going to figure out which one is the villain. And as we all know with any software, there is always the added possibility of viruses to think about. So you will now have to run a virus scan on your computer even if you know which software to uninstall.
So, if your computer has suddenly become slower, try to determine exactly when you first noticed it. If you have fitted any new hardware, then you will have to remove it. If you have installed any new software, including Games, downloads or updates around the time it first started to be slow, you will need to uninstall these.
You can do this one at a time if you want, you might just get lucky and uninstall the rogue software first time. Do not uninstall any Windows or Anti-virus updates.
It is a fact that sometimes you do get damaged or corrupt software, particularly downloaded software. If you have managed to identify and uninstall the software causing the problem, you may find that a second download and installation will work just fine. Remember to do a Full System Scan with your Anti-Virus suite, just in case, after any download.
An alternative solution for software glitches is to use System Restore. Choose a point before the problem started. This will turn your computer back in time, to a point when everything was fine. This method will however, remove all software installed since that point, apart from your saved files.
Quite recently, I had a customer with a slow computer who had installed a new Video card and he had also installed a downloaded version of a well known Security Suite. I will leave you to guess which one was causing the slow-down.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)