My computer is very slow lately?

Question

My computer has always been quite fast but its slowed down a lot lately. What could be wrong with it? How can I check if I've used a large amount of hard disc space and could this be the problem? Is there any way I can check for a virus? Please don't leave me links as the last person who did that led me to spyware...which may well be what's wrong!! -how can I check this? Thank you!

Answer 1

If your virus/spyware free, there are  a couple things you can do get your computer working faster. If you using your computer for normal stuff and not gaming. You don't always need more RAM you just need to perform a few maintenance task.

First, if you haven't cleaned your registry in a while. This is necessary. Your registry holds all the information regarding updates, installs, un-installs etc. Each one of those events produces a key. That key needs your PC's resources and free space. So, if you clean your registry, you make more resources available for speed. Do a registry scan if you got more than 20 errors you should clean it.

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2. Clear your Windows cache files, this is your temporary file. It can grow up to a large volume and stop your computer from using RAM properly. In a sense slow it down by preventing it from using free space.Here is how:

1. Quit Internet Explorer, Firefox, or any other web browser

2. Click Start, click "Control Panel", and then double-click "Internet Options".

3. On the General tab, click "Delete Files" under Temporary Internet Files.

4. In the Delete Files dialog box, click to select the "Delete all offline content" check box , and then click OK.

5. Click OK.

3. Manage your startups. Your excess CPU usage is due to too many programs running in the background. You can cut these to barebones by alter your msconfig. Here is how:

1. Open your Start menu.

2. Click Run

3. In the command screen type "msconfig.exe"

4. In the "system configuration utility",click either "service" or "startup" tab

5. Uncheck all programs that your are no longer using.

6. Click "OK"

Answer 2

"What could be wrong with it?"

If you're going to post questions about your PC, you really need to specify what kind of system you have, what's your OS, and what security software you have.  (You do have security software, don't you?  You're not one of those clueless noobs who shells out a grand on a new machine then saves $30 on getting new AV software, are you?  No?  Good!!)

You should also specify what problems you have - what do you mean slow?  All around slow?  Just the internet?  have you downloaded any new programs before the trouble starrted?

Hard Drive capacity can always be a problem - I suspect an overlooked problem in cases like yours.  You should always try to keep your HD at no more than 85% capacity.  Your PC (on XP, anyway) will need nearly that to run a defragger.  People look at swelling standard size for HD's and think that these new drives are bottomless pits, capable of holding hours of video, whole libraries of music, thousands of pictures, etc.  Overstuffed HD's will grind your system to a halt. Go into "My Computer" and right'click your HD, then choose "properties".  You'll see a pie-chart looking thing telling you what your usable capacity is.  If the pie-chart for your drive is a slice-short of completely-filled, it's time to start archiving your stuff (perhaps to to optical media), the erase from your HD what you've saved onto disc, then run a defrag.

"Is there any way I can check for a virus?"  yeah, there are anti-virus programs out there that are pretty good.  AV security isn't an exact science yet, so you should by a software package (I use Kaspersky IS7) and boost that with a couple of anti-spyware programs.  Of this second type, there are free and paid versions.  The free ones are okay - but only go to the publisher's site to download them, and be sure to check for user-reviews on CNet first.

How old is your PC?  It may be time to upgrade RAM - if this is a Vista machine, 2GB is probably the realistic minimum.  Luckily, RAM is cheap - go to Crucial.com and they can fix you up for the right RAM for the right machine.  1GB is fine for XP machines.

Have you downloaded any new programs?  In the windows era, it's possible to have programs running w/o you really knowing it - besides viruses and spyware (which work best when they DON't make their presence felt) are other programs that you might have minimized to system tray (lower-right corner) w/o actually exiting.

If you still have problems after trying this, re-post w/specific info.

Answer 3

There are several things you can do to increase the "speed" of your computer.

1) Clean up the disk. Uninstall unneeded programs (especially those that run at startup and/or put something in the system tray), run Disk Cleanup, and defragment the drive. This is a good first step that will almost always take a few seconds off boot time and application loads for any computer.

2) Stomp auto-starting programs. Click Start > Run and type "msconfig" at the prompt. Click the Startup tab and look at all that junk that loads when you launch your PC. Do you really need "Adobe Reader Speed Launch"? Probably not. Turn off anything else that looks useless, but be careful not to disable your anti-virus and important system components.

3) Run a full anti-virus and anti-spyware scan. I would recommend using AVG Free Anti-virus, Spybot - Search and Destroy spyware remover and SUPERAntiSpyware remover. These programs are all free.

4) Clean up the registry. CCleaner, available at http://www.ccleaner.com is free and worth running. It will also remove unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space.  

Answer 4

For running slow there are many causes:

Microsoft Registry Problems = Slow Computer!

Spyware/Adware

RAM

De-Fragmenting

Etc.

Below can help you speed up your pc:

Manage your startup:

Open your Start menu  ->  Click Run ->  In the command screen type "msconfig.exe" ->  In the "system configuration utility", click either "service" or "startup" tab ->  Uncheck all programs that your are no longer using.

De-Fragmenting

1. Right click of C Disk.

2. Click properties.

3. Click tools tab.

4. Click "Defragment now".

5. Click Defragment.

You can search which process full use you cpu, and end the process.

Under steps:

1. right click on the TaskBar.

2. click the Task Manager.

3. click the processes tab.

4. double click the CPU.

5. find if the "System Idle Process" is max.

6. if not right click and click end process.

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Answer 5

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Absolutely free for non-commercial use

Answer 6

some time back even my laptop was very slow so what I did was I opened it up and noticed that dust was accumulated at that place where hot air should be going out. The dust was blocking the air release area and the computer was heating up extra. Besides cleaning I also bought a USB fan for the laptop which helps to maintain the heat of the laptop. Sucks the heat and so now it performs well. Hope this helps.

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