Why does my computer run soooooo slow?

Question

Everytime my step son comes over and starts playing games on my computer...it will run at snail pace. I have to dump programs, clean out files, etc.

What is causing this?

How do I prevent it?

Please help...it's driving me crazy...I feel like I have dial up again!

Answer 1

Spy-ware is probably the cause.  If your are using Internet Explorer, you should first download Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/), which is a browser that runs faster than Internet Explorer and is more secure.  A good free anti-virus program is AVG Free 8.0 (http://free.avg.com/ww.download-avg-anti... which also includes anti-spyware.  There are also other security programs that are free, including Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2008 (http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_awar... Spybot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybo... and Zone Alarm Firewall (http://www.download.com/ZoneAlarm-Firewa...  There might also be registry errors, and many temporary files that slow your computer down.  Ccleaner will fix the registry and remove any temporary files (http://www.ccleaner.com).  Make sure you click on the free version when you download some of these programs, as there also is a paid version, but the free version is better then no protection.

Answer 2

If he's playing online games, he might be unknowingly be downloading spyware, adware and the such.  Look into a good antivirus/antispyware program.

Answer 3

my opinion is that you buy a computer cleaner on a store or find one online and it will probably make it go faster

Answer 4

I recommend you download this free program and run it everytime your stepson is finished with the computer. This program will tune your computer as if was new.

http://www.download.com/Advanced-Windows...

Cheers