Tips for diagnosing and fixing a slow computer
There are many reasons why a computer can start running slower than usual.
Having your computer run slower than normal can be agitating, frustrating and
makes tasks cumbersome. There are many causes and solutions. In this article
I intend to explain how to diagnose and fix issues that cause your computer
to run slower than usual. This article applies to windows based computers
only. The format I will use is a process of elimination to diagnose and
correct the problem.
One simple possibility is that you may be running too many running too many
programs at once and stretching the capacity of the Central Processing Unit
chip percent of usage. To see the percent being used bring up the task
manager by pressing control alt delete simultaneously and you will receive a
list of all programs running and the CPU percent usage. Computer users
usually expect the computer to respond within 2.3 seconds which in some cases
is not possible. This could be for two reasons: 1. Your CPU chip is older
and slow and 2. You do not have enough RAM memory. Ram memory can be bought
and is relatively cheap. After consider this and eliminating that possibility
it is necessary to start eliminating other possibilities.
The first course of action is to check for viruses. Viruses can slow your
computer considerably and cause other performance issues. You can run your
virus protection software, but that is not sufficient because a virus may
have bypassed your anti virus software so you will need to scan your computer
over the internet. Two websites that can do this for you are:
http://www.symantec.com and
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/products/computer/safetyscanner.mspx. I
recommend Avast Anti Virus. It can be found at
http://www.avast.com I feel
it is the best anti virus program.
After you have completed this you will now have ruled out viruses as the
problem. If a virus is found either remove yourself if you know how or if
you do not pay someone to remove it. I recommended having it professionally
removed even though it costs money because viruses can hide deep inside your
computer files and imitate other programs with the same name. Now that
viruses have been eliminated as the cause of the problem you need to proceed.
Next you need to check for malware and spyware. Malware and spyware are
programs that are downloaded onto your computer without your knowledge
usually included in a program you downloaded which is why you should be
careful what you download and read the documentation of what comes with it.
Your homepage, which is the first website you see when you open your browser,
can be hijacked and changed without your permission. This is a sure sign of
malware. There are free and paid programs that can remove spyware and
malware. One free one is called Ad Aware and it is a free download from
http://www.lavasoft.com I recommend another program that is available for
purchase called Spybot Search and Destroy. It has an antivirus capability
but also cleans up spyware. It can be found to download and purchase at
http://www.webroot.com . If you scan with these programs quarantine and or
remove the identified files. Now that you have checked your computer for
malware and spyware and if you have a clean computer further diagnosis is
necessary.
One problem you could be having is that there is not that much space on your
hard drive, but not to worry, you can clean up unnecessary space. Next you
will want to clean up unnecessary files. As a general rule when deleting
programs and files do not delete them unless you know exactly what they are
what they do and how deleting them will affect your computer. Some programs
interface with other programs to work. There are a number of ways to safely
clean up unnecessary files such as temporary internet files, cookies,
browsing history, and the recycle bin. In Windows XP go to Start, all
programs, accessories, system tools and disc cleanup Select the drive you
wish to cleanup which should It will then analyze the drive and give you a
list of what needs to be cleaned out and how much space you can free up. It
is Ok to check everything off that has more than 0 values in space. Click OK
and yes. In Windows Vista select Start and then disc cleanup and follow the
previous instructions. There is another more thorough way to do this with a
free utility cleaning program called CC Cleaner. It is available as a free
download from
http://www.cccleaner.com. Once you download and install it you
can clean with two functions: windows and application. Select windows first
and click analyze. This will show you what files it can clean up and how
much space you can free up. Then select run cleaner. Do the same process
for applications. Run CC Cleaner periodically to clean up unnecessary files
and speed up your system.
Internet Explorer keeps a cache of files stored for retrieval and browser
history. This should deleted periodically to free up space. How often is
your decision. Some people clear it after each internet session and some
weekly. I would say weekly is sufficient. In the Internet Explorer menu
select: tools, internet options, delete files and OK. Then following the
same steps select delete history and OK.
Fragmented files can also fill up space. To see if your computer needs the
defragmentation process in Windows XP and Windows Vista go to: start, all
programs, accessories and system tools. Select Disc Defragmenter. Click
analyze and your computer will analyze the drive and tell you if it is
necessary to defragment the drive. If it is necessary it will take some time.
These steps will most likely speed up your computer and make the problem
apparent whether it be a virus or malware/spyware; however if this fails to
speed up your computer hire a technical support person to diagnose and fix
the problem.
