If you've ever found yourself wondering "Why is my computer slow?", then you have come to the right place to find the answers, and a little help getting the issue resolved!
There are 3 major software factors that will make your computer slow. They are:
Unnecessary software (bloatware)Disk FragmentationSpyware / malware / fraudware
Unnecessary software - Computers are fastest when they're brand new and have only the operating system installed (Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7), and nothing else. The problem is, just having an operating system and nothing else makes for a computer with very limited ability.
Once other programs are added to the computer, they tend to gradually slow down - it's a subtle change, akin to watching a child grow. (If you've ever looked at your 10-year-old and thought, 'When did (s)he get so big, you can understand this analogy).
Of course, we all need to install programs to be able to do what we want with our computers. Office suites, email programs, music and video programs, games, etc....it's why we buy the computers in the first place!!
However, what many people do NOT do is remove those programs if they no longer use them. Even worse, when they ARE removed, there are many times that the uninstall program doesn't completely remove all of the files that were installed by the program. These are called "orphaned files", and can really add up over time. Additionally, these 'orphaned files' can be ones that Windows loads every time you start your computer, and that causes it to slow even more by utilizing additional system resources that would otherwise be available for you to run your programs!
So, the first thing you can do to speed up your computer is remove unneeded or unwanted programs using the Windows Control Panel "Add/Remove Program? applet, or by using the software's uninstall (usually found in the start menu along with the program itself).
This is a manual process to begin with, but once you remove the program, it's good to have a registry-scanning application to go in and remove the "orphaned file" references in the Windows registry. (FYI, the registry is a large file which Windows uses as a reference guide, to tell it what to do with system events....just about every system setting is stored in the registry). You can search the web for various free or low-cost registry scanners.
Disk Fragmentation - Defragmenting your hard drive might be the single biggest thing you can do to improve the speed of your computer.
What is fragmentation," you ask, "and why does it slow down my PC"? Let me try to explain...
The hard drive, where files are permanently stored, is a storage device which is broken down into small sections, or "clusters", that are uniform in size. Depending on the file system used and the capacity of the hard drive itself, these blocks are anywhere from 512 bytes to 256Kb (262, 144 bytes). Most current hard drives are formatted to between 4Kb and 32Kb, using either the NTFS filesystem or FAT32 filesystem. The larger the hard drive capacity, the larger the cluster size.
For the purpose of this explanation, we'll assume a 32Kb cluster size is used, as this is common for drives over 250GB in size.
Let's look at a TXT file - they're generally less than 32Kb in size, so each TXT file would occupy just one cluster.
However, a JPG photo can be a couple thousand KB's, and will need to use much more space. For example, a 2MB photo (2,048 Kb) would take 64 clusters. However, Windows does not necessarily store these larger files in adjacent clusters, they store them in the first available. So if you have small groups of free clusters scattered throughout your hard drive, Windows will write the single file into multiple locations on the hard drive. This is now a "fragmented" file.
Installing/uninstalling new programs, changes in temporary files (from your internet browser, applications that you're using, and especially the 'virtual memory' or 'paging file') will cause random free clusters on the hard drive. When you save data permanently, these files are normally fragmented due to these randrom free clusters.
Windows has a built-in defragmentation tool, but it's not very powerful - it's just enough to get the job done. Furthermore, it's a tool that you must run manually each time, and does not provide on-going maintenance of your hard drive. However, for enhanced performance, such as scheduled or continuous defragmentation, it's recommended that you purchase a professional defragmentation program, which can be found on the web for under $30.
Spyware / Malware / Fraudware - Spyware and malware are perhaps the most annoying and most damaging of today's computer-slowness issues. Spyware and malware typically are created by people or businesses trying to make money, either way providing targeted advertising, or in the worse case scenario, by putting a program on your computer that mimics an antivirus program that has found MANY virii on your computer, and keeping you from running any programs except those THEY want you to run - they convince you to buy their removal software, which does nothing more than deactivate the fake virus THEY put ON your machine in the first place!!
There are many programs on the market today which will remove these infestations, and many of them are free for basic functionality. Some have 'paid' registration options which will give you enhanced functionality, such as preventative scanning and scheduled scanning, but most malware can be removed using the basic functionality. Chances are good you already have one or two of these programs already installed.
My advice to you, however, is to always boot the computer into safe mode to run them...Windows Safe Mode prevents drives and applications from starting at boot-up, and thus keeps many of the more intrusive virii from loading, giving you a chance to completely remove it.
Don't be afraid to try to speed up your computer by yourself - you can do it, and there are plenty of resources on the web which can help.
For more information and resources, including links to the most common software used to perform the tasks talked about in this article, please visit my blog at http://www.why-is-my-computer-slow.com/.
