Why is my Windows computer slower than the day I bought it?
It is always an enjoyable experience to work on a new computer. However, this experience doesn’t last forever, and your system starts getting slower and slower, until one day it becomes a big effort to get any work done on it. This usually happens when we fail to take care of our computer and do not perform regular maintenance that is required to keep it functioning at its optimal performance. Discussed here are some of the common causes of computer slow issues and the ways you can deal with them.
Why Is my computer slow? Here are the main causes.
Computer slow downs can happen due to both hardware and software issues. The following are some of the hardware issues that can cause your computer to run slow:
- The processor of your computer is old and is unable to support new applications.
- You do not have enough memory on the system to run new software with higher system requirements.
- The hard disk is full or damaged.
The following are some of the software issues that can cause your computer to run slow:
- Software programs that use a large amount of system resources.
- Too many startup programs and services that cause program conflicts and computer errors.
- Malware infections.
- Damaged Windows registry.
- Graphic intensive desktop settings.
- Outdated software and device drivers.
- Cluttered, filled up and fragmented hard drive.
How do I speed up my computer?
There are several tasks that you can perform yourself to speed up your slow PC. Follow the simple steps listed below to perform these tasks:
- Backup your Data: Before performing any PC maintenance activity, it is recommended that you backup your essential data. For example, you create a new system restore point, and backup your emails, favorites, files and folders, and any other important information that is stored on our computer.
- Increase the system memory: With new software being introduced everyday, your system’s configuration soon becomes obsolete. Depending on the applications you are running, you may choose to update your system memory to at least 1 GB. However, the recommended RAM size to run high-end software today is 2 GB. You may also choose to upgrade your other hardware, such as CPU, motherboard and hard disk.
- Scan and remove malware infections: Malicious programs, such as virus, Trojans, spyware, and adware may add several malicious programs, files and registry entries that may not only drastically slow down your computer, but also generate several computer errors, runtime and run dll errors. To block these malicious programs, you need to perform regular full system scans using antivirus and antispyware tools. It is also essential that you update these tools regularly to ensure that you are protected against the latest infections.
- Clean your registry: As your PC gets older, the Windows registry gets filled up with loads of unwanted data that causes it to grow at an uncontrollable rate. Over time, your registry grows so large that it becomes unstable and fragmented. This large and fragmented registry takes much longer than usual to fulfill requests and thus slows down your PC. To prevent this, you may use a good third-party registry tool to scan, clean and defrag your registry. This will not only help in optimizing the registry for better performance, but also help repair any invalid or corrupt entries.
- Clean and defrag your hard disk: Regular addition and removal of software, files, and folders, over time, fills your hard disk with a lot of data you do not actually need. This data unnecessary fills up your hard disk and causes disk fragmentation. To clean up your hard disk, you must uninstall programs you do not need and use Disk Cleanup to sweep out all unwanted temporary and deleted files. Finally, use Disk Defragmenter to consolidate fragmented data and optimize your disk for better and faster performance.
