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If your computer is
running very slow and you want to do something about it, you have come
to the right place. The most frequent complaint I hear in the field is
that "my computer is running very slow". There are many reasons your
computer could be running slow, but there is a solution for every single
one! And some of the problems can be remedied by you at no additional
expense, assuming you are willing to take the time to complete the
necessary processes. Unfortunately, there is no simple solution and
resolving this problem can be very time consuming. Most of the problems
that can cause your computer to slow down do so over a very long time
and you don't really notice it until the system becomes very sluggish.
Of course, hardware failures, hijackers, viruses, etc. can almost
disable you system in an instant, so these types of problems are usually
much easier to identify, although they can be very difficult to resolve.
Here are some of the more
typical problems that can cause your system to slow down (you may click
on any problem title to move directly to that section or simply scroll
down to read them all):
Data Fragmentation
When your computer writes data to your hard drive, it finds the
first available empty sector and begins to write the data to that area.
Frequently, the data to be written is larger than the sector, so your
computer moves to another sector and writes more data, continuing this
process until all the data is saved. Click here
for detailed information about defrag.
Disk Errors
Disk errors usually occur when one or more sectors on your hard
drive are damaged or they loose their formatting. Any data stored in
those areas is usually lost, but bad sectors can slow your computer
significantly. Click here
for detailed help to repair disk errors.
Insufficient Disk Space
Although the total amount of free disk space is different for
each operating system, you should always keep a minimum of 10 gigabytes
or 10%, whichever is smaller (unless you are burning DVD's, which will
sometimes require free disk space equivalent to the space to be copied
to the removable disk). You can free up disk space
by removing unwanted programs and files (especially graphics and
pictures), emptying the recycle bin, emptying temp folders, etc. Click
here to learn how to use Windows XP's
built in disk cleanup tool to free up more disk space.
Insufficient Memory
At the time this document was published, the very minimum amount
of memory that is required on most computers is
1 gigabyte. If your computer
has less than this, you should consider an upgrade immediately! If you
are not sure how much memory your computer has, you can right click on
"My Computer", then left click "Properties" to open a window where your
processor speed and memory will be displayed. So, how much memory do you
need? That depends on three factors: what types of programs do you use;
how much money are you willing to spend and what will your motherboard
support? If your computer is not more than 2 years old, increasing your
memory will probably give you the best overall improvement, but you
should try to triple the amount you currently have installed if
possible. You should also be sure you have configured a large
enough virtual memory page file. Click here
for more details about setting virtual memory.
Slow Processor
If you have owned your computer for more than a couple of years,
your processor speed to could the cause of your system slowdown. At this
time, any processor slower than 2.8 gHz (2800 mHz) is probably too slow to
handle today's resource intensive operating systems and applications.
Years ago, it often made sense to upgrade your processor because
computers cost several thousand dollars and the upgrade could usually be
completed for a few hundred dollars. Today, however, you can purchase an
entirely new system for a few hundred dollars, so this type of upgrade
seldom makes sense any more. Click here
to learn how to check your processor speed.
System File Corruption
Some software programs or hardware installation routines will
modify your operating system file in order to run properly. If you
uninstall the software or hardware, it will usually not attempt to undo
the changes it made to the system files and this can cause your system
to slow down or even lock up
completely. Windows 2000 and XP have a built in utility to resolve this
problem (you will need your original Windows system disk to complete
this process). Click here for more information about
system file checker.
Spyware
If you have employees or relatives (especially teenagers) who access
your computer frequently, you might want to consider setting up your
computer as a public PC. This is what is done by motels, hotels,
libraries, some schools and colleges, etc. which allows the public (or
students) to access their computers. When the PC is rebooted each night,
each and every change that was made to the PC during that day is
completely erased! So, no matter what the user does, it cannot harm your
computer. Unfortunately, this is not an inexpensive solution since your
hard drive will need to be re-partitioned or a second drive will need to
be installed to contain the backup image which will be restored each
time the computer is rebooted. You can download either or both of these free spyware programs by clicking the appropriate link:
Ad-aware
Spybot S&D
If you prefer to purchase a
full version, I recommend Spysweeper. You can purchase it at various
retail stores or click
here to purchase
and download it online (about $29). You might also want to consider
Windows OneCare.
Viruses
There are 200-300 new viruses released onto the internet every
month, so keeping your computer protected for the damage and/or privacy
invasion they can cause is a never ending job! A virus running in the
background on your computer can make it run at a snail's pace! There are
many anti-virus programs available that will do a good job of protecting
you, but I have found that AVG Antivirus by Grisoft does the best job
with the least annoying pop-up warnings at the cheapest price. You can
download the program from the internet and subscribe to automatic
updates for $38 for two years! I would strongly encourage you to
NOT try to update your Norton program files using an online update since
there is a very high risk that the update and download will not complete
and will cause serious (and sometimes even fatal) problems with your
computer. I don't like McAfee because it constantly pops up windows that
become very annoying and distracting and you must create an account and
remember a username and password in order to update your virus
definition file. Additionally, Norton and McAfee cost around $50 a year,
which is over twice the cost of AVG ($19 per year at the time this
document was published). Click here
for more information about AVG Antivirus.
Programs Running in the Background
If you notice the icons displayed in your taskbar on the lower
right corner of your screen, you will see all the programs that are
loaded into your computers memory at this time. If you use the "Quicklaunch"
toolbar which displays icons on the left side of your taskbar, these
icons are simply shortcuts and do not use any memory until you click on
them to open the program. Those on the right side, however are called
TSR's (for terminate and stay resident). The fewer
of these icons you have displayed the better. By default, Windows does
not display inactive icons in the area, but they are still there, using
up valuable memory. There are several ways you can reduce the amount of
memory that is being used by these programs. One is to remove programs
that are not necessary. Many programs such as Jave, Micorsoft Office,
Apple Quicktime, etc. will automatically install their own TSR just so
the users will become more familiar with the company logo! The
program associated with the icon will almost always function flawlessly
without the TSR running at all. You can also check the "Startup" folder
in the "All Users" folder in Documents and Settings to be sure there is
nothing being loaded from there. In most versions of Windows (except
Windows 2000), the developers have included a very useful tool called
msconfig.exe. This utility is a simple way to disable programs that are
being started every time you boot your computer. Click
here for more information about running msconfig
to control your startup programs.
Registry Errors
This is probably the most significant factor contributing to system slow
down in computers which are more than 6 to 12 months old. Software engineers get
paid to write programs that work well and have lots of "bells and
whistles". But they spend very little time writing code that will clean
up after the program is either closed or removed from the system
entirely. Your computer
registry
is a very large database that contains information about every aspect of
your computer, including applications, hardware, operating system, etc.
When you uninstall a program from your computer, that program may leave
traces of itself in the registry. If this is done frequently, it can
significantly slow your system since the computer refers to registry
information often and errors can cause your system to slow down.
If your registry becomes
damaged or destroyed, not only will your computer slow down, it will not
boot up at all. So you must be very careful when doing anything to
your registry or you will render your system inoperable!
There are several free
registry cleaners available on the internet. One that works well is
CCleaner.
System Degradation
Normal day to day use of any computer eventually causes the
operating system to degrade and become less efficient due to registry
errors, memory page errors, fragmented files, improperly applied
software updates, etc. How quickly your system degrades to a level that
it is noticeably slower depends on many factors, so there is no way to
predict how long your system will operate at maximum speed and
efficiency. Since I use my computers every day and require them to
perform many tasks, my computers may degrade at a faster rate than
yours, so I totally rebuild all my computers at least once a year
(except my server, which has been running 24/7 for nearly 8 years
without any problems). The primary computers I use at my office and my
home are rebuilt about every 90 days to keep them in top shape and
operating at maximum efficiency. If you are not sure how
long ago your operating system (i.e. Windows XP, etc.) was installed,
you can find out by left clicking on the START button, then RIGHT
clicking on "My Documents", then left click on "Properties".
Then left click the "General" tab and look for the section that is
labeled "Created". This will tell you the exact date you
operating system was installed on your system, assuming the account
you are currently logged onto was created at that time. Reinstalling
your operating system restores your computer to the condition it was in
when you first took it from the box the day you purchased it.
While I recommend that
almost everyone have their operating system reinstalled at least every
18 to 24 months, there are a few very important points you should
consider before doing so:
-
Backup all your
data! Restoration will delete everything on your hard disk drive!
And you should backup less obvious items like your Favorites, your
address book, calendar, emails, etc. If your computer has stored
your email password so you don't have to type it in any more, you
might have forgotten it and this can be a problem.
-
Be sure you can
locate all your original program disks for applications such as
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), Quickbooks, etc. since
each program will need to be reinstalled just like you did when the
computer was first purchased. You will also need the installation
disks for any hardware you added after you initially purchased the
computer such as printers, network adapters, etc. And if you
recently subscribed to a service such as virus updates, spam
filters, etc. and did not purchase the retail versions, you could
nullify your subscription (but this can usually be avoided by
contacting the vendor beforehand for instructions).
-
If your computer is
on a network, all those settings will need to be restored. If your
computer is sharing files or printers to other computers on the
network, all these connections will need to be restored after the
computer is rebuilt.
-
Expect things to be
different! Few of us willingly accept changes to those things that
have worked well for us for a long time. And although we can
replicate most of your computer settings after the reinstallation,
there will necessarily be lots of small things that are different.
You probably don't realize all the little things you have done to
your computer over the years to personalize it and make it a tool
that suites your needs exactly. It is impossible to make years worth
of changes and enhancements in just a couple of hours.
This entire process
actually takes about 3-4 hours and then setting up the computer in your
office takes about an hour. Our charges for the rebuild are usually 1 to
2 hours offsite (since much of the 3-4 hours is spent waiting for files
to be downloaded, copied or installed) and whatever is required to setup
the system in your office (usually an hour or less). I have never done
this for a client who was less than astounded at the results!
You could also consider
using the same process I use for my fleet of loaner computers. Since my
clients expect a loaner computer to work flawlessly and not have any
contamination such as viruses or spyware, I must totally rebuild each
machine every time it is loaned out, no matter who uses it or for how
long. Since I could easily move 10 to 20 loaners into the field in a
month, I could spend dozens of hours each month restoring the
systems if I did not have a better way to do it. But I do! I use a
custom drive imaging utility (similar to Norton Ghost, but much better)
to create and store an image of my entire hard disk drive. I create the
image as soon as I have completed the installation of the operating
system and all the drivers and applications, as well as all the software
updates from Microsoft and other vendors. Using this process, I can
restore a loaner and make it ready for use in the field in about 10-15
minutes!
The only obstacle to this
process is the size of the backup image. It is usually 2-3 gigabytes in
size (which would take 4 or 5 CD's if the file could be spanned over
multiple disks). This is not a problem for me in my office since my
servers have several
terabytes of storage space (a terabyte is 1000 gigabytes), but could
create challenges in your home or office.
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