After a while computers tend to slow down.  Unlike humans, it’s not simply a case of the years catching up.  It’s simply that almost everything we do clogs them up.

When you get a new computer, it has just the basics installed, no extra rubbish, and so it runs really fast.  However, using it fills up the hard drive, adding any program usually increases the number of processes which are going on in the background, some programs are ‘resource hogs’, which use up processing power even when you don’t know that they are doing anything, and many programs just create clutter.  Like an irritating teenager, they just get stuff out (i.e. open files from the internet) and then never tidy them away when they’ve finished (i.e. leave them cluttering up the disk).  And that’s before we think about the viruses, malware and Trojan horses which can come as a free gift if you are not careful which websites you visit…

Fortunately there are thing you can do – some simple and free, some more complicated, and some which you might have to pay for…  Best to start with simple and free:

  1. If you haven’t got one already, install a good antivirus program and scan your system.  But beware – many antivirus programs (and I mean some BIG name ones) may be good, but they can be real resource-hogs.   Personally, having had my computer made terminally slow by several different famous and expensive antivirus suites, I opted for a free one – Avast.  It only gives basic protection in the free version, but it has prevented a number of attacks on my computer, and it doesn’t make it hideously slow to use.  Check out what others say about it at www.download.com, but I think it’s great.   Incidentally, not that I don’t trust anyone you understand, but even when downloading an antivirus program from a trusted website, I always save any downloaded file, then virus scan it with whatever virus software I’m using, then I install it.  Maybe paranoid.  But it works!
  2. Clear the disk of rubbish.  Certain web-browsers, which I won’t name as I don’t want to be sued, are monsters for cluttereing up your hard disk.  When you look at a webpage, you actually download the contents of the page to a temporary internet file.  Well mannered browsers delete them when you close the browser to save filling up your disk drive.  However, some of the biggest names in the industry don’t.  They just leave the files there, filling up your disk and slowing everything down.   They have GOT to go.. On XP you click on start, then ‘Programs’ > ‘Accessories’ > ‘System Tools’ > ‘Disk Cleanup’ which runs a scan. If it comes up with more than a few Mb of ‘Temporary Internet Files’ just click on OK dump the clutter. More details plus information for other versiosn are avaiable from Microsoft
  3. Next, you may have malware or spying software running in the background. Not only is that bad in itself, but it also means that you PC is using up processor power and resources which are at best no benefit to you, and at worst harmful. AdAware is a very popular anti malware product which has a free version available to home users. I use it to scan my compueter maybe once a month to get rid of any hidden nasties.
  4. Now we are getting a bit more complicated. The next stage is to look at how many processes you have running in the background. In Windows the normal way to find out is, straight after switching on, open ‘Task Manager’ (press the < CTRL > , < ALT > and < DELETE > keys all at the same time, then select ‘Task Manager’). If you have more than 50 processes running, there is probably somethings going on, using up resources, which you don’t know about. I’ve heard of some people having 100 processes or more… Best thing is find out what each process is, and whether it is necessary – I normally just put the process name into a search engine, and see what the forums say. Obviously you need to be a bit careful – after all, not everything you read on the internet is true you know! But you can get some good, free advice about what’s needed and what is rubbish if you look carefully.
  5. Finally we are getting to the realms of the complicated – looking at the Windows Registry. This is basically the database which Windows uses to keep all of the settings and file associations that the computer needs to run. Unfortunately, programs have a habit of making changes over time, some of which generate mistakes. Also, just about every new program you put on adds another entry in the Registry, and probably causes another, unnecessary process to start up when you turn the computer on. It all just slows things down. It is possible to edit the Registry yourself but, unless you are an expert, I strongly recommend that you don’t! A simple mistake can cause all sorts of problems, so this is one area where it probably is worth spending a little money and buying a Registry Cleaner program (from a reputable source, of course!). A decent program won’t break the bank, but it will save you the agony of completely messing things up!

There are plenty of steps you can take to regain the performance of your PC. The processor has not slowed down at all since the day you bought it – it’s just been clogged up with useless files, and is doing much more in the background (most of which is of absolutely no benefit to you) than you realise.

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