What defines a Slow PC? I boot up my PC, open internet explorer and connect to the internet .To do these steps about 10 years ago on WIN 98 it used to take me about 15 min or more. It takes about less than 5 minutes today, so the questions I ask myself are ‘is the computer really slow’ or ‘do we have less patience now.’  Well the answer to the question is – it’s both.

Computers are becoming much faster but the applications used on them are becoming much bigger and more complicated.  My patience as well is little because my computer out of the box runs fine but 8 months later its worse, which really gets me frustrated as I expect it to run like new every day.  However it won’t because I have had many movies, games, mp3 and dozen other applications installed over the last 8 months. So should I stop downloading these application, if so what is the point of having a nice computer. What really causes computers to run slow, listed below are some of the main reasons I came across.

1. RAM (Random Access Memory) Space- The computer was probably provided with enough memory when you purchased it some time ago but with new applications especially large ones being installed it needs more RAM space. To perform better an upgrade is suggestible, anything less than 1 GB RAM is history.
2. Operating System (OS) like Windows when upgraded are much more advanced and larger than their previous version as they tend be very latest and some functions might be not be better suited for your old pc configuration. Point being upgrading OS might not always be the solution to a faster performing PC, it depends on what suits better to your PC hardware configuration.
3. Viruses are one of the most well known reasons. There is no good virus; they are all bad because they affect your computer without your knowledge. They tend to multiply themselves and often cause computers to crash, worse being that there is a possibility of data loss. They are even more dangerous when you are on a network as they sometimes use it to bypass security and even send malicious emails on your behalf.  Use of good antivirus softwares and correct firewall settings might help prevent viruses.
4. Adwares are malicious softwares and often come as part of other applications, most times hidden. It causes pop-ups and unwanted advertising that harms your computers in more than one way. You can read my article on adware for more info here.
5. Slow start up speed of your OS can be very painful, you can avoid this by deleting unwanted programs from your startup file. This should help unwanted applications to run in the background and use your processor speed. Click here for an easy way to do this.

A very important point to remember is that whenever you install any application they tend to write some data into your computer’s registry. Every time you surf the internet there is data written to your temp files which overtime becomes quite large taking more space and may cause issues.

Uninstalling applications may leave behind corrupt/damaged files and might not get deleted completely from the registry causing more problems. Fixing problems with your windows registry is not easy and a registry cleaner might come in handy as they scan and clean files easily. They tend to fix most of the problems for a slow pc and it’s a nice idea to run them once every few months. You can read some registry cleaners reviews on my blog.

Although there are many more known reasons for computers to perform slowly, I have tried to address few of the most common reasons and quick solutions to fix them.

Godspeed!

Ever wondered why it takes so long to boot up you PC, even a new one. Most computers come with many applications pre-installed to which are enabled to run whenever the PC boots up, this causes delay in boot up time. Whenever you install applications on your computer it’s the same thing. You might not want these applications to run at all times in the background  as they tend to consume more processor speed which causes your PC to run slow. You can try this quick trick to help you disable these files in windows startup.

1. Click {Win+R}. If you don’t know where the WIN key is, it is the one with WIN Logo on the last row of your keyboard. Else Click ‘Start’ then ‘Run’ (if you are on Vista there is no ‘Run’ option, you can type in search.)
2. In the space type in ‘msconfig’ then ’OK’.

1. Click on the ‘Startup’ tab
2. In the Check Box click what you don’t need
3. Click ‘Apply’ then ‘Ok’

You will need to reboot your PC for this to work, removing unwanted startup files will help your PC boot faster.

When most of us started using a computer, it had a black and white monitor. Programming languages such as BASIC and LOGO existed.

The advent of the internet brought about the biggest advertising space that ever existed. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, online classified advertising, advertising networks and e-mail marketing, including e-mail spam.

Along with the joys of the limitless boundaries of online advertising came Ad ware or advertising – supported software. This software automatically plays, shows, and always downloads adverts to a computer after the software is installed on the computer or as it is being used.

Although most people try and avoid downloading from unknown sources or sites, the most common sources of Ad ware are

• Advanced search engines
• Instant news and weather updates
• Computer games
• Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing programs
• Fun mouse pointers, desktop themes and backgrounds
• Emoticons and smileys used in emails

Ad wares piggy-back on these sources and once downloaded onto your PC they run in the background constantly creating advertisements. Some Ad wares are harmless which will close upon clicking OK or cancel while malicious Ad wares are those which a user needs to be aware of.

Malicious ad wares can:

• Breach security: It exploits various holes in the security and can automatically add new programs without the users’ knowledge.
• Violate your privacy as it constantly monitors and collects information about you that is not related to any customer preferences and these details can be sold to a third party.
• Weakens your PC by slowing it down with the various programs it is running in the background even when you are not using your computer

Most users do not realise that malicious Ad wares run on a PC until they an Ad ware cleaning software. If you would like to clean your PC of malicious Ad wares check my blog for registry cleaners reviews.

Thanks