One of my room mates keeps downloading a lot of songs onto my computer and I just wanted to know if that is why my computer is running slow. What kind of affects come to a computer that has a lot of downloads on it?
2006-07-25 16:20:54 · 27 answers · asked by tasha22_8 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
I can't believe some of the answers you're getting here. A lot of files on your hard drive will slow down your computer??? Then what good is a hard drive if you can't store anything on it? This may have been true back in the days of 386's, 486's and Atari ST computers, but not with modern computers. Plus, you can't, repeat, can't get a virus from an MP3 file. Amazing!
More likely, your roommates are downloading more than just MP3's from the P2P networks and are getting spyware, viruses and trojans for their efforts. Their browsing porn sites may also introduce those little buggers into your system. You need to clean your system. There's no doubt about it, it's infected.
Spyware: Get Spybot S&D http://spybot.safer-networking.de/en/mirrors/index.html
Adware: Ad-Aware Personal Edition http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/
(Choose one)
Anti-Virus: Avast! http://www.avast.com (Recommended)
Anti-Virus: AVG http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_remtext.php?id=bagbugnet
Anti-Virus: Anti-Vir http://www.free-av.com
2006-07-25 18:22:05 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends where you are downloading the songs from. Most of the popular web sites for music are full of spyware that enter your computer with the download. Downloads per se are not bad - it is what comes with them (spyware) that will slow your computer down.
Recommendations: If you do not have any spyware detection on your computer - you need to add it. Some of the best are: Spybot Search and Destroy - a free download at: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
Ad-Aware - lavasoft.com - Microsoft's Windows Defender.
Run these programs after downloading and get rid of the spyware they find.
Good luck!
2006-07-25 16:31:31 · answer #2 · answered by sosguy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends on the songs. Country music is probably worse than anything else, but maybe that;'s just me.
:)
Actually, full songs take up a lot of space. It very well could be that you are running out of free space. But you should do some maintenance stuff anyway to be sure. Do a Disk Cleanup, then do a full virus scan, and then a full anti-spyware scan. Do a full defrag of your drive (Start menu/Accessories/System Tools).
Maybe you should do the defrag overnight--if sometimes takes a very long time, especially if you've never done it before.
2006-07-25 16:29:09 · answer #3 · answered by PermDude 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Anytime you fill the hard drive, it will start slowing down. First check My Computer, right click on C Drive and go to Properties - if the circle is more than half full - your computer will slowly start being affected. Make sure to use your Clean Disk and Defrag as that will help keep the drive clean. You may think about getting a little thumb drive - their cheap and you can store a ton of music on it without affecting your hard drive.
2006-07-25 16:26:16 · answer #4 · answered by longhats 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's only bad because you run the risk for downloading viruses and spyware and all that not-so-great stuff. Other than that, the music files do take up memory... depending on how much memory your computer has, yes, the computer may slow down.
2006-07-25 16:25:20 · answer #5 · answered by cakeeater0119 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your room mate needs to copy the songs to a disk and get them off your computer. Too many songs or videos can really slow down a computer.
2006-07-25 16:24:48 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on how and where they are downloading from. If they are downloading from a peer to peer you can possibly get a virus which would slow down your computer or even just take you computer out. Also depending on the size of your hard drive if they are filling it up this would also hamper the speed of your computer.
2006-07-25 16:24:39 · answer #7 · answered by Lisa 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That would probably be what is slowing the computer down, but make sure you reboot it frequently. How much space on the hard drive has nothing to do with how fast the computer goes, it's the short term memory of the computer, the RAM that counts.
2006-07-25 16:25:06 · answer #8 · answered by mbezlr 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If a hard disk is getting filled up, it can make processing slower (finding files, using memory, etc.) I would suggest making CDs from playlists of songs, and then deleting anything that you can live without. Music and video take up space and if the hard disk is not overly large, it's amazing at how much space gets eaten up. Also, clear out the temporary files folder. After that, optimize the computer (defrag it) and try to do hard disk housekeeping on a regular basis after that.
2006-07-25 16:27:13 · answer #9 · answered by SB 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've never had any trouble.. As long as your hard drive is large enough to hold them..I have 2 250 hard drives and I've got well over 1000 songs on this computer i'an on right now..Youg computer may be running slow because of all the programs you have running..You may need to defrag.also run your anti-virus..Your friend in Tennessee...ROB
2006-07-25 16:31:45 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋