What all I can do to improve the speed of my computer which has slowed down recently?

Question

Please don't answer call the specialist technician.

Answer 1

Things that slow your system down!
1. Computers basically have two types of memory. Ram and Rom. Lets start with Rom. Read Only Memory is a storage place where files, programs, music, pictures, etc are stored. An example of Rom is your hard drive. Your hard drive is a storage system not unlike your basic cassette player. Next comes Ram or Random Access Memory. This area of memory is where your files and programs are moved to when you use them. You give the computer a command to play a game or maybe to listen to music or perhaps even do your math for you. You click an icon or program and the processor or brain finds that data on the hard drive or cd and loads it into ram. Ram is the place where most all of your programs and files run when you are using them. The processor then controls the ram and runs the software you have chosen. Now lets say you have 100 megabytes of ram in your system. You decide to edit some photos and you start your photo program which takes 40 megabytes of ram plus 5 megabytes to load the picture you edit. You now have 65 megabytes of unused ram. You decide to fire up your media player and play a selection of songs. The media player decides it needs 40 megabytes for the player operation itself plus another 20 megabytes for the stored album you want to play. We now have a total of 5 megabytes of unused ram. You decide to fire up Weather bug or google earth or some other software and its asking for another 20 megabytes of ram. You are now choking the death out of your rescources and what do you think the system will do? Any number of things can happen including simple system shutdown. Most users seem to think that they need everything but the kitchen sink running when they start their system and then scratch their bum and wonder why their system is running so slow. A few examples of software that loads on startup would be winzip, your audio mixer, music download programs, etc! You DO NOT need this crap running! Weatherbug for instance eats up about 20 megabytes of ram just sitting there not being used! Winzip takes another 5, Close down applications you arent using!

2. Viruses, adware, trojans, malware, and hijackers! NOTHING ON THE NET IS FREE! It all comes at a cost to the user! PORN SITES, GAMBLING SITES, FREE MUSIC DOWNLOAD SITES, FREE GAMING SITES, PEER TO PEER file sharing sites, etc are FILLED with this crap! Some of it simply redirects your search to a page they make money off of or hijacks your homepage, some of it constantly monitors what you are shopping for, have you ever wondered how uncanny it is that you browsed the net for a new digital camera and the next day you were spammed to death with camera ads in e mail or have started receiving digital cam popups? Some of it simply is full of malwar and viruses that will destroy data and in severe cases wipe out your hardrive!

3. I have heard everybody and their brother claim that their system is free and clean of adware. Adware removal tools are good to have but there isnt any one that will detect all adware! I dont care if its free or cost you a hundred dollars! Think about it. Adware is being produced daily. It takes the average adware removal company 2 months to even realize that there is a new piece of adware. Now they have to develop a tool to remove it! Theres another month! How much hidden crap is really in your sytem?

4. One of the biggest problems is anti virus software. It keeps your system safe alright but in the process it slows you down sometimes even worse than the original problem did! If you use your system wisely, you dont need to run your antivirus software all the time!

Bottom line....the best system protection comes from the users own intelligence! If you browse the net wisely and follow the simple ideas above you will find your system runs far better! Dont get me wrong....do use your adware removal tools.....keep them updated and when they tell you something is trying to enter your system DONT IGNORE IT! Dont waste money on adware removal tools either! The best is still free! Spybot, Spyware Blaster, Adaware, etc are all excellent choices!

Answer 2

If your computer has "slowed down recently," then what I am more focused on is the fact that you said "recently." This would mean that your computer was running at a good pace until something has caused it to slow down.

The first question is: Have you (or someone with access to your computer) added any new software or programs?

Do you run UP-TO-DATE anti-virus software? If not, you should now.

Do you run UP-TO-DATE anti-spyware software? If not, you should now.

Those are the top 3 issues that usually cause your computer to slow down suddenly.

Also if you use a downloading program (like the ones that download music, videos, etc) that can slow your computer down to almost a crawl (depending on speed of computer, size of processor, and that program's settings).

Another issue (depending on exactly what you mean by "speed") is that your hard drive could be getting too full. (Common to very old computers and when downloading large files, such as music and videos, etc)

I hope that this helps you.

Answer 3

I need a bit more info, like the os, the browser and the isp Assuming you have windows install lavesofts ad-aware and run it, it is free. Update your virus software if you have any check to see if the isp is having issues in a cmd window do ipconfig /release ipconfig /flushdns ipconfig /restore go get HijackThis and see if it finds anything clear your cache if you are using IE try firefox

Answer 4

right click on the internet explorer icon on the desk top.
Then click properties, then delete cookies and temp internet files.
Then run a defrag in system tools under the programs.
You may want to get Ad-Aware SE from download.com it kills spyware and stuff that the way I showed you misses.
It is a free download.

Answer 5

Remove all the temporary files at your main hard disc, weekly, after surfing on Internet.
Erase the programs that you don't use...not the main...carefull.
Download any kind of accelerator in Cnet.com
Don't charge big files of images or sound, until it works properly.

Answer 6

Compress all files go to start. then Accessories then click on system tools see Disk Defragmanter and click on Defragmentor ok

Answer 7

You may have spyware on your PC. Spyware will make it run slow.
Here is a list of free scans.
Spybots search and Destroy http://www.download.com/3000-8022-10122137.html?tag=pao
adaware se> http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10399602.html?tag=lst-0-1
http://www.webroot.com/land/freescan.php
a-squared Free> http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/
http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_frame.asp
http://housecall65.trendmicro.com/
X -Cleaner Micro Edition scan http://www.spywareguide.com/onlinescan.php
http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner
http://www.windowsecurity.com/trojanscan/
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html
http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
Spywareguard too.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/
Get free anti virus for free click here.
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Answer 8

run a virus killer and deleat any files you dont use,they could be taking up memory and causing it to sow down ,

Answer 9

Hi. If you know how, scan for virus infection, scan for spy-ware, then defragment.

Answer 10

clear the cache and run disk defragmenter.