Why is my computer much slower than when it was new?

Question

I know that I have a lot more programs & files now but if they are just resting in the background, why is my computer slower?
I keep the start menu nearly empty and have very few icons on screen.

Answer 1

You need to defragment it.

Answer 2

Even if your programs are mostly resting in the backround, the amount of data on your hard disk makes for more data for the computer to go through each time it's trying to retrieve data from the disk.
Clear your cache, get rid of junk files, temp files and anything you don't use regularly, then run a defrag.

Answer 3

There are a lot of factors for the system to become slower, as u go on installing new programmes a lot of files are copied to windows, windows\system32 etc directories which may not be removed even if the programmes are uninstalled, moreover a lot of registry keys are also added, this all add to the system becoming slow, system also gets fragmented, so you shud defragment it.. Avoid installing a lot of unnecessary programmes. remove temporary files using disk cleaner, defragment the drives, do virus scan..

Answer 4

There are now programs being run in the background...anti-virus, firewall, and others. You may not see evidence of them, but they are running and taking up memory. You can check on this in Windows by clicking on "Start", then "Run", and then type in MSCONFIG and then click on "OK". The resulting window will have tabs, one of which will be labeled "Start Up". Click on that tab and you'll see the programs that are automatically started when Windows boots up. My suggestion to you would be to disable the start up items that aren't necessary for Windows to run correctly. Be very careful with this, and only disable items that you are sure of, and only one at a time. You might consider adding additional RAM to your pc as well. Good luck.

Answer 5

It has to do with many things:
- How many application you run simultaneously.
- How many programs run in background when you boot (messenger, printer tools, virus checkers, etc...)


A few options you can do, without knowing much about PC is
- De-fragment (helps a little)
- Add memory (helps more)
- De-install application you don't use (helps)

Answer 6

you could have some malware or spyware issues. I have found that there are certain things out there that will tie up your memory resources and it will bog everything down. Some of that stuff is very hard to locate and you may need to take it to a pc shop.

Answer 7

Try going to Msconfig (Start-Run-type "msconfig") and see if you have any programs running during startup, if you have programs running that you don't want go ahead and check them off. If that doesn't work you can always reformat your computer.

Answer 8

Here I got Mad Checkers for free: http://bitly.com/1pUL7gy

it's a perfectly working link, no scam !
Mad Checkers includes simple and very appealing graphics; furthermore it can be played by users of all ages.

Answer 9

http://mypchelp.blogspot.com/2006/10/pc-running-slow.html

Answer 10

"advanced windows care" do a search download it and run it it's the best I've seen by far and it's free

Answer 11

yes to what everyone says here.you probably need to clean out some old files etc..