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Slow Computer

Don't worry, you're not alone.

A slow computer is one of the most common problems you will experience as a computer user.

To get your problem diagnosed quickly and easily please let us know, contact us, or give us a call at (800) 573-0234.

If you are looking to speed up your computer here are a few things to try:

  1. The first thing you should try is rebooting your computer, which means shutting down your computer, and starting it back up again.

    What will rebooting your computer do, you might wonder?

    • Rebooting your computer will get rid of temporary files, which may be hogging your computers memory (especially if your computer has not been turned off for a while!).
    • Sudden slowness may also be due to something you have downloaded or installed recently.

      You can also try uninstalling recently installed applications and drivers (as well as any applications that you just don’t use!)

    If this doesn’t fix the problem a spyware program or virus may be slowing down your computer.

  2. Spyware or a Virus may be slowing down your computer. To check if this is the case you could run a virus scanner and spyware sweep. If neither of these turn up anything you should try running them again while your computer is in safe mode.
    *If you have Internet access, you can download Malwarebytes: FileHippo.com.

         Spyware and/or viruses can be very difficult and frustrating things to get under control, please don't hesitate to contact us, or give us a call at (800) 573-0234 for further assistance.

  3. Is your computer working too hard? You can check to see if this is the case by looking at the Notification Area of the computer (in the bottom right hand of the screen near the clock). If there are a lot of icons appearing there the programs may be slowing down your computer.

    One possibly deeper cause for the problems your experiencing may be that programs on your computer automatically open when your computer starts up. Don’t fret! You can change the settings of programs so that they won’t open automatically.

    To do this you simply:

    1. Right-click on the icons in the notification area to find out what application they represent.
    2. Close them.
    3. And/Or change their settings!

    This will save your computer from trying to juggle many applications at once, allowing your computer to focus on the things you want it to.

  4. Do you have an inadequate amount of RAM? RAM is the computer memory that is used for actively running programs. If you don’t have enough RAM your computer will have a difficult time running many programs at once.

    How much RAM you will need depends on what you are using your computer for, but for most people 1GB to 2GBs of RAM should allow their computer to run smoothly.

    The cure to your frustration may involve upgrading your RAM. First of all you should check how much RAM your computer currently has. If your computer has 1 GB or more RAM, then it is probably not your problem. If your computer has less, you may want to consider purchasing extra RAM. The good new is that RAM is fairly inexpensive and easy to install!

  5. If you think that the hard drive may be the reason for your computers lack of speed you may want to try a few things. The hard drive is the place where files (and many other things, including the operating system!) are stored.

    First of all you should check to see how much space is available on your hard drive. If there is only 10 or 15% available you may want to delete files to make more room. Do not worry though, there is an easy way to do this! Go to Add or Remove programs and delete programs that you know you don’t use.

    Secondly, you can run the disk cleanup utility. To get rid of temporary files there is a great free program you can download called CCleaner (Windows Only).

    Finally, if you are having trouble getting rid of enough stuff to free up the hard drive, you might want to get a larger hard drive or an external hard drive to store your larger files (like pictures, music and videos) on.

    Deciding how much RAM or what size hard drive you need doesn't have to be complicated, contact us, or give us a call at (800) 573-0234 for a recommendation.

  6. Is your hard drive defragmented? You can try to speed up the performance of your computer by running the disk defragmenter utility to fix any defragmentation issues you might be having.

    What is defragmentation? It is when your hard drive stores parts of files haphazardly and in an unorganized fashion. This makes finding parts of files much more difficult and time consuming for your computer. When you run the disk defragmenter it reorganizes the parts of individual files on the hard drive so that they are close together making the searching process much easier and faster.

    Be aware, however, that before you run the disk defragmenter it is very important that you back-up all your files! There is a chance that you could lose files which would only cause you even more computer pain and frustration!

    If, after trying these things, you still need help - feel free to let us know, contact us, or give us a call at (800) 573-0234.


Need Help With Your Slow Computer? 
Contact Us Today, or Call (800) 573-0234!

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