Posted on

How to Repair Your Slowing down PC?

After a few months of using your brand new PC, it inevitably slows down. There could be a number of reasons for this. Here are a few things you can do bring back your PC to its former glory.

Extra software

If you are a typical PC user, you install a variety of programs on your PC. You use some of them all the time, but forget about the others. Installing too much software slows down your PC each time it starts. Also, when you install some software, it installs other programs that you never asked for and which sit on your PC just taking up space and memory. This also causes a lot of slowdowns.

To get rid of this problem, identify and make a list of software you have on your PC. Uninstall whatever you do not use. You will be surprised at just how many programs you have, many of which you haven’t even heard of. When installing new software, remember to untick wherever it asks to install other software, fondly called “bloatware”.

Toolbars

Your PC can also slow down over time because of toolbars. When you install applications and Windows, many times sub programs such as toolbars are also installed. If you open Internet Explorer and find tons of toolbars installed with little space for the actual content, you have a problem with toolbars.

With so many toolbars installed your browser takes ages to start up. Once it has started up, it runs very slow. The only way to deal with this is to remove all those toolbars by uninstalling them from the control panel. If you use Mozilla Firefox, remove unnecessary toolbars from that too.

Fragmented Disk

As your PC gets older, you keep adding and deleting files from the disk. This creates a lot of empty spaces that files that spread over the entire disk. When you open such a file, it will take a bit of time to open. This used to be a big headache a few years ago. Since disks have gotten faster and Windows is getting better, defragmentation is less of a problem.

Even so, if you find that files take a very long time to open and your PC takes a long time to start, defragmenting your hard drive should give your computer a speed boost. In order to keep your disks clean, go through the defragmentation process once every two months. You can either use the disk defragmenter that comes built into Windows or third party software such as Auslogics.

Hard disk

Even after doing all the above, you find your PC to be running slow, it is probably a problem with your storage disk. Hard disks are mechanical devices that spin at several thousand rotations per minute. Although they are usually reliable, they can just as easily fail, either due to manufacturing defects or physical shock.

If your computer is under warranty, contact customer support and have it replaced. Else, you may ask a technician to replace the hard disk for you. When you do this, you have to install Windows all over again and also all programs that you had running previously.

Posted on

Extra Software Could Be the Reason behind Your Slow PC

It often gets annoying when you are working on something important and your PC slows down. There could be many factors behind this. One of the reasons for your PC slowing down could be installation of extra software. Software requires some amount of memory to get started. Thus, the more number of software you install on your PC the more memory they need.

For an individual who uses computer for most of his jobs might certainly require separate software for each job. This does not imply that he needs all the programs installed by the software. While installing software one must carefully go through the installation process and see which programs are being installed along with the software.

So what is important and what is not?

Most of the software you use, provide you with three options during installation –

  1. To install the complete software
  2. To install the most commonly used programs in the software
  3. To choose the programs you want to install.

It is advisable to choose the third option if you use advanced software as you would have a better idea of which programs you want to install. If you are a new user, the second choice is better as that option installs programs that are commonly needed by new users. The first option is advisable only if you want to study the software or know its complete usage.

Also, software comes with additional programs that you might not need at all. For example, when you download a YouTube downloader, it comes with additional anti-virus software. You do not need this software if you are a typical PC user as you would have advanced anti-virus software already installed on your PC. It is important to take care to check what is getting downloaded along with the software and if it is something you do not need, avoid them.

What if we need all the software that is installed?

There might be times when your PC gets too slow because of installing too much software but you need all of them. A solution to this problem is to increase your RAM memory. Whenever you start any software, it gets loaded onto your RAM memory. Thus, the more software you have, the more RAM memory you need.

You can check the specifications of software installed on your PC and find out the maximum amount of RAM required for the software to run smoothly. If you do not have enough RAM memory for software to run, your PC tends to run slow. Even if you manage to start the software, you cannot use any other application while running that software. If you try to do so, neither of your applications would work and your PC may hang.

For example, Oracle database software requires 1 MB of RAM to get started while a Visual Studio can do with 512 MB. This means that your PC needs minimum 1MB RAM if you are using both of these software. If you try to run Oracle using a 512 MB RAM it won’t work. Anti-virus software that uses powerful scanning tools also requires more RAM memory to scan your PC completely and effectively.

Posted on

How to take care of your SLOW computer that’s bothering you?

Today, its hard to imagine a world without computers. At the same time when something goes wrong the lay man is at a complete loss in pin pointing the source or the error of the “sickness” . One of the most common complaints with the computer is that it gets slow after a while… slow to boot… slow to carry out the commands… slow with execution… audio visual delay.. and many many more problems..

Following are a few ways in which maybe you can help fix a few of the problems:

1) De fragmenting the computer at least once a fortnight is good. It mobilizes all the files and keeps them organized giving you better usage of the available free space. It can be likened to finding things in a clean room as opposed to a cluttered one.

To defragment the computer- go to START , PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, SYSTEM TOOLS and finally DISK DEFRAGMENTOR. next choose the drive you want to defragment n proceed.

2) Most of  our computers are left out in the open without any cover. Over the days dust collects n we just choose to ignore it on account of laziness mostly.. 🙂 Anyway what many of us don’t know is that these unsuspiscious looking dustballs can in fact slow down the computer considerably. So make sure your computer area is kept clean; and the inside of the CPU should be vacuumed or cleaned carefully so that the wires and chips are not meddled with or moved around or dislodged.

The dust is known to obstruct specially the normal functioning of the fan placed in the CPU. It helps keep it cool inside and prevents OVERHEATING of the system and hence leads to good speed and better functioning.

3) RAM  of less than 512mb can pose a problem for those individuals who use the computer very frequently. An upgradation will do wonders to the speed. I guess its the same as nitro boost to cars.

4) There  are certain programs which are known as “resource hogs”. They utilize a lot of the system’s resources and hence slow it down majorly.

For example anti viruses like Norton and Mcaffe are good no doubt in scooping out viruses from every knook and corner but they really slow down the system. Other anti viruses like Avast or even AVG are good added with the benefit of not hogging the system’s resources.

These are just a few ways in which one could improve the speed of their computers. Any other suggestions or methods are more than welcome here. 🙂