Slow PC Problems and What To Do About Them

The speed of your computer is likely to change over time. Applications that you have installed on your PC since its purchase may slow your computer to a turtle’s pace. This is because even though new programs, applications and operating systems make our lives easier, they put a severe strain on the system resources and slow it down.

If you are like most people and cannot buy a new PC every two years but would like to use new applications efficiently on your old PC, you will need to make optimal use of your system resources. This article helps you understand problems regarding a slow computer and how to fix them.

1. Ensure that your Hard Disk is Healthy: The health of your hard disk is dependent on two things. One is the amount of data and second is how the data is organized. Your operating system provides you with two easy-to-use tools that you can deploy on a regular basis to perform maintenance tasks on your PC. These are:
   1. Disk Cleanup: Cleans up your hard drive by removing unnecessary files and frees up precious space.
   2. Disk Defragmenter: Defragments the space in your hard drive and makes it faster to access information.

You can access these tools through your Start-Up menu in your operating system. You must perform these two tasks regularly to get the best performance out of your PC.

1. Keep your Registry Error Free: Your Windows registry is extensively used by your PC while you are working since it contains critical data about each software and hardware component of your system. A large amount of data is continuously added and removed from your registry when your PC is operational. A registry overloaded with redundant information is likely to cause registry errors and slow down your PC. Therefore, it is crucial for the speed of your computer that you clean your registry frequently. You can opt for a popular tool known as Registry Cleaning Programs to keep your registry error free.
2. Protect your PC against Malware: One of the common symptoms of malware infection is a slow computer. Of course malware has the potential to cause more serious damage, but if you find that your computer has started to slow down, it could be a warning sign of a virus or a spyware. Some of these viruses or spyware can gain entry into your system under the disguise of a genuine file or program name. A popular but notorious example of this is the iexplore.exe virus. You must not operate your computer without protection tools such as anti-virus and anti-spyware installed on it. Once you have these tools, use them adequately to ensure proper instructions and follow three important guidelines.
   1. Keep online protection always ON.
   2. Perform a complete scan of the system every week.
   3. Keep these tools updated with the latest definitions to ensure that you are ready to combat the latest security threats.

Essential Tasks To Maintain A Healthy Computer

Computers have several adv­­antages that are useful both in business as well as personal life. People not only use computers to earn a living, but also for things like communication, entertainment, education and photo albums. Whatever way you use your PC, it is most likely to work better if it is healthy and well-maintained. On the other hand, if you ignore this important aspect, there are chances that one or all of the following things may occur:

1. Hard disk gets cluttered with unnecessary data.
2. File system becomes chaotic and unstructured.
3. In absence of backup, chances of data loss increases and scope of restoring the loss decreases.
4. Lack of software updates leads to slow down and computer errors.
5. Vulnerability to malware infections such as virus and spyware increases.
6. On the whole, system performance goes down substantially.

It is recommended that you perform the following essential tasks in order to maintain a healthy computer.

1. Clean your hard drive and defrag it: Your hard drive is one of the key reasons that indicate the health and performance of your PC. In order to speed up your slow computer, you must perform two essential maintenance services for your hard disk. The first is Disk Cleanup that cleans up unnecessary files from your hard disk. Second, involves defragmenting your drive using the Disk Defragmenter utility. This tool rearranges the files on your hard disk and makes them faster to access. You can perform these two functions at regular intervals by accessing System Tools in your Start menu.
2. Remove unwanted programs: One of the reasons a new computer is fast and healthy is that it has fewer programs and applications installed on it. Over time, you may install additional applications as and when required on your computer. Some of the programs you may install initially but then decide to discontinue them. These days, toolbars are very popular among web browsers and you may try various tool bars before deciding on which one to use. For example, may be you install a yahoo tool bar but then decide that you don’t need it. It is a good idea to remove yahoo toolbar completely if you do not plan to use it. This will help free up valuable system resources, speed up your computer and reduce the chance for errors.
3. Clean Windows Registry: Another reason that your computer may suffer from bad health is due to an unclean Windows registry. The registry is a critical component that ensures the smooth functioning of your PC. It is therefore recommended that you clean your registry thoroughly. This will minimize the chances of the registry becoming corrupt or bloated with unnecessary information and producing registry errors. You can chose to do the cleaning manually or use the services of a reliable registry cleaner that can automatically clean your registry in just a few minutes. Registry cleaner tools are quite user-friendly, easy-to-use and advanced, therefore most PC users opt for these tools to clean up their registry.