Why is my computer slow?

When it comes to computers countless things can go “wrong” which means you need some know-how to diagnose your computers problem. If you are positive you know the reason your computer is slow then you skip this chapter, but if not then read through this and try to recognize which symptoms match up with what your are experiencing.

Needs tweaking (relying on default settings)

Most retail versions of operating systems try to wow users with fancy graphics and aesthetic features upon installation. Whilst these are great at first and you can’t blame developers for enabling them, in the long run they can contribute to your computer being slower overall and usually the losses don’t justify the gain.

Practically every computer out there can be tweaked further to get some extra performance out of it. If your computer is slower than a snail then tweaking is still useful but won’t have a huge difference and other fixes for a slow computer will be required. However, if you are just interesed in giving your PC a performance boost then tweaking is definitely a good start.

Overheating computer components

Every electronic component within your computer outputs heat which is why you’d constantly hear the hum of the fans within the case. Due to a variety of reasons (which I’ll go into) a computers components can begin to overheat which puts unnecessary strain on them. This can have a ton of bad effects on your PC (your components can literally melt if it’s hot enough) but the first noticeable effect will be the slowing down of your PC as it tries to cope with the added strain.

Outdated operating system

No piece of software is ever considered 100% “complete”. If a piece of software was to be complete it would be bug free, perform flawlessly and be unaffected by future developments in technology. The first two features are theoretically possible but no software completely escape the future developments of technology.

Luckily, operating systems these days come with built in update systems that allow companies like Microsoft to push updates to computers on a mass scale via the internet providing bug fixes, additional features and most importantly performanc enhancements.

Many people however don’t think about updating their system, and although Windows XP and Windows Vista come with automatic updating capabilities they aren’t always enabled by default. Whilst not updating your operating system may not have a huge effect on the operating system itself, more than likely other applications you use will perform better when dealing with a more stable foundation.

Irregular (or non-existent) file defrag

Over time files on your computer become fragmented. This, in turn, makes them slower to open. On an individual scale this is no big deal, but over time a computer full of fragmented files can cause serious slow down.

If you use a computer fairly regularly and have never defragged (or even know really what defrag is) then your computer probably suffers from this problem.

Irregular (or non-existent) registry defrag

Practically every computer has this problem to a degree. Your system registry stores data such as system settings and installed applications. As you use your computer, install and uninstall applications etc the system registry becomes bloated with information it does not need. This bloat adds to the physical size of the registry which means it takes longer to access. The registry is accessed hundreds of times per second and therefore even slight delays can make your computer noticeably slower.

Viruses

Companies that sell virus removal software hype up viruses to make it seem like the entire internet is compromised. Whilst that virus to website proportion is very overblown, the threat of viruses is still real. Whilst some viruses are designed to steal private data others are simply intent on making your life as hard as possible, mostly by slowing your computer down to an unusable state. A detailed analysis of viruses would require a book of its own but I’ll certainly point you in the right direction.

Old operating system installation

I think now is a good time to whip out a similie. Imagine you’re at a Thanksgiving dinner and you eat the whole turkey, you just gobble it all down. By the time you finished, apart from possibly dieing you’ll feel tired and sluggish. That is what computers are like when they have an old installation of an operating system. They’ve been fed so much data over time that they have a bit of a weight problem and aren’t as agile as they used to be.

Now, when I say an old operating system installation I don’t mean a necessarily outdated installation (which I’ve already talked about). For example, if you installed Windows Vista on January 1st 2009 and used it every day, by the end of the year it’d be packed with data it doesn’t need and no amounts of tweaks will fix it. At this point you simply have to backup your important files, wipe everything off of your hard drive, and start anew. Of course, I’ll provide details on doing that later in this guide.

What do I mean by “data it doesn’t need”?

After sustained computer usage, and when doing nothing out of the ordinary there are a few instances where data is left over that is unnecessary:

- Files that become irrelevant with updates in your OS or software
- Data that is left over after your uninstall an application
- Drivers for hardware that you don’t even own anymore (printers, scanners, cameras etc) and therefore just waste sapce

Although insignificant individually, each of these instances add up over time and can result in a significant, and unnecessary hit to the performance of your PC.

Insufficient hardware

If you’ve run through all the other methods of fixing a slow computer or you believe they aren’t the cause of your slow system then your PC probably has insufficient hardware which results in the lower performance. Certain applications and more recent operating systems require more powerful technologies to support them and that’s simply a facet of technological advancement.

There are many components within a PC and depending on your aim you’ll either need to upgrade either 1 or 2 or them or possibly all of them. Later in this guide I’ll go into detail about each component and the scenarios in which you’d need to upgrade each one.