How do you fix a computer that runs slow?

6 thoughts on “How do you fix a computer that runs slow?”

1. Peacemaker says:

   May 3, 2010 at 1:45 pm

   First, backup all your data to an external medium.

   Then, if you have no hardware problems, do this:

   (1) Run a FULL anti-virus scan with a good virus scanner. Get free editions of Avast or Antivir. Use the latest virus definitions file. But don’t install or run more than one anti-virus at the same time.
   http://www.avast.com
   http://www.avira.com

   (2) Run anti-spyware scans with Super Anti-spyware and malwarebytes free editions.
   http://malwarebytes.org/
   http://www.superantispyware.com/

   (3) Ensure all Microsoft security updates are applied.

   (4) Run disk cleanup to delete old temp files and other junk. Right click the drive in My Computer, choose Properties and Disk cleanup. Delete the temp files, temporary internet files, empty the recycle bin etc. Don’t compress the drive contents.

   (5a) Run chkdsk once to scan for file system errors. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265

   (5b) Run a thorough disk defrag. Use a good defragmenter for this, and also run a boot-time defrag to fix the MFT and page file if they are fragmented. Diskeeper 2010, is the best defragger around, and the only one that prevents fragmentation. Their website has free 30-day trial versions. http://www.diskeeper.com

   (6) Disable unnecessary background processes and services that take up memory. You can use MSCONFIG and SERVICES for this, but if you’re unsure of what the processes/services do, don’t change any settings.

   You do not need to clean out the registry or mess with the registry in ANY way whatsoever. Deleting a wrong key from the registry can damage your operating system.

   Good Luck!

2. pieRr0Ur says:

   May 3, 2010 at 1:45 pm

   It really depends.
   1.It maybe your processor, which is slow – if your using a netbook
   2.Or you computer might be hot, and it can’t handle the temp that’s why it decreases it’s speed, from completely burning itself up.
   3.Your Operating System is slow
   4.Or your Operating System has a malware in it, it could be a worm, virus, or something which controls it’s main source.
   5. Your Drive (Hard Disk or Solid State) isn’t defraggmented.
   You could defrag your hard drive by downloading defraggler on http://defraggler.com
   6.Maybe you mean invisible startup apps, and your PC needs some software cleaning.
   Download CCleaner on http://ccleaner.com

   PS if you provided more info, I can help you further

3. xXC"JXx says:

   May 3, 2010 at 1:45 pm

   This issue can be caused by any of the below possibilities
   Hard disk drive is short on available disk space.
   Several software programs have been installed/uninstalled leaving behind bad files and/or confusing the software.
   Data Corruption
   Missing Windows updates / Outdated drivers
   Computer is overheating
   Corrupt OS
   Bad Hardware.

4. PJ says:

   May 3, 2010 at 1:45 pm

   this can be caused by a virus or a virus guard or some unwanted programs.. if u have suitable requirements to run ur OS, then its probably a problem with software.. make sure u have more than 2GB free space on ur system drive.. clear ur startup using the registry and don’t let any unwanted program to run … and there are a lot of tweaks u can do to make ur PC faster.. i cant give u more info coz u haven’t post any details abt ur PCs hardware or OS … try google..

5. Goerge says:

   May 3, 2010 at 1:45 pm

   take a look at one of my answers below

   Step one get Ccleaner. Check all boxes and go to settings to adjust the level of file deletion. Run the registry cleaner as well.

   Step two. Get Sweepi from yooapps. Change level of cleanup to complete and change overwrite to your liking. Ccleaner get the index.dat junk so you can skip it. When this is done go to boot manager and delete programs from autostartup to free up more memory and cpu for more important programs.

   Step three go to administrative tools in your control panel and see which services you have running. There are at least 20 services that can be disabled. Some that you can disable are even obsolete but yet they are consuming memory and CPU power. Google services you don’t know and see if u can disable it. Just double ckick a service to disable it.

   Step four get to know your task manager and stop processes you don’t need.

   Step five run your systems disk cleanup

   Step 6 Run disk defrag
   Source(s):
   http://download.cnet.com/ccleaner/

   http://www.download.com/Sweepi

6. www.midaks.com says:

   May 3, 2010 at 1:45 pm

   1. Wallpapers: They slow your whole system down, so if you’re willing to compromise, have a basic plain one instead!

   2. Drivers: Update your hardware drivers as frequently as possible. New drivers tend to increase system speed especially in the case of graphics cards, their drivers are updated by the manufacturer very frequently!

   3. Minimizing: If you want to use several programs at the same time then minimize those you are not using. This helps reduce the overload on RAM.

   4. Boot Faster: The ‘starting Windows 95/98’ message on startup can delay your booting for a couple of seconds. To get rid of this message go to c:\ and find the file Msdos.sys. Remove the Read-Only option. Next, open it in Notepad or any other text editor. Finally, go to the text ‘Options’ within the file and make the following changes: Add BootDelay=0. To make your booting even faster, set add Logo=0 to remove the Windows logo at startup.

   5. Restart only Windows: When restarting your PC, hold down Shift to only restart Windows rather than the whole system which will only take a fraction of the time.

   6. Turn Off Animations: win98.jpg Go to Display Settings from the Control Panel and switch to the Effects Tab. Now turn off Show Windows Content While Dragging and Smooth Edges on Screen Fonts. This tip is also helpful with Windows XP because of the various fade/scroll effects.

   7. Faster Start-Menu Access: Go to the Start menu and select Run. Now type Regedit and hit Enter. The Registry Editor will appear on the screen. Now, open the folder HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. You should see a MenuShowDelay value. If you don’t then do the following: right click on a blank space in the right pane and select New\String. Change the name in the new value to MenuShowDelay. Now that we have the MenuShowDelay value, double click on it and enter 0 in the value data field. This sets the start menu delay to 0 milliseconds.

   8. Resolutions: If you are willing to do anything for faster performance from your PC, then try lowering your display resolution. The lower it is, the faster your PC.

   9. Turn off Active Desktop: win98.jpg Go to your Display Properties and switch to the Web tab. Uncheck View My Active Desktop As a Web Page. Since the Active Desktop option under Windows 98 uses a lot of system resources, this option can have a dramatic effect on the speed of the whole system.

   10. Defragment Often: win98.jpg Windows 98’s Defrag tool uses Application Acceleration from Intel which means that when you defragment your drive, data is physically arranged on the drive so that applications will load faster.

   11. Take your PC to Bed: win98.jpg Using the Advanced Power Management feature under Windows 98 gives you the option to use the sleep command. That way, you can send your PC to sleep instead of shutting it down and then restarting it. It’s as simple as pressing a button and then pressing the same button to wake it up. You can tell Windows after how many minutes/hours of inactivity to automatically sleep the machine in the Advanced Power Management section of the Control Panel.

   12. Faster Internet Access: If you use the internet for reference and the sites you visit are rarely updated then try the following. In IE (the same can be done in Netscape) go to Tools, Internet Options. Next, click on Settings… in the Temporary Internet Files section. Finally, select Never for the first option and double the amount of storage space to use, click OK!

   13. Benchmarking: Benchmarking can be very useful when run frequently. It can tell you how your PC’s components are performing and then compare them to other machines like yours. For example, when you overclock your PC, you want to know how much more speed you have and whether it is stable. All this and more can be discovered using benchmarking. An excellent piece of software for doing this job is SiSoft Sandra which can be found in the Downloads File Archive!

   14. Refresh the Taskbar without restarting: If you in some way change the taskbar, either in Regedit or elsewhere, you can refresh the task bar without restarting. Hold down Ctrl Alt Del, and double click on Explorer. Say Yes to close Explorer, but no to closing Windows. This will refresh the Taskbar and system tray.

   15. Quick CD Eject: Instead of pushing the button on your drive, right-click your CD drive letter in My Computer and click on Eject. This will also remove any icons that have become associated with the CD drive.

   16. Start Up Programs: win98.jpg Windows can be slowed down when programs run on start up. To eliminate this, check your Start up folder. You can access it from the start menu: Start, Programs, Start Up. Another way to eliminate programs from loading even before Windows actually starts is by doing the following: Click on Start, then Run. Type msconfig. It will take quite a long time for this program to load, but when you finally see it on your screen, exp

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