Help! My Computer is Slow

Having troubles with a slow computer? A slow computer is not only frustrating, it can be costly if you work from home. Time is money and therefore a slow computer that is costing you time is costs you money. There are some things you can do to speed up a slow computer that are easy and free.

Defragmenting

With use, the data that is stored on your hard drive gets fragmented, or kind of scattered around the hard drive and when the computer looks for it, it is difficult to find and takes longer. Running the defragment program that is already installed on your slow computer will put the data back in order and your computer will be able to find it easier. Defragmenting takes some time, especially if you don’t do it regularly, so it should be done when your computer won’t be in use, like overnight. If you have more than one hard drive, do it over two different nights, or one overnight and one while you are at work. To help speed up a terminally slow computer you should defragment it weekly or every other week.

Antivirus

Hopefully you have an antivirus program installed on your slow computer, but you may not know that many antivirus programs install some files that you may not use, some of which are constantly running. If you think this may be a cause of your slow computer you could uninstall your antivirus and then reinstall it using the custom settings and choose only what you want to install onto your computer. Make sure that your antivirus does a full scan once or twice a week and is always running and on the lookout for new viruses.

Spyware and Malware

Both spyware and malware are pretty much the same, and you don’t want either of them on your computer. They can not only give you a slow computer, but some of them can actually track your every move and send information back to whoever sent you the spyware, including user names and passwords. To fix a slow computer and to keep your computer safe, install an anti-spyware program to work with your antivirus program.

Uninstall Programs

Uninstall programs that you are no longer using. This is especially true of programs that run at startup and give you a slow computer at bootup. Check the bottom, right side of your screen to see what programs are started at boot and get rid of what you don’t want or need. For other program files, go to your control panel and to ‘add/remove programs’ for a list of uninstallable programs. Clicking on a program name will show you how often you use it. If you don’t use it, get rid of it to speed up your slow computer. Be careful not to uninstall things like service packs and needed system files, though.