You may often find your self frustrated at the speed in which your computer is running. You may have asked the question Why is my Computer running so slow? This article will explain several simple options that can help you increase the performance on your PC and get the most out of it. I will cover a number of steps that can be taken such as cleaning virus’ off the PC, removing unnecessary programs from loading automatically and getting rid of spyware. A mixture of these can greatly improve the performance of your PC and help you run a better system.
So, Why is my computer running so slow?
First off we need to know what type of computer you have. The simple answer is that it might just be getting old and yet running the latest cutting edge operating system. If you are running Windows XP or above then I would always recommend at least 512Mb RAM with a 1.8GHz processor or greater. Having this amount of RAM and speed of processor will get you running Windows XP quite nicely. If you are running Vista then bump the RAM up to 1Gb and the processor in the 2.XGHz range. To check what type of processor and how much RAM you have, right click on the My Computer icon and then click the Properties menu item. When I do this it tells me towards the bottom of the sheet that I have a 2.4GHz Pentium 4 processor and that I am running 760Mb of RAM. My PC is about 4 years old in a couple of months and I am running XP quite smoothly.
Your PC has the power but things are still slow
If you are happy that you have a PC that’s less then 4 years old and has a nice amount of RAM and a good processor and things are running slow then we now need to check to see what software is clogging up your PC. I have heard many people say it’s best to just format your PC (wipe is clean) and start again. Ideally this would be great, but in reality it sucks to have to back up your files, restore the PC, restore the files, configure Outlook, set up all your shortcuts etc… My preferred method is to spend 30 minutes every few weeks and go through the junk software and give the software a good clean. It isn’t as complicated as it sounds.
Task List to get a Clean PC
By running through each of these 4 steps (which generally takes less then 30 minutes) you will be running a far cleaner and leaner PC. You will no longer need to ask why is my computer running so slow. Take time out every few weeks to run virus scans, anti spy ware scans and see what programs you do not want.
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Patrick Goddard 08.25.08 at 6:41 am
Fantastic and easy to follow advice, this has made a massive difference to my system, thankyou so much
barbie 11.11.08 at 4:07 pm
why does my computer run so slow wireless network connection5 speed108.0 mbps aspire tower xp signal strenth low to good but it really likes to take its time can you help me please
Matthew 11.12.08 at 11:07 am
Barbie… Can you let me know which part of the system is slow? Is the whole thing just sluggish like when you click on the start menu it takes a few seconds to load the menu rather then instant?
Also, how much memory and what processor do you have in your PC? You can find this by clicking Start and then right click on my computer and click properties. It will mention the amount of RAM like 512MB etc…
barbie 11.12.08 at 7:37 pm
hi there it is exactly as you have written to me in being slow drives me up the wall yes it is sluggish takes its time to load up on lots of things i have a wireless network connection 5 wondered if that had anything to do with it .it has a 1.81 ghz and a 448 mb of ram thats what it says i dont know why its so slow there is not really a lot on there thanks for trying to help me barbie
barbie 11.12.08 at 8:05 pm
hi mathew i forgot to tell you what processor i have its a acer aspire t180-oa7z windows xp hope this helps says on the front of the tower 8o gb sata and 512 mb ddr11 and as i have wrote that it has a 1.81 ghz and 448 mb of ram i am not that good on understanding computers i hope i have given you the information that you ask for if not i dont mind if you try to make me understand thank s matthew
Matthew 11.13.08 at 11:47 am
For XP you shouldn’t see too much slow down with that amount of RAM and processor speed. Although they are not the largest and quickest, you should still be able to run things at a nice speed.
Did you get to run through this tutorial to see if you can identify too many programs loading up at booting? Often it’s not necessary to have too many things open as you probably don’t use all the programs every time you use your PC. I also noticed in another comment you mentioned your PC had three virus scanners running. Try removing two of them which should help quite a lot.
Tutorial can be found below although images seem to be missing… I will try fix the images missing in the posts.
http://www.techasis.com/speed-up-your-pc-with-ms-config-03123825/
barbie 11.13.08 at 3:34 pm
hi matthew you were saying about removing loggins at bottom of the page in right hand side of com if i delete from there / i have checked up on what you said on all programs and then start up / if these programs are there of which some are /if i delete from the front they will still remain in all programs other wise i will not know how to sign them in sorry to be a pain and if you say best to remove 2 of the anti virus sites which 2 do you think best to remove barbie
barbie 11.13.08 at 3:41 pm
by the way i did try and open up the tutorial but no as you have said it does not seem to be comming up thanks again
Matthew 11.14.08 at 9:06 am
Barbie, the programs will still be on your computer. By unchecking those boxes in MSconfig you are basically just telling them not to load right away. You will still be able to find messenger programs and what not in your start menu which can be loaded up as and when needed.
The link to the tutorial should be ok now. I fixed the images late last night.
barbieanne 11.15.08 at 7:31 pm
hi again matthew one other questioni wonted to ask was because my memory was low and kept comming up to say so ,i read on your files that this could be changed which i did initial size was 672 and i changed it to 700 and max size was 1344 and changed it to 1400 can i change it any higher than that because now its comming up again virtual memory is low all though it might be that i have been looking threw all your education on com and have not been deleting as i go ?and if i can turn memory up more how far can i go and do i hav to change both the initial size and the max ? im still learning but i do find your program so interesting how comes you know so much and how you put it to paper its great barbie
Matthew 11.16.08 at 5:51 pm
Hello Barbie. I’d suggest for virtual memory (page file size) that you just let the system choose it. I believe it’s the second option down just below where you change the size of the file manually. Let me know if that sorts it.
If not, and you still have problems with that error then right click on the task bar that runs across the bottom of your screen, click Task Manager, click the Processes tab and then look on the right hand column which will say Mem Usage. Look at which have the largest numbers and let me know the “image name” of the top 5 largest memory usages (you can click on the words Mem Usage to re order that column). I can then tell you if something is running that is going bad or if some service can be stopped which might sort the problem (if the first step above does not).