Ten reasons your computer may be slow

There are 10 prime reasons (there are others) that your computer to be slow, not only on start-up, but generally. As a service to our clients we have provided a list that may be of assistance in remedying the problem:
 
1. Overloaded system start-up: Every software company regards their program as primary, and thinks it should be running at start-up. Keeping your startup items to an essential minimum is always a good idea.
 
2. Malicious or unnecessary programs that have embedded themselves into the registry and core file system are the number two cause of slow start-up problems. These get installed without your knowledge, automatically (drive-bys) or from a "free" offer that was too good to let go. This causes poor operation at start-up, shut-down, and raises the possibility of damaging your system.
 
3. The Windows registry may be corrupted or bloated: Since this is the master control centre for your operating system, it is vital that the registry be clean and well organized. The bloat comes from residual entries caused by incomplete installs / uninstalls, incorrect manual deletions, and errors that arise during normal system functioning. This also causes your hard drive to become sluggish. Cleaning up by running decent registry cleaners can dramatically speed up your system.
 
4. A badly fragmented hard drive is a common cause for an operational slow-down. Over time your computer's files get broken up and scattered all over the hard drive; this is called fragmentation. Windows built-in defragmenter can assist, but does not do the best job of defragmenting – there are 3rd party programs that are better and faster, and can also defrag the registry.
 
5. Poor security software: There are a large number of so-called ‘security’ software programs and suites that eat up a large portion of your system’s resources and memory and can cause your machine to get sluggish. The nature and activity of these programs - constantly updating, running-in-the-background, scanning, and monitoring - are all reasons for your computer to appear to be crawling. Free antivirus programs, often installed alongside other software as a so-called bonus, can also sometimes cause these problems. (Note: Running more than one firewall and/or anti-virus program simultaneously will also cause conflicts.)
 
6. Remnants of uninstalled programs, either through the control panel or by using the program's built-in uninstaller, have a tendency to leave residue behind that slows down the computer’s registry access. A lot of this "junk" in the registry can cause serious complications and even a crash. 3rd part uninstallers often do a better job than Windows itself in completely removing and cleaning up residue left behind when a program is removed.
 
7. The Page File is a temporary area of ‘memory’ that your computer uses as a holding area during processing. Basically, it is a buffer that your computer uses for "wiggle room." If your page file is incorrectly set, your operating system will not have sufficient room to navigate and you could end up with poor performance and error messages. An overworked page file, often seen by the computer ‘thrashing’ the hard drive, may indicate that you are in need of more RAM.
 
8. Hard drive old or nearly full: If your hard drive is old or has less than 10 percent free space, you will incur a dramatic slowdown in performance. You can free up space by removing useless accumulations of old Internet and Windows temporary files that can clog your hard drive and consume space. A new larger hard drive is often the simplest way to dramatically improve the performance of a system.
 
9. Viruses and Spyware can wreak havoc with your system's performance and limit your computer’s ability to perform efficiently. The latest viruses can not only make your computer crash but render it unrecoverable. Spyware can silently take over your computer for the purposes of spamming or phishing. It is essential to have a good Antivirus program installed that is regularly updated, both in terms of its definitions and its scanning engine. Frequent manual scanning by antispyware software can also catch silent intruders.
 
10. Ailing hardware and hardware components can badly affect the boot-up and shutdown performance, as well as cause unexplained errors, crashes and freezes. RAM errors, failing hard drive sectors, power supply issues and motherboard glitches are common. There are hardware diagnostic tools that can assist in performing regular maintenance to detect and prevent possible problems in this area.
 
It stands to reason that any system will only perform optimally if properly maintained – The above tips should help you in performing this task. Alternatively, enquire about our PC service, which will attend to each of these problem areas and ensure that your equipment stays in tip-top condition.