Trying to understand why a computer is running slow and the best approach to fixing it can often be a frustrating task. The root cause of a slow PC is often difficult to work out as little or no exceptions are displayed for you to base your research on. The following slow computer solutions are generic approaches that can help remedy the majority of performance problems.
The brute-force approach to fixing a slow computer is to simply add more RAM. Memory prices have gone down in recent years so this is a viable approach. The advent of USB flash memory means that ReadyBoost enabled USB drives can have a portion of their memory used by the computer as system RAM.
However, adding RAM does not resolve the root cause of the problem. Instead you should look to where the strains on system resources are occurring.
- Open Task Manager and check the memory usage column for all applications. Is there one that is using an inordinate amount? Could this application have a fault or need to be upgraded? Some browsers can cache a lot of data when streaming video so this may be your issue (restart the browser to clear the cache).
- Have you enough disk space free for the paging file? Windows recommend having 10% free disk space for the paging file to operate well (computer freezes will occur under 5%).
- Are your hard drives fragmented? Use the Windows defragmentation tool as part of monthly PC maintenance to reduce the volume of disk access commands needed in everyday use.
- Have you checked your computer for viruses? A trojan virus can easily consume large amounts of CPU/RAM and slow down even the fastest computer.
- Is your PC up-to-date? Simply running Windows update service can keep your device drivers and system applications running the latest bug-free versions.