Is your computer working as it should? If you have more than a gazillion programs installed and running at the same time then they are probably not. If your computer is not functioning like when you first bought it (or built it), then hit the jump for some tweaks and downloads that can help your computer return to its former glory.
Why You Have A Slow Computer
1. Low RAM Space
As I have mentioned in Build Your Own PC 101, Multitasking or opening more than one program is directly governed by your RAM space. There are other reasons to a slow computer but upgrading RAM is the easiest thing you can do to get a huge boost in your productivity or whatever it is you do in your computer.
Go ahead, check how much RAM you have by:
- right clicking the "My Computer" icon
- click "properties"
- check the "Installed Memory" section to see how much RAM you have (in gigabytes)
If you've got more than 2 gigs of RAM then it is probably not your RAM's fault anymore. Getting to 4GB is much better though, and why not? RAM is very cheap nowadays, and you can probably get one for $20 or less.
Ways to overcome it
- Buy more RAM, but not more than 4GB if you have windows 32 bit installed and not more than 8GB if you have windows 64bit installed (read:--More than 8GB is useless if you are a regular user.
- Get memory tweak programs like Iobit's Game Booster. Don't worry if you don't play games, it works the same anyway. It is basically a program that can close memory-eating background programs automatically. (Note: Treat this program like a first-aid.)
2. Too Many Programs Installed
You might not know this, but everytime you installed something in your computer, it might run as a background process, depending on the software. (read: It eats your RAM silently)
To stop this to some effect, go to Windows Task Manager using the famous CTRL+Shift+Esc shortcut. Go to the Process tab and identify those memory-hungry programs. Then eliminate them by uninstalling.
A basic rule of thumb is not more than half a screen of programs in the desktop.
I recommend installing Piriform's CCleaner for a quick, no hassle one-click cleaner that free up your hardisk space. It will clean your stored caches, your recycle bin and browser history, among others. So if you don't want them cleaned, go uncheck them by their little boxes.
3. Your Computer Is Ancient
If your computer dates back to the 20th century, then it might be the perfect time to just buy a new one. No amount of tweaks or RAM upgrades can help in this case since the problems are already spread around your computer. Your computer's slowness might be caused by a deep-seated virus or hardware problems like temperature and such. Identifying each one would be too troublesome, so why bother? Computers are not that expensive nowadays, and have much better performance too. If you are repulsed with the idea of shelling out $700-$800 just for a "browsing" computer, then you can build one for $400 instead.
For anyone wondering why the turtles kinda look like grenades, blame my designing skills. As usual, comment down below so I can get some feedbacks for the site.
