Why is my PC slow?

Are you sick of your computer taking forever to start up, or clicking and then waiting ages for a programme to open or do something? The solution doesn't have to be a new computer. This article looks at the major reasons for system slowdown, many of which can be easily fixed.

(Random Access Memory)

Inadequate RAM memory is the main reason for a computer to run slowly. Think of RAM memory as your computer's IQ. The higher your IQ the faster you can think and the more things you can think about at once. Generally the more RAM memory your computer has the more responsive it will be.

To keep the purchase cost down computer systems are usually sold with the minimum RAM required to run the system (or less!). This is usually OK if you type a few letters and check your emails, but if you start doing more intensive work like running more than 1 programme at a time or viewing or editing digital photos your computer can't cope and the system will slow down.

Operating System	128Mb	256Mb	512Mb	1Gb	1.5Gb+
Windows Vista	N/A	N/A	N/A	OK	better
Windows XP	v poor	poor	OK	better	great
Windows 2000	poor	OK	great	great	great
Windows 98SE	OK	better	great	great	great

The good news is that adding more RAM to your computer is relatively easy. RAM comes as a set of memory chips soldered onto a board that fits into a slot on your computer's motherboard. You can increase your memory by adding additional RAM modules to your system, or replacing existing ones with modules of greater capacity.

The bad news is that you have to get the right sort of RAM for your particular computer. There is a bewildering array of different RAM types, speeds and profiles. Luckily the helpful people at Crucial provide an online tool that can check your system and tell you what types of RAM are suitable and how many memory slots you have available.

Virus and Spyware infection can affect system performance. They both tie up memory by running in the background, often taking up a lot of resources because they are inefficiently programmed. Additionally, viruses can damage system files which can affect system stability. The danger of this type of infection increases if you use your computer on the web.

There are a lot of products designed to protect you from viruses and spyware. Some, like Windows Defender, are part of later versions of Windows. Additionally you can buy specialised protection and removal software like Norton Internet Security from Symantec or VirusScan from McAfee. However, even freeware like AVG and Avast can provide the protection most users need.

Viruses are malicious programmes designed to spread from one computer to another and interfere with normal computer operations. A virus might corrupt or delete data on your computer, use your e-mail program to spread itself to other computers, or even erase everything on your hard disk.

Spyware is software that monitors your computer use and passes information to a third party. This can be used fairly innocently to gather marketing data or maliciously to try and get banking passwords or other personal details.

Unless you hard drive is REALLY full (90% capacity used or more) it won't affect your overall computer speed too much. RAM memory (see above) is your most likely issue.

You may get a slight speed increase by defragmenting you hard drive. There is a Disk Cleanup and Defragmentation tool built into Windows. Right-click on your hard drive in My Computer and choose Properties. This will show you how full your hard drive is and give you access to the Windows disk cleanup and defragmentation tools.

Upgrading to a faster internet connection won't help you if your computer is slow to start up or chugs when you are typing a letter in MS Word. The speed of your Internet connection only affects working on the web, not general computer usage.

However, if your computer is generally fine but web surfing and downloading email takes forever, maybe a faster connection will help.

The components of your computer system (hard-drive, processor, motherboard etc.) process information at a maximum rate determined by the technological capability available at the time your system was built.

Your system can be tuned to run efficiently but if this still seems too slow, a new computer is the only real solution.

Digital Forge can help upgrade your RAM or other system hardware components. We also offer a low-cost System Tune-up service to tidy up your software, defragment your hard drive and scan for viruses and other malicious infections.