There are some times when the best slow computer fix solution is the easiest. This article looks at some of the main ways of getting a faster PC without resorting to upgrading your hardware.
- Disk Space
If your computer freezes often then it may be due to a lack of sufficient disk space. Microsoft recommends keeping over 10% free. Under 5% and your computer will slow dramatically. Free up some space by clearing out caches and temporary files (CCleaner has a large user base and can safely/effectively clear out redundant data on a drive very easily).
- Applications
If your computer runs well before you start opening applications, but slows once several are opened then you have got to shut down some applications. Your PC will have a limit to how many applications the CPU & RAM can support having open.
- Reboot
This sounds like that old Windows support joke – just reboot the PC. However when it comes to a slow computer fix it has some validity as a full reboot will clear the RAM of any cached data (some of which may not be getting freed up due to threading faults in applications).
- Check For Viruses
Some viruses (for example, trojan viruses) can reside on your PC, running in the background using internet bandwidth and processing power. Do a full scan and isolate these bugs.
- Update Programs
Patch updates for programs provide bug fixes as well as performance fixes so can speed up the general operation of the applications. Use Window Update to pull down operating system and device driver updates. Individual applications can usually be updated via the Help > Check for Updates menu, if present).
- Software Assistance
Turning to using third party applications has become more popular as these tools have improved how they can optimize computer settings. For PC maintenance Reimage is a good option for fixing registry and/or file system issues.
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