2. Fragmentation. Perhaps one of the largest contributors to slow performance is disk fragmentation. Once a disk becomes sufficiently fragmented, it literally takes 10 times as long to read and write basic information from the disk. Simple tasks such as loading an application, or viewing a web page can take 10-15 minutes on a fragmented system. Microsoft recognized this problem and includes automatic defragmentation as standard on all Vista and Windows 7 systems. XP systems have only a manual defragmentation, requiring the user to remember to defrag.
3. You have a virus/malware infection. Internet slowdowns and slow computer operation can be a symptom of an infection. To find out if you have a malware problem, use an anti-virus and anti-spyware application to find it.
4. You have low hard drive space. Lack of hard drive space often affects older computers, or computers that do a lot of video editing or design work. Hard drives, which store all of your computer’s information, have a finite amount of space. Generally, Windows will alert you to “low disk space” if this is the case.
5.Too many “bells and whistles. ”Animated pointers and hi-resolution images of your favorite vacation spot may look nice, but they can also slow your computer down. Since animations and images load into memory every time you start your PC, there is less processing power available for more important tasks.
6.Hardware conflicts and outdated drivers A hardware conflict occurs when two devices try to use the same resource, such as an IRQ or memory address, producing an error. For example, if a hardware device in the computer shares the same IO port as another device that would result in a hardware conflict. In modern day hardware conflicts are less common because by using plug-n-play (PnP) manages each of the hardware devices installed in the computer for the user.
7.Computer or processor is overheating the processor is one of the most energy-intensive and literally hottest components. The electrical current constantly passing through the circuits of a CPU creates heat. (The temperature of your CPU depends on the model and its usage.) Make sure your computer and processor is not overheating. Excessive heat can cause a significant decrease in computer performance some processors will even lower the speed of the processor automatically to help compensate for the heat related issues. The optimal temperature range of a CPU generally resides between 70 and 90 degrees Celsius in modern processors.
8.Temporary folder unfortunately, the Disk Cleanup may not delete every file in the temp directory. Therefore, we also suggest deleting temporary files manually. To do this, open the Start menu and type %temp% in the Search field. In Windows XP and prior, click the Run option in the Start menu and enter %temp% in the Run field. Press Enter and a Temp folder should open. You can delete all files found in this folder and, if any files are in use and cannot be deleted, they can be skipped.
9.Memory upgrade Computer memory aka RAM If you have had your computer for more than two years, you may need more memory. Today, we suggest computers have a minimum of 1GB of memory (RAM) for 32-bit system and 2GB for a 64-bit system. By having enough memory for programs to run within memory, your computer will not need to swap information stored in memory to the swap file. If the hard drive light is constantly active, it can be an indication the computer is frequently swapping information between your memory and hard drive.
10.Old computer If your computer is more than five years old, the age of the computer could be the cause of the slow performance. As more advanced software programs are released, they are optimized to run more efficiently on newer computers. Older computers are not able to run these new programs as well, which can cause them to perform more slowly. We recommend that you consider purchasing a new computer or accept that your computer is not going to be as fast as a newer computer.
