subject: What to Do If Your Computer Runs Slow [print this page] What to Do If Your Computer Runs Slow What to Do If Your Computer Runs Slow
When your computer runs slow, it can be very frustrating especially if you do not have the money to go out and buy a new one. The good news is that there are some simple things that you can do to deal with this situation. Each time you start your machine; there are several programs that automatically start up even if you do not need them. These programs slow down the system therefore you need to remove them.
When you use a machine for a long time, you will definitely get some viruses and spy-ware which can affect its speed. To keep your machine safe from these viruses, you need to be very careful when using the internet because there are some sites that can infect it. You should also ensure that you get an effective anti-virus program that will protect the machine.
The visual effects on some operating systems such as Vista, Linux and OS X can also slow down the machine especially if you do not have a good graphics card. You can turn off these effects to improve the speed. The procedure used to turn them off will depend on the operating system that you are using.
To make your system work faster, you can also use applications that are lighter. Applications such as VLC media player and Foxit can replace your Windows media player and Adobe Reader and they will still work the same way. These light weight applications are also free and give you better performance.
To compare, download VLC Player and see all its features.
If you notice that your computer runs slow most of the time, you should also consider reinstalling the operating system. This is especially important if you are using Windows but MAC OS X and Linux also need to be reinstalled to make the machine work better. If your machine is old, you should consider using Linux because it is faster.
The drivers and software on your computer need to be updated if you want to improve the performance and speed. Most of the operating systems in the market provide automatic alerts to let you know when your system needs an update. Some of them even have automatic updates but others require you to do it manually if your computer runs slow.
After using your system for a while, you need to defrag the hard disk so that the files that are stored can be found easily. Defragmenting gets rid of the empty spaces that are in your hard disk.
Installing more RAM is another great solution if you want to improve the speed. Before you do this, you need to check how much RAM you still have and the type of memory the system uses. If it is less than 2 GB, this may be the reason why your computer runs slow.
