| Knowing your PC inside and out keeps you in | | | | 3. Corrupted Windows Registry causes slow |
| the groove. A tweak here and there is all you | | | | start up and shut down. The Windows Registry |
| need to keep it happy. If you can do it | | | | should be cleaned and compacted. Also give |
| yourself, you have an ace up your sleeve. If | | | | your Windows Registry a tweak by optimizing |
| you can't, however, then watch out for the | | | | its performance |
| common causes of a frozen or slow PC. | | | | |
| | | | 4. Fragmented hard drive. Your computer files |
| A slow PC is an unhappy PC | | | | are scattered about and are slowing your PC. |
| | | | Defragment the hard drives. Go to Drive C:, |
| Just imagine thousands of cars trying to fit | | | | click properties, and select the tools tab. |
| in a narrow highway. That's the way it is | | | | Click the defragment button. |
| with a slow PC. The files are crowding so | | | | |
| there is little room to move about. In your | | | | 5. Security software demanding huge spaces of |
| daily race for office or school deadlines, a | | | | your system's memory. Confirm this by |
| slow boat to China would be better than a | | | | checking out the task manager. To open the |
| slow PC. | | | | task manager, hold CTRL+ALT+DELETE. In the |
| | | | Task Manager tab, check out the processes and |
| If the same thing is happening with your | | | | view how much of the system is used up by |
| office PC, then somebody has been downloading | | | | security apps. If this is so, then it is |
| large files. That is, if you are sharing a | | | | about time to fine tune your security |
| network. The network begins to respond slowly | | | | software. |
| and times out frequently and completely when | | | | |
| someone is monopolizing the network. | | | | 6. Some uninstalled programs may be still |
| | | | lingering. This clogs up the arteries of your |
| Knowing the reasons for the slowdown can help | | | | already slow PC, so remove this with cleaning |
| you pinpoint the cause and you can fix it | | | | software. |
| yourself. Fixing your slow PC may run from | | | | |
| the simplest operation like using the | | | | 7. Small pagefile. Enlarge this by going to |
| defragment feature or deleting some | | | | My Computer and click properties. Choose the |
| unnecessary files. If the computer problem is | | | | Advanced button and click change under |
| technical, don't try to solve the problem. | | | | virtual memory. |
| Get a computer expert to do the job for you. | | | | |
| | | | 8. Too many temporary files. Remove the |
| What makes a slow PC? | | | | programs you don't use. You can also use a PC |
| | | | cleaner to do this job in no time. |
| There are several culprits jamming the | | | | |
| internal highways of your slow PC. Here are | | | | 9. Viruses are hard hitting and can damage |
| 10 of the common causes: | | | | your computer. You get these from infected |
| | | | emails and instant messages. Downloaded files |
| 1. Start up overload. When you add | | | | can also bring in viruses that contribute to |
| programs, these applications quietly add to | | | | a slow PC. |
| your Window Start Up folder. Speed your boot | | | | |
| time by limiting applications on your PC. | | | | 10. Hardware components that want to be |
| Clean up your disk but be careful in | | | | retired. In this case, better bring it to a |
| uninstalling applications. | | | | trusted slow PC repair shop. |
| | | | |
| 2. Malicious spyware that embed themselves | | | | When it comes to computers, don't let a |
| into your core file system and Windows | | | | snail-paced PC ruin your day. Get those |
| Registry. These should be immediately zapped | | | | tweaks and loosen up the space in your hard |
| with manual spyware scanners. | | | | disk drive. A slow boat to China is better |
| | | | than a slow PC, right? |