What to do if the computer is very slow. What causes a slow computer? Applications that allow you to manage startup

Instruction

Let's do Disk Cleanup. clean up the system from "garbage". We start the standard cleaning program.
For Windows 7: "Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup" (right click ->
For Windows XP: "Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup"
If your computer has several hard drives (or one is divided into several logical ones), then a window will appear asking which of these drives to clean up. Select the desired system drive on which WINDOWS is installed. (Then it is better to carry out this procedure with all disks of the computer).
Check off all the items proposed in the box, click "OK" - and wait. You may have to wait a long time, depending on the "litter" of the system

Now let's check the computer's hard drive for errors and failures. First close all running programs and remove all external media (flash drives, hard drives, etc.). For Windows XP and Windows 7, the procedure will be the same.
Open the "My Computer" window in the "Explorer". By right-clicking on the system disk or partition of this disk, select "Properties". In the window that opens, go to the "Service" tab, and there click on the "Perform verification" button. A small window will open in which you need to tick the 2 checkpoints presented and click the "Start" button.
A message will appear stating that Windows cannot check the drive that is currently in use and will prompt you to do so after the reboot. Click "Schedule Check Disk" for Windows 7 and "Yes" for Windows XP. Restart your computer. After the reboot, the scheduled disk check will start in text mode. Until it is completed, the operating system will not start. The check will most likely take a long time, so it would be better to run it at a time when the computer is not needed (for example, leave it to check at night).

The next step is to defragment the system disk. We launch the standard disk defragmenter program.
For Windows 7: "Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter" (right click -> "Run as administrator").
For Windows XP: "Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter"
In the window that opens, select the disk on which the operating system is installed and click on the "Disk Defragmenter" button. (Then it is better to carry out this procedure with all disks of the computer).

Now let's "cheat" with the size of the paging file.
For Windows XP: "Right click on My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Performance -> Options -> Advanced -> Virtual Memory -> Change".
For Windows 7: "Right click on "Computer" -> Properties -> Advanced settings -> Performance -> Options -> Advanced -> Virtual memory -> Change.
In the window that opens, select "Specify size" ("Special size" for XP)
Now we multiply the entire amount of your RAM by 1.5 (if it is very small, then by 2). The resulting value is written in the fields "Initial size", and "Maximum size"
(And as an exception, if the computer has 4 gigabytes of RAM and Windows XP is installed, then you can set a small value, for example 512 megabytes)

Disable unused services. "Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services". In this large list of all services, we study the names and descriptions of all services. We decide which of these can be turned off without affecting the state of the system. (Specific advice on the expediency of disabling a particular service can be easily found on the Internet). Stop the selected services (double click on the selected service "Startup Type -> Disabled" and click on the "Stop" button)

Disable unused startup items. First, let's go to "Start -> All Programs -> Startup" and remove all unused shortcuts from there. Then we launch the standard system startup setup program: "Start -> Run" and write "msconfig" in the line, go to the "Startup" tab and disable all unused programs. (You can easily find specific tips on the expediency of disabling a particular program at startup on the Internet by typing the name of the program in a search engine)

Disable visual effects.
For Windows XP: "Right click on My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Performance -> Options -> Visual Effects".
For Windows 7: "Right click on Computer -> Properties -> Advanced Settings -> Performance -> Options -> Visual Effects".
In the window that opens, switch the item "Ensure the best performance" -\u003e OK

Disable unused devices.
For Windows XP: "Right click on My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager".
For Windows 7: "Start -> Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Device Manager"
In the window that opens, disable unused devices (right-click on the selected item -> "Disable")
You can disable unused camera, network card, IEEE 1394 controller, COM and LPT ports, etc. In which case, the disabled device can always be "activated" if needed

We clean the computer from viruses with an antivirus with up-to-date anti-virus databases. You can use both permanently installed anti-virus programs, as well as free "one-time" ones for the current check, such as CureIT from Dr. web,

Even users of Windows 7, which has been reliable and stable for many years, notice over time that the computer has slowed down significantly and even ordinary actions have begun to take much longer than before. However, after reinstalling the system, the computer immediately began to function faster again, but still not at the speed when it was brand new.

But the main thing is that after a while the system performance decreases again. Below are specific measures, including preventive ones, that are recommended if a user has a slow personal computer running on the Windows 7 operating system and what to do to prevent this from happening in the future.

In order to optimize your Windows 7 computer and increase its performance to the level of performance of the time when it was still brand new, you need to take a few mandatory steps. At the same time, a very important condition is that all actions of the measures indicated in the above guide should be used in a complex manner.

Only in this case, the increase in OS performance and the increase in its speed will be maximum. In order to effectively resolve the issue of how to improve the performance of the Seven in the long term, it is first necessary to analyze the main causes of the problem.

The main reasons for the slow functioning of the computer on Windows 7

Rarely, this is caused by only one specific reason, since most often the PC slowdown is caused by a number of small problems, among which you need to pay attention to the following factors:

The absence of any targeted actions on the part of the user to optimize the operation of the operating system;
Infection with malicious applications;
Poor performance of the computer cooling system;
Periodic defragmentation of hard disk partitions is not performed;
Malfunction of some PC components.

As you can see, the list of main factors is not very long, but they usually all take place in the average PC after only a few years after the acquisition.

Conventionally, all problems are divided into 2 groups:

1. Hardware

cooling disorder;
Hard drive defects;
Damage to other PC components.

2. Systemic

Errors in the OS configuration or BIOS;
Infection with virus applications;
Lack of system memory, overload.

Analysis and identification of bottlenecks

You should first run rapid tests to identify the most common problems. Then, narrowing down the list of causes to the most probable ones, after which more accurate methods for determining the malfunction should be applied. The very symptom of PC slowdown indicates that resources are seriously limited or they are mainly spent not only for executing the commands of the computer owner.

First, you need to open the "Task Manager". Then go to the "Performance" tab. At the same time, make sure that all utilities and applications are closed and not used by the user. Only utilities that are always running in the background (anti-virus software, firewall, etc.) should be left running.

In the case when the processor load is close to the maximum value, then we can conclude that the problem belongs to the second group, that is, the system one.

For reference: Optimized Windows 7 loads the processor only up to 5%.

What to do when overloading the processor and RAM?

In Task Manager, open the Processes tab. Next, sort the processes by clicking "CPU" in the table header, and then on "Memory". In this way, you can quickly identify the task that is causing the overload. If a “gluttonous” process is found, it is recommended to search for information about it on the global network by name. At the same time, by activating the anti-virus software installed on the computer with updated databases to search for malicious content.

In the case when several “gluttonous” processes are detected at once, for example, the CPU, then it is necessary to see if the processor speed has been reduced. Since the system itself has the ability to limit this parameter in order to avoid overheating of the equipment.

In the absence of the above symptoms, you should immediately proceed to the analysis of the operation of the cooling elements.

Malfunctions in the cooling elements

First you just need to carefully listen to how computer coolers work. Are there any other noises besides the fan blades. Visually determine the amount of accumulated dust on the internal components of the PC. Make sure the thermal paste of the cooler cooling the processor is intact.

Hard drive defects

In the absence of identified problems in the previous stages, it is necessary to proceed to the analysis of the hard drive for its malfunction. The design feature of a hard drive is such that over time, after a long operation, damaged sectors appear on its working surface. And this is a direct consequence of the slowdown of the system as a whole.

You should use an application that analyzes the status of the disk to perform diagnostics. In case of unsatisfactory test results, it is recommended, without delay, to save personal information on external media or on another PC.

Clogging memory with unnecessary files

For any symptoms of system slowdown, it is recommended that you first clean up the above 3 folders.

After getting rid of temporary files, you should proceed to remove unused programs.

Using Third Party Applications

In addition to manual methods, there are many programs that help automatically optimize the system. For example, the free application "xp-AntiSpy" works perfectly in Windows 7.

The intuitive interface of the program allows you to turn off unnecessary system functions.

defragmentation

This is one of the most effective ways to optimize system performance, which, unfortunately, many users neglect.

To perform defragmentation, you need to perform only a few sequential steps:

Call the context menu on one of the hard disk partitions;
Click the line "Properties";
Open the "Service" tab;
Click "Perform defragmentation".

There is a convenient opportunity in the menu that appears to configure the operation according to a user-friendly schedule.

Note: Do not defragment your solid state drive, as this leads to its rapid failure.

The Windows XP operating system is undemanding and works great both on hardware with minimal parameters and on modern, more powerful hardware. This is a product from Microsoft Corporation that has won the trust of billions of people around the world due to its reliability and simplicity.

But there comes a time when certain problems appear and even Windows XP starts to crash.

Signs indicating inefficient operation of the OS:

the system takes a long time to boot;
programs stop responding or respond with a delay;
sometimes the commands given by the mouse and keyboard stop being executed;
screen freezes.

Why does this happen, what factors provoke it, and what should I do if Windows XP slows down my computer?

Main reasons

There is more than one reason why a computer can start to slow down and freeze. The matter can sometimes come down to individual problems for each computer. But first of all, it is necessary to consider the most common and important causes that disrupt the normal operation of the system.

Autoload Overflow

This is the first and most common reason why the system starts to boot and hang for a long time. The longer you work with a PC, the more different programs appear on it that you install. A considerable percentage of these programs are assigned to autoload by default without the knowledge of the user.

Users are not so often interested in what exactly they have at startup and how much it takes up system resources. Most often, most of these applications do not make sense to run along with the operating system, since they are very rarely used or never used at all and do not bring any benefit.

Dust

The second common reason when Windows XP slows down is the dust that has accumulated in the system unit. Dust constantly penetrates inside and falls on all the components of the case. Cooling coolers are especially susceptible to contamination, which for this reason may cease to fully perform their function.

In the absence of proper cooling, the hardware overheats, the overall performance of the processor decreases and, as a result, the operating system stops working efficiently.

Important! Dust accumulated in the case can cause overheating and completely damage the computer.

Viruses

Sometimes computer viruses can become the main factor in the loss of OS performance and cause many other problems.

How dangerous viruses can be:

Viruses seek to inject their malicious code into programs and disrupt their proper operation. They use the resources of the computer, thereby reducing its performance.

Important! If you do not have an antivirus program, then most likely your PC has viruses.

Registry Clutter

All parameters of installed programs, created accounts, and other modifiable functions are fixed in the system registry. In case of incorrect subsequent removal or change of certain programs or functions, all unnecessary entries continue to be in the database.

Gradually, thanks to such entries, the registry grows to a huge size, which slows down the speed of the OS when accessing the database.

Visual effects

Most attractive graphical effects, although pleasing to the user's eye, significantly load the processor, RAM and video card, thereby reducing the overall performance of the machine.

If the computer is weak and meets only the minimum or average requirements of the OS, you should consider turning off some visual effects.

Video: COMPUTER IS SLOW

Solutions

If your Windows XP slows down and it becomes unbearable to work on your computer, do not rush to contact the service for help or demolish the OS yourself. Repairing and setting up a computer can cost you a lot, and reinstalling the OS with all the necessary programs takes a lot of time.

In almost any situation, there are alternative solutions to contacting a service or reinstalling the operating system that will save you nerves, money and time.

Autoload

You don't need to have special programs or special programming knowledge to solve the problem with a crowded startup. Any user can figure it out.

All you need to do is run the "System Configuration" and remove the markers from useless programs in the "Startup" tab.

Let's analyze the procedure step by step:

Important! Do not turn off autoloading of the antivirus and firewall, this increases the vulnerability of the machine.

dust cleaning

Pay attention to the temperature of the processor, hard drive, motherboard and video card, they should always be within normal limits.

There are two ways to find out the temperature:

use "BIOS";
use special utilities.

Consider the analysis of machine overheating through "BIOS»:

This tab contains information about the current temperature of the hardware, the rotation speed of the coolers and other information.

You can also use one of the following utilities to analyze machine parts:

You can choose any of them, they do their job equally well.

Permissible temperature:

processor - 40-50 ° C;
video card - 60-65 ° C;
motherboard - 25-35 ° C;
hard drive - 35-40 ° C.

If the temperature of one or another component of the machine exceeds the permissible norm, it is necessary to check whether it is time to clean the dust inside the case.

To remove dust, a vacuum cleaner with an airflow function and a toothbrush are suitable.

Let's start cleaning:

disconnect the system unit from the network;
open the case;
remove hard drives, video card and processor cooler;
blow all internal elements with a vacuum cleaner;
For hard-to-reach places, use a toothbrush.

Important! Pay attention to the amount of thermal paste under the cooler, add it if necessary.

Virus check

Be sure to install one of the antiviruses on your computer, this will not only protect your data, but also increase the performance of the OS.

On the Internet, you can find many antiviruses that differ both in price and in the degree of effectiveness of protection against malicious software.

Consider the best paid options that the market offers today:

Kaspersky Internet Security;
Norton 360;
Avast! Internet Security;
ESET NOD32 Smart Security;
Dr. Web Security Space.

To decide which antivirus is right for you, you can go to the official websites of manufacturers and get acquainted with all the conditions.

The best free antivirus utilities:

360 Internet Security;
Panda Free Antivirus;
Avast Free Antivirus;
AVG Antivirus Free;
Comodo Internet Security Premium.

Each of these utilities has its pros and cons, the choice is yours.

We treat viruses:

using the antivirus of your choice, run the scanner to check the entire amount of data;
delete all detected threats or place them in quarantine, depending on the recommendations of the antivirus.

Tip: Set your firewall to only work with trusted utilities that use the Internet.

Cleaning the registry

You can't do without specialized software to clean the registry.

The best free registry utilities:

CCleaner;
Vit Registry Fix;
Windows Cleaner;
Registry Life.

The interface of these utilities is very simple, it takes just a few clicks to optimize and clean unnecessary registry entries.

Tip: To feel the difference before and after cleaning, restart your computer.

Setting up visual effects

Adjust visual effects to improve PC performance.

Consider how to turn off the graphic design options:

Increasing the paging file

Changing the paging file settings is another effective way to increase the performance of your PC. The swap file, or in other words virtual memory, serves to store certain information and helps the RAM to cope with the work.

the size of the paging file should be one and a half to two times larger than the installed RAM;
It is not recommended to install virtual memory on the same hard disk partition as the OS.

Increase the swap file size:

right-click on "My Computer";
select the line "Properties";
go to the "Advanced" tab;
in the "Performance" area, click on the "Settings" button;
open the "Advanced" tab and select the "Virtual memory" section;
click the "Change" button;
select the least loaded disk partition;
set the marker to "Custom size";
set initial and maximum sizes;
click the "Set" button;
after that, you can disable paging files on other disk partitions (if any);
to do this, put the marker "No paging file" and click "Set".

After restarting the PC, the changes will take effect.

Windows XP slows down after update

When booting Windows XP after updating, you may find that the PC is not stable. You can use System Restore to resolve this issue.

Troubleshooting after the update:

This method will allow you to roll back the OS to an earlier stable state.

As you can see, the unstable operation of Windows XP can be caused by more than one factor, but they all have their own simple solution. You yourself will be able to use the above methods and troubleshoot the problems that have arisen.

Today we will analyze the question why the computer is running slowly? In common parlance it is called: computer slows down! :)

I must say right away that now we will consider the slow operation of the operating system. Other problems, such as disk space, or unstable operation, we have discussed in detail in previous articles.

If the computer has become slow down then this article is for you! We will consider the entire basic set of actions to eliminate this problem using the Windows XP and Windows 7 operating systems as an example.

So, in order to bring our computer "to its senses" and so that it stops "terribly slowing down", we need to perform a series of actions in sequence, each of which, in itself, will add little to the computer's speed, but their whole complex is capable of quite significantly "spurring "our iron friend :)

To begin with, let's get rid of the temporary files that are absolutely unnecessary to us, which the Windows operating system creates in the course of its (and ours) work!

To get to them, we will need to enable the display of files and folders hidden by default. Let's do it! To do this, in the Windows Explorer window, click on the "Tools" item and from the drop-down menu - "Folder Options".

After that, the settings window will open, where we will need to select the item "Show hidden files and folders"

We press the "OK" button. Now we're ready to see all the digital junk that's causing the computer to slow down!

Where is he located? "Go" to the system disk in the "Documents and Settings" folder and carefully study what is in it?

As you can see from the photo above, in my case there are folders with profiles of all users who logged into the computer under their accounts specially created for them on the same computer: "user", "user2", "user3" and the built-in account "Administrator".

And this is only in the case of local users! And now, imagine that this computer is working on the network and it is periodically accessed under its own (already network login and password) different users. What will happen in this case? Right! For each of them, a separate local profile (folder) will be created in the "Documents and Settings" folder on this computer with the name under which the user entered.

Each such folder by default contains all the user's desktop settings (the desktop itself is also a folder in this profile), the My Documents folder, all shortcuts, various service directories in which Outlook Express and Microsoft Outlook mail is stored.

Over time, such folders can form - a great many (according to the number of unique users logged into the system). And if each of them decided to save some information on their desktop or in their documents? And it's good if it's just documents, but what if it's an album with music or a movie? :)

All this, over time, leads to two sad facts:

place on the system steadily tends to zero
computer starts to run very slowly

The fact is that the profile folders contain several directories for temporary files that the OS creates while the user is working and surfing the Internet using the Internet Explorer browser.

Ideally, when the system shuts down, they should be automatically deleted, but this is not always the case and they gradually accumulate in these folders. Let's take a closer look at this mess!

Let's go along the path: system_disk C: Documents and Settings user_nameLocal Settings

We will be interested in the directories " Temp" (it contains temporary files of the system) and " Temporary Internet Files» (temporary files from IE Internet browser cache)

The contents of both of them are absolute garbage, which contributes to the fact that the computer is running slowly. This is usually a huge number of small fragments that are not needed at all, but since they are present on the disk, the operating system must constantly "remember" about them (keep a record of them in its main file table MFT - Master File Table). And this table also grows with time and all this, gradually, leads to the fact that the computer is very slow or not as fast as before.

Let's check it out! Let's go to the "Temp" folder and see how much disk space is occupied by its contents?

As you can see - 43 megabytes. This is a real example, taken from an ordinary computer of our organization with which I recently worked, and such garbage files here can easily be hundreds of megabytes!

On Windows 7, the Temp directory is located in a slightly different path: C:Usersuser_profileAppDataLocalTemp

The photo above is an example of a screenshot from my work computer, which I haven't "cleaned" for a long time :)

If your computer is slow, delete all temporary files immediately! Let's move on! Here, for example, I went over the network to the first computer running "Windows XP" into the "Temporary Internet Files" folder and this is what I saw (photo - clickable):

On the remote computer named "utr04" in the "stecyshyn" profile, the Temporary Internet Files folder is 667 megabytes. Delete immediately!

Another folder in which "garbage" likes to accumulate, making its contribution to the fact that the computer is running slowly, is the "Temp" directory in the "Windows" folder itself.

Here's what it looked like, before it was completely cleared, on my computer:

In this case, 9 megabytes is not an indicator. Here, 999 can easily turn out :) Things are different: this is again a bunch of small fragments that simply litter the file system of our computer and force it to constantly keep records of them that no one needs. This also makes your computer run slower.

So, with the removal of all unnecessary done away with. Yes, delete unnecessary programs (which you don’t use and don’t intend to use now) too - they don’t add speed to the system, to put it mildly :) And make it a good rule for yourself - do not keep anything on the system disk except the system itself and the folder with programs.

Note: keep in mind that "Desktop" and "My Documents" are also located on the system drive (in your profile, remember?) :)

Now we will deal with the fact that the computer is slow in another way. We remove all unnecessary from the startup of "Windows". Let's press the "Start" button (or the button with a window in Windows 7) and in the window that appears, enter the command " msconfig».

We press "Enter" and we see something like this window in which we will need to go to the "Startup" tab.

The checkmarks here indicate those processes (programs and components) that are loaded in the background along with the OS itself and “hang” in memory. See how much is running here? I haven't moved the scroll bar on the side of the window yet! And then they ask: why is the computer running slowly? :)

So there are three columns here:

"Startup Item" - the name of the process or executable loaded in
"Command" - the path along which this element is located in the system
"Location" - the place in the Windows registry where it is registered

This whole thing sits tightly in memory and takes up computer resources, so I recommend disabling (by unchecking the appropriate checkboxes) everything superfluous. If you need to enable something again - just check the box back and reboot.

In the screenshot above, for example, I would remove everything except "avp" (Kaspersky's antivirus).

If the computer began to work slowly, be sure to check what is "hanging" in your system tray (aka - the notification area) in the lower right corner of the taskbar?

These icons are part of those processes under the checkboxes from the previous screenshot. But most of them are still visible only through the "msconfig" command.

I repeat: all these processes "hang" in memory and lead to the fact that the computer is running slowly! Let's do an experiment! Try calling the task manager: the key combination "Ctrl" + "Shift" + "Esc", go to the "Performance" tab and check the RAM load, and see the total number of processes running on the computer:

The lower the total number of processes, the better.

And now, I want to show you one wonderful program that will help us solve the problem of a slow computer. This is a small utility called " xp AntiSpy". You can download it directly.

The program is designed to disable all the "extra" in the operating system, which allows you to speed up and optimize its work. It has a very simple interface and is fully translated into Russian. You just need to move the mouse cursor over any of the items and a full description of this function will appear at the bottom of the window.

To enable any of the options, simply check the appropriate box. After completing the settings, click on the inscription "Accept changes" (for some of them to take effect, you may need to restart your computer).

If you have a slow computer running Windows 7, then this program is still more focused on Windows XP (which also reflects its name), but as far as I know, there are editions for the "seven". But the main thing is that you got the point, right? :)

Note: fragmentation of files can be called non-optimal (in terms of access time) their placement on the disk. Reading heads have to constantly move over the surface of the disk, "collecting" parts of the file or program we need through its numerous clusters. Defragmentation is a reverse process characterized by the optimal placement of files in order to store them in a continuous sequence of clusters.

In order to start the defragmentation process, right-click on the system drive and select "Properties" from the menu that opens, and in the window that appears, go to the "Service" tab:

There, click on the "Perform defragmentation" button. After that, the window of the built-in Windows defragmenter will open.

The "Analyze" button will tell us whether we need to do disk defragmentation in principle? And the "Defragmentation" button starts the process itself.

Look at the screenshot below and answer the question yourself: why is my computer slow? :)

What do we see here? Red color indicates fragmented areas, a large number of which leads to the fact that the computer runs slowly. Also, from the screenshot above, we can conclude that the usual defragmentation of the disk will not help! Why? There just isn't enough room for her! To start the optimization process, the disk must have at least 15 percent free space (more is better).

Note: take it as a rule - the less "extra" information is on the system disk, the better!

What to do in such a situation, which is presented in the photo above? Transfer all non-system and non-program files to disk "D" (or any other) and restart the optimization. If the result is unsatisfactory, you can run the procedure several times in a row.

If your computer began to work slowly, then only this in itself can significantly add speed to it. Or, of course, using .

Look at the photo below:

On it we see a standard situation in which defragmentation need And possible. The second line shows the ideal situation that we can achieve after the completion of her process. You should strive to get as close as possible to this result.

Already processed (non-fragmented) sections located sequentially on the disk are marked in blue. Right behind them is a green area - the swap file. Notice, not "torn" into several separate parts, but, again, located compactly and in one "piece".

If the swap partition (on the disk is designated as the hidden system file "pagefile.sys") is "scattered" throughout the disk, then instead of performing its main function - to speed up the system, it becomes another bottleneck for the disk subsystem and the computer starts working slowly.

In order to "assemble" the swap area into a single whole, there is a wonderful utility: "System File Defragmenter" from the notorious Mark Russinovich. You can download it.

In the "fragments" column, we see how many parts our pagefile.sys file is divided into and our task is to put it together (reduce it to one continuous fragment on disk).

To do this, select the radio box "Defragment at next boot" with the mouse and click the "OK" button. We reboot and after a while we see the following picture on the monitor:

We are primarily interested in the message here; "pagefile.sys is already 1 fragment", which means "the paging file already consists of one fragment". We can also see that the program has optimized the size of some of the main "bushes" of the Windows system registry, which will undoubtedly also help in a situation where the computer is running slowly.

In addition to all of the above, be sure to read our forum post on optimizing and improving the performance of Microsoft Windows operating systems.

In the end, nevertheless, I will say a few words about such a thing as "bottlenecks" in the PC configuration. What I mean? We have a lot of outdated equipment at work. It makes no sense to throw it away, because it works. But, on the other hand, it does not work in the best way precisely because of the suboptimal selection of its components.

For example: a relatively good office computer (Celeron 1.7 GHz) with an 80 GB hard drive and 256 MB of RAM. What will be the "bottleneck" here, which does not allow the computer to work normally and leads to various "brakes" and a slow response of the entire system? That's right - not enough RAM (especially if we open several applications and start working actively in them).

It also happens the other way around: a gigabyte of memory just installed in has practically no effect! In such cases, a very common problem (especially on older configurations) is a slow hard drive that simply does not have time to supply the necessary information to the memory modules and the central processor. As a result, they are idle. Old HDDs of 20 and 40 gigabytes "sinned" like this (80 GB models also became this very "bottleneck" several times in my practice).

P.S.. If the computer is running slowly - only an integrated approach (performing all of the above operations) will give the best result!

At the end of the article - a little video

If you notice that your computer has started to run slower than usual (loads slowly, documents take a long time to open, or programs start slowly), then most likely the device needs to be diagnosed and cleaned. In this article, we will try to understand the causes and find solutions to this problem.

Why is my computer slow

Insufficient memory (RAM) is the main cause of slow computer performance. The second common reason is the accumulation of a large number of temporary files on the hard drive. This is followed by a virus infection, lack of hard disk space, etc. Finally, the simple lack of direct memory access (disconnected cable) can cause the computer to run slower than usual.

What to do if the computer freezes

Deleting temporary files, defragmenting disk space and updating the operating system are some of the ways to increase the speed of your PC.
It will also be useful to check your computer for viruses and get rid of any suspicious malware.
Finally, you can increase your computer's memory to improve its performance.

How to know if there is enough memory on the computer

RAM (from Random Access Memory), or random access memory, is also called the computer's temporary storage memory. This memory is used by various programs. The computer must have enough RAM to handle all tasks. Otherwise, it can cause severe system slowdown during boot or task processing.

If your computer was working fine before installing any programs and then slowed down, your system most likely needs more RAM. Also, if the computer slows down every time you work with large files, you need to add more RAM.

Temporary files on the hard drive

If you often have to leave your computer on for long periods of time with programs or other processes open, this can create temporary files on your disk and slow down your computer.

Deleting temporary files, including internet history, cookies, will free up hard drive space for work.

How to delete temporary files in Windows 10

To delete temporary files in Windows 10, on the taskbar, select Disk Cleanup (Disk Cleanup):

In section Files to delete (Files to delete) select the files you want to get rid of. If you want to describe a file type, simply select it from the list. Then click OK to save changes:

Empty trash

After deleting the files, go to shopping cart (Recycle Bin) on your desktop and select Empty trash (Empty Recycle Bin):

Delete temporary files

You can also delete temporary Internet files that have accumulated on the system. Open the menu Start (start) > Control Panel (control panel). Select Internet Options (Internet Options) and in the section Temporary Internet Files (Temporary Internet Files) click Delete cookies (Delete Cookies) > Delete files (Delete Files).

Delete Internet History

You can also delete your online history by clicking the option Clear the history (clear history). When done, click Apply (apply) > OK.

Defragmenting a Hard Drive in Windows 10

Another way to speed up your computer is to defragment your hard drive.
To do this, run the disk optimization tool by searching for defragmentation (defrag) or on the taskbar:

In the window that opens, select your hard drive and click Analyze (Analyze):

In the list of results, check the percentage of fragmented files. It is recommended to have this indicator less than 5%. However, this is not a clear rule and you can choose a different standard.

If you want to defragment your disk, click Optimization (Optimize). After the process completes, your percentage of fragmented files should be 0.

How to delete temporary files in Windows XP

To delete temporary files, open My computer (My Computer) and select the local drive (Usually drive C). Choose a folder Windows and find the folder in it Temp. Right click on the folder and in options View (view) select in detail (Details). Then delete all files that are older than the current date.

After deleting the files, restart your computer.

If the computer is infected

If your computer is infected with a virus, malware, worm, or Trojan, it can slow down your system and even block some tasks.

If you notice that the slowdown appeared suddenly, accompanied by a very long download and, possibly, a change in the appearance of programs and documents, or untimely opening of any ads, these are signs of some kind of infection in your machine.

Not enough hard disk space

Adding very unwieldy programs will automatically slow down your computer system. Users with a 2 GB hard drive must leave at least 250 MB of free space, and users with a higher capacity must leave at least 20% of the total free space on their hard drive. This will give your computer enough space to store temporary files and file sharing processes.

Direct memory access (DMA) disabled (for Windows 7)

Direct memory access allows data to be transferred between a hard drive and a CD without requiring the intervention of a microprocessor. But sometimes, like for Windows XP, this option is not set by default.

To turn it on manually, click Start (start) > Control Panel (control panel) > System (System) > Equipment (Hardware) > Device Manager (device manager).

View Options ATA/ATAPI by clicking the icon + next to everyone. Select Primary IDE channel (Primary IDE Channel,), and in the window Key Features of the IDE go to tab Extra options. Check if transfer mode is allowed for devices 0 And 1 DMA. Click OK to confirm the changes.

Do the same for Secondary channel IDE (Secondary IDE Channel). Check if transfer mode is allowed for the device 0 and devices 1 DMA.

Operating system update

Availability of the latest updates Windows by itself will not improve system performance. However, fixing any security breaches or performance-related crashes can be helpful. As a result, with the latest updates, your system, in any case, will work better.

Compress infrequently used files

Files that you don't use often can take up quite a lot of space on your computer. If you want to store all these files on your hard drive and they are formatted in Microsoft NTFS, use the function Disk compression to increase free disk space (menu Properties hard drive > tab General (General)). When this option is activated, the data will be more or less compressed depending on how often it is used.

Removing dust from your computer

And finally, a simple, but no less important step is to literally clean the computer from dust, which can also affect the operation of the entire system.

Before doing this, completely unplug your computer from power. Wait approximately fifteen minutes before cleaning, as rapid temperature changes can damage the processor.

When cleaning the device, it is best to use a can of compressed air specially designed for this purpose. Carefully follow the instructions on the packaging to avoid accidentally spraying liquid onto your computer.

Please note that it is not recommended to use a brush or brush for this work, as it can damage the fragile parts of the internal device of the processor.