How to Troubleshoot a Slow Computer

Few things about computers are more frustrating than when your blazingly fast machine slows down to a crawl. In situations like this it is necessary to troubleshoot your computer in order to determine why it has become so much slower now than it was before.

Run a Malware Scanner

Download a malware scanner program to find and remove spyware from your computer. Malware, including spyware and viruses, can slow down your computer because it wastes resources gathering information about you and then it wastes more resources sending it to someone else. If several of these annoying programs are running in unison, it can put a huge strain on your machine. The idea is to troubleshoot your computer but if you actually find them, why not remove them as well?

Tune-Up Your Hard Drive

Run a hard drive diagnostic utility, such as Scandisk for Windows and Disk First Aid for Macintosh. These utilities will find problems with the data storage system and fix them or warn you that you need to backup your data and replace the hard drive with a newer one. On Windows you also have a utility called Defrag which will unclutter your data so that it can be accessed more quickly.

Check Your Registry

Microsoft Windows operating systems use what's called a registry to store various kinds of configuration data. When this gets corrupted the system is at risk for slowing down, or worse, crashing. A registry cleaner program will both detect and fix problems in the Windows registry.

Look for Unwanted Drivers

Drivers are software designed to work with peripherals that you have installed on your computer. This could be anything from webcams to sound cards. If you have stopped using any peripherals then remove their drivers. Your peripherals will come with individual instructions for removing them from your system.

Find Unnecessary Software

Turn off unused programs that are running in the background. This includes instant messenger programs and idle bittorrent clients. These programs consume system resources that other active programs need to use.