Why is My machine So Slow? Four Possible Reasons

Today's machines have faster microprocessors, more memory and bigger hard drives. When Twelve Days of Christmas think about the differences between a Pentium 4 and 386, you have to conclude the improvement is astounding! So, why are so many of these modern day miracles running way below their potential?

In this article we will discuss four very common but often overlooked reasons why that rabbit in your PC has turned into a snail and we'll tell you what can be done to get it back up to speed.

You need more memory.

Don't overlook the obvious. Up until recently not having enough memory wasn't a problem. With the price of RAM becoming very affordable, most people were filling their machines with more than enough memory to do the job. Enter Windows Vista! Many machines built to an older spec were loaded with Vista and put on the market.

When the new owner got the machine home and took it for its first joyride it just didn't live up to expectations. The reason for this is, Vista is a resource hog. Many machines now come out of the box with Vista and 512MB of memory. With Vista you need at least 1GB of Ram. If your machine is slow and it has Vista with 512 MB of Ram you need to add more memory.

Spyware and viruses

Speaking of resource hogs. Spyware and viruses steal a lot of your machine's resources. Though it is not their main function to just make your machine run slowly, these programs can bring your machine to a screeching halt.

Of course, you do have a good Spyware/Virus remover. Don't you? Also, you do realize for them to be effective, you have to keep up to date. By up to date, it means up to the minute.

You should have your remover program set to update and run automatically overnight or at some other time you don't regularly use your machine. If you don't, spyware and viruses will eat your machine alive! Slowing down is nothing compared to what could happen to your machine's resources if you don't have a good remover program you update and run daily.

Background programs

When you install new software on your machine, often times you install it to run in the background every time you start up. Most times you do this without knowing it. Magnus at the bottom right hand side of your screen.

If you see several icons there, you have extra programs running and stealing resources. Right click on these and see if you have the option of closing them. Many times, you can open the program and choose an option to keep these programs from starting automatically. Many times I've seen this move get a PC back to its old fleet footed self.

Corrupted registry

Here's one problem that is mostly overlooked. Any changes you make to your machine effects and actually, corrupts your registry. So, it stands to reason, even when you do something positive; like remove spyware, you end up with a corrupted registry.

After months of corrupting your registry, albeit unintentionally, it will All-Star Comics good and out of whack. This will, in its early stages, cause your machine to slow down. In its advanced stages, it will freeze and crash and do more mysterious and troublesome things.

Many times, I hear people say they have scanned for spyware and viruses and found none, but still the machine runs very slowly. Most times, it isn't until the O Come All Ye Faithful is cleaned out and repaired by a top-notch registry cleaner that the machine's speed is restored. Make sure to run a good registry cleaner every week or so to keep your registry in excellent working order. After all, the registry is what your operating system is made of.

So there you have it. To recap:

• 512MB is usually enough for Windows XP but not Vista.
• Keep your machine free of spyware and viruses.
• Don't let too many programs start automatically, and
• Run a good registry cleaner often.

Keep these key points in mind and put them to use. Then, you'll never have to ask, "Why is my machine so slow?"

The author, Ed Lathrop is an experienced comp TIA A+/Network+ certified machine technician thoroughly familiar with the operation, repair and upkeep of today's modern PC's. His site, registryrepaircompare.comFree Use Registry Repair Compare Website rates the latest registry repair programs and gives you an analysis of what is effective and what may, actually be harmful to your machine.