My Computer Is So Slow.... What Can I do?

Everybody that has a PC can remember how it “used” to run back when it was new. Then slowly but surely over time, it seems to get progressively slower, and slower, and then a lot of times it'll actually start crashing by freezing up, or going to a blue screen (sometimes referred to the blue screen of death), or it crashes to the point where it either won’t even power up or you get a black screen with system errors and can't even log into Windows. Of course at this point in time panic starts to set in and you are left wondering whether or not you're going to lose all of your important files and pictures. Needless to say there is not a ghost image backup to recover from one external hard drive that you have backed up to.



Don't fret you'll find solutions to this difficulty which are extremely easy and cost-effective. The following recommendations are preventative maintenance that you can utilize Internet effort to prevent this from happening to begin with. First, you ought to comprehend why your laptop or computer is running slowly.
Once you buy your laptop or computer it truly is usually a pretty stripped down machine, pre-loaded with an operating system (e.g. Windows XP, Windows Vista, or more commonly now, Windows 7), and possibly some other smaller software applications like Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Flash Player, some sort of media player, possibly some variation of MS Office (e.g. MS Word, Power Point, Outlook, Excel, Access, etc.) in a trial version format and likewise having a security software trial version (e.g. McAfee, Norton, AVG, etc.)
These software applications then expand when you purchase the full version, and then install your printer software, then your iTunes, games, etc. All requiring hard drive disk space, and a lot of which will truly now start upon booting your machine, essentially running inside the background which will chew up more and more of your RAM (random access memory) and processor - which are essentially the two components within a PC that can speed up or slow down a laptop or computer. Let us also not forget that over time, you are going to be downloading and installing updates to your software - specially your MS Windows updates, which will in turn take up far more disk space and call for much more of your RAM and processor to run properly - in turn hogging a growing number of of your computer’s resources just to run the PC rather than utilizing those resources to run the applications you might be utilizing. During the regular computer session it is common that you will only use two or three different software packages, so all of these installations are utilizing your active memory when you're not even using them!

So what to do about this??? There are plenty of solutions available. A few of the uncomplicated pointers I would like to share with you to keep your PC running optimally are:

Run the Disk Cleanup about every two - three weeks on your laptop or computer, deleting old files and freeing up space which will had space on your drive.
Run the Disk Defragmenter following running the Disk CeanUp (both these applications could be found within your System Tools folder inside the start menu). After you have selected "start" from the toolbar, navigate to the "accessories" folder, once you are there locate a folder titled "system tools". It is inside system tools that you will find these programs.
Purchase a registry cleaning software (ever see those ads on TV claiming how they'll speed up your laptop or computer - well this is what they are selling, but they’ll charge you way a lot more than double to have some guy in India download and install it on your PC for you - don’t waste your money), this software won't only clean out registry errors, however it will correct quite a few other operating system errors and optimize your PC.

Now - in the case that your PC is infected with malware (malicious software), which encompasses any virus, spyware, malware, trojan horses, worms, etc. This will also slow down your personal computer and these should be removed to stop permanent damage to the software layer of your PC (your operating system and software applications), and sometime they can even attack the hardware layer (your RAM chips, challenging drive or even your motherboard). In this case, you might require to most likely run other anti-virus, anti-malware softwares on your PC apart from the one you already have installed. Let’s face it, none of them are infallible, but we all try to put our greatest foot forward when protecting our household and company networking, PC’s and information in general.

So what to do whenever you already paid for a security software, or have installed a totally free version of one of that your friend told you was the most effective, but you still are obtaining pop-ups, or your home page has changed, or now there is an additional Anti-Virus software now telling me that my computer is infected with virus - or one of about 1,000 other scenarios. well, initial issues 1st - do not login into your internet banking until you've got this resolved. Or any other financial or investment tool until you've resolved these issues. My suggestions is to take it to a professional personal computer repair shop in Denver. Any reputable laptop or Denver computer repair shop, or contact a pc repair business that has expertise in virus removal and in several instances this can be performed remotely in case you are able to still get on-line. When I say “still” it's simply because many times a virus will start attacking your computer’s applications and processes, one of which is your ability to get on the internet.

Even so, in case you wish to attempt this your self, you will discover some very good free tools available including ComboFix, MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware and cost-free AVG. My recommendation is you should consult with an expert DFenver computer repair services organization that has been in existence for several years and that carries insurance, and has a least a A- rating with the Denver Better Business Bureau.