Why did my computer become so slow? is a question almost every regular owner of a desktop computer or a laptop computer will sooner or later ask. It may puzzle you how your computer used to be lightning fast and then suddenly, it is already performing poorly. Some people might relate this to a hardware problem and take their computers to a technician only to be told that nothing is wrong with the hardware.
This is because the slowing down of a computer's performance is more often related to software and/or system problems. And most of the time, such problems can easily be fixed at home using simple and sometimes, dumb-proof solutions.
Crowded hard disk
Just because you have a sweet 500 GB hard disk capacity does not mean you can just fill it up until only a few megabytes or gigabytes are left. The more crowded you hard disk gets, the slower your computer will be. Opening files and retrieving date will be especially slower.
So what should you do? Do these simple steps: 1) empty your recycle bin (deleting a file does not remove it from your storage dude), 2) remove unnecessary files, 3) uninstall programs you do not really use, and 4) considering saving large files you do not regularly use to a separate storage device such as an external hard drive.
Fragmented hard disk
Nope, not even emptying your recycle bin will permanently delete a file. Essentially, you are only removing the recall data (this is why deleted files can be restored using a special software). So the more you perform the save and delete action, the more you are fragmenting your disk. The more fragmented a disk, the slower its performance will be. SO what do you do?
It is simple really. You just need to defragment your disk, a process available to all. So where do you find this function? Well, let us makes things easier and skip the difficult part. Just use the search files and programs function in the windows button and type defrag and you should find the function. You just activate it and it will do everything. The only let down is that it takes hours and hours to finish. Do this only 2 or 3 times a year.
Too many startup programs
These are programs that are set to open and activate upon turning your computer on. One good example is Yahoo Messenger. You can set it up to run and even automatically login the moment you turn on your computer. However, many startup programs are not necessary. Simply go to the settings of these programs and disable their run at startup function.
Virus infection
A computer virus can affect your computer in many adverse ways. One is that it can cripple your computer from running to crawling. This can easily be remedied by installing an up-to-date computer virus. But if the virus has already done a lot of damage, it is advisable that you reformat your computer or run windows repair before installing an antivirus.
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