Speed Up Your PC
A common complaint of many users is that their computer has slowed down and that they need to speed up PC performance. A computer that was fast when purchased may have become sluggish over time. There could be several reasons for this and both software and hardware fixes may be in order.
Software Problems
Unless it is custom ordered, a PC will have a minimum of programs installed and not have much of a drain on system resources. Even so, some of the programs will load on start-up, using some of the system’s resources while waiting to be used. A common use is for programs that “phone home” periodically to check for updates. Check for these by looking at the icons in your system tray. While some programs shown there are necessary, many are just update schedulers that can be closed.
Another software related issue occurs when a user installs a program that is close to or beyond the systems capabilities. This can really be a problem when several resource-consuming programs are running at the same time. The quickest way to speed up PC performance in this case is to shut down programs that are not being used. Learn what your computer’s capabilities are and read the software box for system requirements.
A hard drive becomes fragmented over time. Fragmentation is caused by the installing and uninstalling of programs and the creating and deleting of files, such as documents and spreadsheets. It is also caused by editing photos, videos and sound files. Uninstalling programs and deleting files leaves blank spaces on the drive, called white spaces or free space. If the area is not large enough to hold a new file, the file may be written elsewhere. If you edit a file and it becomes larger, it may outgrow the space it was stored in originally.
When this happens, the file itself is chopped into pieces and scattered around on the drive. When the file is requested again, the read/write heads on the drive must seek out all of the pieces and reassemble them again. To speed up PC seek times, the user should run a defragmentation program to reassemble the files into contiguous locations and to consolidate the free space. Note: it is not recommended that you defragment a solid-state drive, or SSD. It has been said that the defragmentation process can damage the circuitry in an SSD.
Hardware Issues
Hardware configuration also plays a part in computer performance. Aging components often run more slowly and cannot keep up with current software requirements. An older, slower drive can be replaced with a drive that has a higher platter speed to decrease seek time. Additionally, newer data transfer technologies improve performance and will speed up PC efficiency.
In this author’s opinion, however, the most common culprit is inadequate random access memory, called RAM. The amount of RAM has nothing to do with the size or capacity of your hard drive. These are chips or cards, mounted on the motherboard, in which the bulk of file processing is done. Think of RAM as a desk and the hard drive as a filing cabinet. If the desk becomes cluttered or full, productivity is slowed and some tasks will need to be swapped back into the file cabinet. This is a simplified version of what happens when you do not have enough memory installed.
Off-the-shelf PC’s usually have just enough memory to run the operating system and a few more programs. As you start running more programs simultaneously, the memory resources are depleted and the system slows. One of the cheapest and easiest ways to increase PC speed performance is to add enough RAM to handle your system tasks. Installing RAM cards is not difficult, but if done improperly, delicate system components can be damaged. Therefore, if you are not confident in installing them, it is best to have a service company install your memory. Installing adequate RAM will help speed up PC processing.
