There are few things more annoying than a cripplingly slow computer. You know the scenario, you just want to get on quick and print a picture out, or check something on the internet but instead you end up sitting there watching the pointer turn into an hour glass, so you click again and again . Eventualy you may then get what you wanted (but in triplicate !) but quite often , you reach for that off button to end the misery.
Don't put up with a slow computer any more !
It wasn't that slow when you first had it so what's changed ? Well there are many possible causes, which I'll cover a few of now.
Top 5 causes of pc slowdown
- Hard disk full or fragmented
- Virus/Trojan/Malware
- Over zealous AntiVirus
- Corruption of Windows operating system or drivers
- Hardware problem
As you use a computer you create files on the hard disk. In the beginning this is fine because theres lots of space for Windows to save them - but as time goes on and applications and files get installed/uninstalled, loaded and deleted your hard disk becomes a mess. This means windows has to work harder to find somewhere to save the files. And when you are trying to open a file,instead of it being nice and neat in one chunk on the disk , it may be scattered all over. This makes it slow to access.
A quick defrag is a good start to try and put things back in order but to get the best benefit you need to do some housekeeping first. The vast majority of defraggers wont even run if you have less than 15% free disk space. (There are some exceptions which I'll cover later).
Viruses,trojans & malware. You've all heard of it and have probably been affected by them at some stage. They can really mess things up and the newer rootkit ones are crafty. They hide themselves from the operating system so even if you can find out the files that are causing the problem, your virus checker may not be able to help you sort it out.
Over zealous antivirus. Okay, you've had the scare stories about viruses, so you go and install yet another antivirus all in one suite. The number of machines I see with , multiple virus checkers, spam bots, firewalls etc etc, its no wonder the pc is grinding to a halt every time it tries to access a file. Even if you have only one virus program, some of them really make a performance hit on your machine.
Corruption. Believe it or not computers aren't too impressed when we switch them off in utter frustration whilst the are still trying to do something. This can quite often cause files to be written incorrectly on the hard disk which in turn will give us more problems next time we boot up.
Hardware. Bad blocks on a hard disk. I used to think these were relatively rare but not any more I come across more than a few 'weird' problems that were caused by bad blocks on a disk. A bad block is a damaged area on the hard disk that can make windows effectively stall if it tries to read or right anything from there. The good news is this doesn't mean you need a new computer,(well not yet anyway) it just means that we need to tell windows how to avoid this area and move any data outta there!
The solution
What we need is an easy way to fix all these issues. Of course if you are upto the job, wiping your hard disk and 
starting again is one of the ultimate clean ups (I do know some fellow techies who do this every month !) but most of us (me included) like to keep all our pictures, documents, browser favourites etc etc. I know that for me, last time I wiped and reformatted (several years ago), it took almost 3 days to get everything back to the way I liked it. 3 days !! I'm sorry , but I have better things to do !
Over the last 20 years, I have used many suites of software to get the best out of my pc and few have remained in my list of must haves. In fact some of them are damned dangerous !! Beware some Registry cleaners/ optimizers !!! These 'quick cure' programs often cause more grief than they cure. Whilst the registry is an important part of optimizing our windows pc, it has to be done safely. Currently, I use Advanced System Optimizer 3 to cure all my pc slow down problems.
An all in one package with excellent components. Cnet rate it the bet optimizer and I agree. Working on both nearly all Windows platforms including Windows 7 32bit and 64bit this is the one package I rate as a must have. Its powerful, without being complex, even my wife can use it ! Slow pc? Not once it's been optimized with Advanced System Optimizer . Job Done !!
So don't put up with a slow, unusable pc any more, download your copy today ! Advanced System Optimizer - Download.
Tucows, 5 out of 5 stars
