Why does the computer run very slowly? The computer works slowly and poorly. Damage to system files or infection with viruses

If you notice that your computer is running slower than usual (boots slowly, documents take a long time to open, or programs start slowly), then most likely The device needs diagnostics and cleaning.

In this article we will try to understand the reasons and find solutions to this problem.

Why is my computer slow?

The main reason for a slow computer is most often an insufficient amount of memory (RAM). The second common reason is the accumulation of a large number of temporary files on the hard drive. Then comes a virus infection, low hard drive space, etc. Finally, a simple lack of DMA (unplugged cable) can cause the computer to run slower than usual.

What to do if your computer freezes

Deleting temporary files, defragmenting disk space and updating the operating system are some of the ways to increase the speed of your PC.
It would also be a good idea to check your computer for viruses and get rid of any suspicious malware.
Finally, you can increase your computer's memory to improve its performance.

How to find out if your computer has enough memory

RAM (from Random Access Memory), or random access memory, is also called the temporary storage memory of a computer. This memory is used by various programs. The computer must have enough RAM to handle all the tasks. Failure to do so may result in severe system slowdown while loading or processing tasks.

If your computer was running fine before installing any programs, and then slowed down, your system most likely needs more RAM. Also, if your computer slows down every time you work with large files, you may need to add more RAM.

Temporary files on your hard drive

If you frequently leave your computer turned on for long periods of time, with programs open or other processes running, this can cause temporary files to be created on the disk and slow down your computer.

Deleting temporary files, including Internet history and cookies, will free up space on your hard drive for work.

How to delete temporary files in Windows 10

To delete temporary files in Windows 10, from the taskbar, select Disk Cleanup (Disk Cleanup):

In chapter Files to be deleted (Files to delete) select the files you want to get rid of. If you want to describe a file type, simply select it from the list. Then click OK to save changes:

Empty trash

After deleting the files, go to Cart (Recycle Bin) on your desktop and select Empty trash (Empty Recycle Bin):

Delete temporary files

You can also delete temporary Internet files that have accumulated on the system. Open menu Start (Start) > Control Panel (Control Panel). Select Internet Options (Internet Options) and in section Temporary Internet files (Temporary Internet Files) click Delete cookies (Delete Cookies) > Delete files (Delete Files).

Delete Internet History

You can also delete your online history by clicking the option Clear the history (Clear History). When finished, click Apply (Apply) > OK.

Defragmenting your hard drive in Windows 10

Another way to speed up your computer is to defragment your hard drive.
To do this, run the disk optimization tool by searching for defragmentation (defrag) or on the taskbar:

In the window that opens, select your hard drive and click Analyze (Analyze):

In the list of results, check the percentage of fragmented files. It is recommended to have this figure less than 5%. However, this is not a clear rule and you may choose a different standard.

If you want to defragment your disk, click Optimization (Optimize). After the process is completed, your percentage of fragmented files should be 0.

How to Delete Temporary Files in Windows XP

To delete temporary files, open My computer (My Computer) and select your local drive (Usually drive C). Select folder Windows and find the folder in it Temp. Right click on the folder and in options View (View) select Details (Details). Then delete all files that are older than the current date.

After deleting the files, restart your computer.

If your computer is infected

If your computer is infected with a virus, malware, worm or Trojan, it can cause the system to slow down and even block some tasks.

If you notice that the slowdown appears suddenly, is accompanied by a very long loading time and, possibly, a change in the appearance of programs and documents or untimely opening of any advertisements, these are signs of the presence of some kind of infection in your machine.

Not enough hard drive space

Adding very cumbersome programs will automatically slow down your computer system. Users with a 2GB hard drive must leave at least 250 MB of free space, and users with higher hard drive capacity must leave at least 20% of the total free capacity on their hard drive. This will give your computer enough space to store temporary files and file sharing processes.

Direct Memory Access (DMA) disabled (Windows 7)

Direct Memory Access allows data to be transferred between a hard drive and a CD without requiring microprocessor intervention. But sometimes, like Windows XP, this option is not installed by default.

To enable it manually, click Start (Start) > Control Panel (Control Panel) > System (System) > Equipment (Hardware) > device Manager (Device Manager).

View options ATA/ATAPI by clicking the icon + next to everyone. Select Primary IDE channel (Primary IDE Channel,), and in the window Basic IDE properties go to the tab Extra options. Check if the transfer mode is allowed for devices 0 And 1 DMA. Click OK to confirm the changes.

Do the same for Secondary IDE channel (Secondary IDE Channel). Check if the transfer mode is allowed for the device 0 and devices 1 DMA.

Operating system update

Availability of latest updates Windows by itself will not improve system performance. However, fixing any security breaches or performance glitches can be helpful. As a result, with the latest updates, your system will, in any case, work better.

Compressing rarely used files

Files that you don't use often can take up quite a lot of space on your computer. If you want to store all these files on your hard drive and they are formatted in Microsoft's NTFS system, use the function Disk compression to increase free disk space (menu Properties Hard Drive > tab Are common (General)). When this option is activated, data will be more or less compressed depending on how often it is used.

Removing dust from your computer

And finally, a simple but no less important step is to literally clean the computer from dust, which can also affect the operation of the entire system.

Before doing this, completely unplug your computer. Wait approximately fifteen minutes before cleaning, as rapid temperature changes can damage the processor.

When cleaning the device, it is best to use a can of compressed air specifically designed for this purpose. Follow the instructions on the package carefully to avoid accidentally spraying any liquid on your computer.

Please note that it is not recommended to use a brush or a brush for this work as it can damage the fragile parts of the processor's internal structure.

Image: © Androsvector - 123RF.com

The content of our site is created in collaboration with IT experts and under the guidance of the founder of CCM.net and CTO of the Figaro Group, Jean-François Pilloux. CCM is a leading international technology website, available in 11 languages.

Today we will look at the question, why is the computer running slowly? In common parlance this is called: computer slows down! :)

I’ll say right away that now we will consider the slow operation of the operating system. We discussed other problems, such as disk problems or unstable operation, in detail in previous articles.

If the computer has become exactly work slowly, then this article is for you! We will consider the entire basic set of actions to eliminate this problem using the example of the Windows XP and Windows 7 operating systems.

So, in order to bring our computer “to life” and so that it stops “terribly slowing down,” we need to perform a sequential series of actions, each of which, in itself, will add little to the speed of the computer, but their entire complex can quite significantly “spur up” "our iron friend :)

First, let's get rid of the absolutely unnecessary temporary files that the Windows operating system creates during its (and our) work!

To get to them, we will need to enable the display of files and folders hidden by default. Let's do it! To do this, in the Windows Explorer window, click on the “Tools” item and from the drop-down menu - “Folder Options”.

After which the settings window will open, where we will need to select “Show hidden files and folders”

Click the “OK” button. Now we're ready to see all the digital junk that's causing the computer to run slowly!

Where is he located? Do we “go” to the system drive to the “Documents and Settings” folder and carefully study what is in it?

As you can see from the photo above, in my case there are folders with the profiles of all users who logged into the computer under their accounts specially created for them on the same computer: “user”, “user2”, “user3” and a built-in account "Administrator".

And this is only in the case of local by users! Now, imagine that this computer works on a network and people periodically log into it using their own (already network login and password) different users. What will happen in this case? Right! For each of them, in the "Documents and Settings" folder on this computer, its own local profile (folder) will be created with the name under which the user logged in.

Each such folder by default contains all the user’s desktop settings (the desktop itself is also a folder in this profile), the “My Documents” folder, all shortcuts, various service directories in which “Outlook Express” and “Microsoft Outlook” mail is saved.

Over time, a great many such folders can be formed (according to the number of unique users logged into the system). What if each of them decided to save some information on their desktop or in their documents? And it’s good if it’s just documents, but what if it’s an album with music or a film? :)

All this, over time, leads to two sad facts:

1. space on the system is steadily approaching zero
2. the computer starts working very slowly

The fact is that the profile folders contain several directories for temporary files that the OS creates while the user is working and surfing the Internet using the Internet Explorer browser.

Ideally, when the system shuts down, they should be automatically deleted, but this does not always happen and they gradually accumulate in these folders. Let's take a closer look at this disgrace!

Let's follow the path: system_drive C: Documents and Settings user_name Local Settings

We will be interested in the directories " Temp"(it contains temporary system operation files) and " Temporary Internet Files"(temporary files from IE Internet browser cache)

The content of both of them is absolute garbage and contributes to the computer running slowly. This, as a rule, is a huge number of small fragments that are not needed at all, but since they are present on the disk, the operating system must constantly “remember” them (keep a record of them in its main file table MFT - Master File Table). And this table also grows over time and all this, gradually, leads to the fact that the computer works very slowly or not as fast as before.

Let's make sure of this! Let's go to the "Temp" folder and see how much disk space its contents take up?

As you can see - 43 megabytes. This is a real example, taken from an ordinary computer in our organization with which I recently worked, and such garbage files here can easily be hundreds of megabytes long!

In Windows 7, the Temp directory is located in a slightly different path: C:Usersuser_profileAppDataLocalTemp

The photo above is an example of a screenshot from my work computer, which I haven’t “cleaned” for a long time :)

If your computer is running slowly, delete all temporary files immediately! Let's move on! So, for example, I went over the network to the first computer I came across running “Windows XP” in the “Temporary Internet Files” folder and this is what I saw (photo - clickable):

On a remote computer named "utr04" in the profile "stecyshyn", the Temporary Internet Files folder is 667 megabytes. We delete it immediately!

Another folder in which “garbage” likes to accumulate, making its possible contribution to the fact that the computer runs slowly, is the “Temp” directory in the “Windows” folder itself.

Here's what it looked like before it was completely cleared on my computer:

In this case, 9 megabytes is not an indicator. There could easily be 999 here :) The point is different: this again is a bunch of small fragments that simply litter the file system of our computer and force it to constantly keep records of them that no one needs. This also causes your computer to run slower.

So, we're done with removing everything unnecessary. Yes, also remove unnecessary programs (that you are not using now and do not intend to use) - they do not add performance to the system, to put it mildly :) And make it a good rule for yourself - do not keep anything on the system disk except the system itself and the folder with installed programs.

Note: keep in mind that “Desktop” and “My Documents” are also located on the system drive (in your profile, remember?) :)

Now we will deal with the fact that the computer is slow in a different way. We remove everything unnecessary from Windows startup. Let's click the "Start" button (or the window button in Windows 7) and in the window that appears, enter the command " msconfig».

Press “Enter” and see something like this window, in which we will need to go to the “Startup” tab.

The checkmarks here indicate those processes (programs and components) that are loaded in the background along with the OS itself and “hang” in memory. Do you see how much is running here? I haven't moved the scroll bar on the side of the window yet! And then they ask: why is the computer slow? :)

So there are three columns here:

1. "Startup item" - the name of the process or executable file loaded into
2. “Command” - the path along which this element is located in the system
3. "Location" - the location in the Windows system registry where it is registered

This whole thing sits tightly in memory and takes up computer resources, so I recommend turning off (by unchecking the appropriate boxes) everything unnecessary. If you need to enable something again, just check the box again and reboot.

In the screenshot above, for example, I would remove everything except “avp” (Kaspersky antivirus).

If your computer starts to work slowly, be sure to check what is hanging in your system tray (also known as the notification area) in the lower right corner of the taskbar?

These icons are part of those processes under the "checkmarks" from the previous screenshot. But most of them are still visible only through the “msconfig” command.

I repeat: all these processes “hang” in memory and lead to the computer running slowly! Let's do an experiment! Try calling the task manager: the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl” + “Shift” + “Esc”, go to the “Performance” tab and check the RAM load, and see the total number of processes running on the computer:

The smaller the total number of processes, the better.

And now, I want to show you one wonderful program that will help us solve the problem of a slow computer. This is a small utility called " xp-AntiSpy" You can download it directly.

The program is designed to disable everything “unnecessary” in the operating system, which allows you to speed up and optimize its operation. It has a very simple interface and is fully translated into Russian. You just need to move your mouse cursor to any of the items and a full description of this function will appear at the bottom of the window.

To enable any of the parameters, simply tick the appropriate box. After completing the settings, click on “Accept changes” (some of them may require a restart of the computer to take effect).

If your computer is running slowly running Windows 7, then this program is still more oriented towards Windows XP (which is reflected in its name), but, as far as I know, there are also editions for the “seven”. But the main thing is that you got the point, right? :)

Note: file fragmentation can be called a non-optimal (in terms of access time) placement on the disk. The read heads have to constantly move across the surface of the disk, “assembling” parts of the file or program we need across its numerous clusters. Defragmentation is the reverse process, characterized by the optimal placement of files for the purpose of storing them in a continuous sequence of clusters.

In order to start the defragmentation process, right-click on the system disk and select “Properties” from the menu that opens, and in the window that appears, go to the “Service” tab:

There we click on the “Run defragmentation” button. After which the built-in Windows defragmenter window itself will open.

The "Analysis" button will tell us whether we need to defragment the disk in principle? And the "Defragmentation" button starts the process itself.

Look at the screenshot below and answer the question yourself: why did my computer become slow?? :)

What do we see here? Red color indicates fragmented areas, a large number of which causes the computer to run slowly. Also from the screenshot above we can conclude that regular disk defragmentation will not help! Why? There simply isn’t enough space for it! To start the optimization process, there must be at least 15 percent free space on the disk (more is better).

Note: Make it a rule - the less “extra” information is on the system disk, the better!

What to do in such a situation as shown in the photo above? Transfer all non-system and non-program files to drive “D” (or any other) and re-run optimization. If the result is unsatisfactory, you can run the procedure several times in a row.

If your computer has become slow, then only this in itself can significantly increase its speed. Or, of course, - using .

Look at the photo below:

Here we see a standard situation in which defragmentation needed And possible. The second line shows the ideal situation that we can achieve after completing its process. You should strive to get as close to this result as possible.

Already processed (non-fragmented) areas located sequentially on the disk are indicated in blue. Immediately behind them is a green area - the swap file. Please note, not “torn” into several separate parts, but, again, located compactly and in one “piece”.

If the swap partition (on the disk is designated as a hidden system file “pagefile.sys”) is “scattered” throughout the disk, then instead of performing its main function - speeding up the system, it becomes another bottleneck for the disk subsystem and the computer starts to work slowly.

In order to “assemble” the swap area into a single whole, there is a wonderful utility: “System File Defragmenter” from the well-known Mark Russinovich. You can download it.

In the “fragments” column we see how many parts our “pagefile.sys” file is divided into and our task is to put it together (reduce it to one continuous fragment on the disk).

To do this, select the “Defragment at next boot” radio box with the mouse and press the “OK” button. We reboot and after a while we see the following picture on the monitor:

We are primarily interested in the message here; “pagefile.sys is already 1 fragment”, which means “the page file already consists of one fragment”. We can also see that the program has optimized the size of some of the main "hives" of the Windows system registry, which will undoubtedly also help in situations where the computer is running slowly.

In addition to everything said above, be sure to read our forum post, which is dedicated to optimizing the operation and improving the performance of Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Finally, however, I will say a few words about such a thing as “bottlenecks” in the PC configuration. What I mean? We have quite a lot of outdated equipment at work. There is no point in throwing it away, because it works. But, on the other hand, it does not work in the best way precisely because of the suboptimal selection of its components.

For example: a relatively good office computer (Celeron 1.7 gigahertz) with an 80 GB hard drive and 256 megabytes of RAM. What will be the “bottleneck” here that does not allow the computer to work normally and leads to various “brakes” and a slow response of the entire system? That's right - insufficient RAM (especially if we open several applications and start actively working in them).

It also happens the other way around: a gigabyte of memory just installed in has virtually no effect! In such cases, a very common problem (especially on older configurations) is a slow hard drive, which simply does not have time to supply the necessary information to the memory modules and the central processor. As a result, they are idle. Old HDDs of 20 and 40 GB were guilty of this (80 GB models also became this “bottleneck” several times in my practice).

P.S.. If your computer is running slowly, only an integrated approach (performing all of the above operations) will give the best result!

At the end of the article there is a little video

If your computer begins to run slowly, programs run much longer than usual, and everything we do requires a wait, this is a sign that something is wrong with it. In some cases, this may not only lead to user annoyance, but also damage to your equipment, loss of files, or the security of your personal data. Therefore, it is better to take care of it as soon as possible.

Attention! The article assumes that you are at least an intermediate user and know what you are doing. Remember that any changes you make to your computer are at your own risk. If you are not sure that you can aggravate the situation or do not have time for this, it is better to contact specialists or a service center.

So, why does your PC slow down and what to do in this case.

Usually, a very slow computer is not the result of one reason, but rather many overlapping small problems. An unoptimized system, some viruses, dusty components and ineffective cooling, an unfragmented disk, dozens of programs loaded at startup and other factors - in fact, this is the standard state of an average computer 2-3 years after purchase.

In this article, we will focus on the situation of a sudden slowdown in the Windows operating system, when the computer becomes very slow, rather than a slow gradual loss of efficiency. First, a little theory.
Let's try to classify and name the most common reasons:

Hardware problems

1. Cooling system malfunctions.
2. Hard drive damage.
3. Problems with other components.

Windows system problems

• Viruses, spyware, etc.
• Updates with errors (both Windows and programs).
• Lack of resources (many programs running in the background).
• Change in Windows operating system configuration or BIOS.
• A little, isn't it? But we think this will be enough to find out what happened to the computer and Windows, and not waste a whole week searching.

Diagnosing the reasons why your computer is slow

Start your search with quick tests for the most common faults. Slowly narrow down the suspects to the most likely ones, and finally use thorough methods that will pinpoint the culprit behind a very slow desktop computer.

When searching, start quick tests of the most common faults. Slowly narrowing the “circle of suspects”, most likely, to the end, use more thorough methods and pinpoint the culprit.

If your PC starts to run very slowly, it is either something is using its resources or those resources are severely limited. Go ahead.

CPU and Memory Usage

The first thing you need to do is go to the Task Manager and go to the “Performance” tab. The computer must be in a “resting” state, that is, all programs are “inactive”, except those that are constantly running (anti-virus software and others that are constantly running in the background).

If you see CPU usage approaching the upper limit, you can be sure that these are system problems. The same thing happens with memory. In a properly configured and clean Windows system, the processor load at rest should be no more than 5%, and the memory load should be below 1 GB.

We notice that the computer is used intensively when we are not working on it. What to do in such a situation? First, go to the “Processes” tab and click on sort in the CPU or Memory column to identify “anomalies”. If you find that some process is loading at 100%, this is most likely the culprit for the sudden slowdown of your PC.

Next, search for the process name on the Internet, and you should also run a virus scan on your computer. Maybe you remember about the sensational bitcoin virus, which, when entering the computer, loaded the processor at 100%. Other viruses can act in the same way. In general, a virus entering the system is the most common reason for a PC to suddenly slow down.

The next situation is more complex if all or most of the processes consume a lot of resources, especially CPU. You need to first check that the processor speed has not decreased. Why might the processor speed decrease? Some hardware configurations can automatically reduce the processor frequency in case of overheating to avoid burning it out.

If we do not find something like this, then we switch our search for causes to the cooling system.

Cooling system malfunctions

Inspecting the cooling system may seem a little more complicated and depends on the type and design of the computer. What the user needs to do is listen to the operation of the fans (it should not produce any extraneous sounds, only air noise) and assess the degree of dustiness of the visible components. You should also check the condition of the thermal paste by carefully removing the fan from the processor.

Remember! Cooling system problems can quickly lead to extensive equipment damage, so checking them should not be ignored.

Hard drive damage

If after previous checks we did not find any problems and the PC is stuck, there remains one of the most common ones - hard drive failure.

The surface of the hard drive wears out over time and bad sectors or, in other words, damaged memory blocks appear on it. Very often, after the first bad sector appears, their number begins to grow rapidly. The most important (from the point of view of this article) is the fact that a large number of bad sectors causes an increase in the access time to data on the disk, as a result we observe slow operation of the PC.

To quickly check the status of your hard drive, you need to use a program to read the so-called S.M.A.R.T data. disk. These self-diagnostic options have supported almost all hard drives for many years.

However, we should know which parameters are most important to us, what they mean and how to read their values. To do this, see the instructions on what to do and how to diagnose the hard drive using MHDD.

If the HDD drive is not in the best condition, you should take care of your data immediately. To do this, copy them to a USB flash drive or transfer them to another computer over the network. Otherwise, you risk losing them for free, or at best, you will be able to contact a service center for an expensive restoration.

Other reasons

If your computer is still slow, you will have to look deeper for the problem and possibly spend more time finding it. In the following paragraphs we will provide those steps that should ultimately lead to our goal.

Using the hard drive. The system disk must have at least 20% free space, for the Windows 7 operating system to work, at least 200 MB (this is a prerequisite for efficient operation of the system). It wouldn't hurt to defragment your hard drive either.

Programs that run in the background. Disconnect your computer from the Internet and disable all background programs, including virus scanners. If you still don't see any improvement, run a virus scanner and move on.

Viruses. We conduct a thorough scan of your computer with a good anti-virus database. This will probably take one to several hours, but there is a very good chance that removing all viruses will solve the problem.

System updates and configurations. And finally, we must disable the latest updates and changes to the system. For this purpose, you can use Windows system restore points and return to the state when the computer was working properly. Instructions for restoring Windows from points can be found in the help system, as well as on Microsoft pages.

Other more complex reasons

At the moment, conventional diagnostic methods are running out. To further find out why the speed of the computer has decreased very sharply, you need to thoroughly test the equipment and eliminate the Windows operating system as a whole, for example, by reinstalling it.

It should be added that reinstalling Windows does not always solve the problem. There is still a possibility that the reason for the slow operation of the PC is related to the hardware.

This step requires considerable experience and comprehensive knowledge of the workings of the Windows 7 hardware and operating system. This is why the smartest and fastest way is to use a professional computer service.

The computer began to work slowly and this really gets on your nerves, I understand you well, can I help you? Then read on, the story will be long but interesting.
First, I will list the main reasons for a slow computer, and then we will put everything into practice. I use all the programs whose operation I will describe myself and have not noticed any problems, they are well-known and popular, and they are also free, but you will use them at your own peril and risk, be careful and carefully study them before using them, each program is capable of doing backup your changes, use this.

The computer began to work slowly

• File system and registry fragmentation
• Viral activity
• Low amount of RAM or malfunctions in its operation
• Wrong location of swap files
• Low amount of free space on the system partition
• The disk subsystem operates in slow PIO mode, read here -

You can go on for a long time and a dissertation can be defended on each topic; let’s focus on the most common reasons slow computer, first of all, I would like to ask how long ago your operating system was installed; if seven years ago, then it is better to reinstall it completely.
Let's start with general cleaning, removing garbage from your operating system, temporary files and empty, incorrect shortcuts, and so on, using the FreeSpacer program, you can get it here

http://www.grasoft.narod.ru/freespacer.html

The program is very easy to install. In the main window, click search.

After finishing the search, before clicking delete, you need to look through the list of found garbage! You can find the necessary files among those found, hover over the name of your file with the mouse and right-click and add this file to the list of exceptions, the program will know that this is the necessary file

go to the settings and you will understand the program is intuitively simple, you can create a backup copy and, if necessary, return everything to its place.

Not the last reason for slow computer performance, if not the main one, is file system fragmentation.
When working on a computer, files are written to our hard drive not in order, but scatteredly, the same thing happens when the file increases in size, as the age of your operating system increases, the hard drive has to work more and more intensely, as a result the computer began to work slowly.
To avoid fragmentation of the file system, you can, for example, defragment the file system regularly once a week, that is, work to ensure that the files end up in sequentially located clusters, you can use the built-in Windows tools by right-clicking on the My Computer icon, then select Defragmentation from the drop-down menu disk

or third-party programs for example: Auslogics Disk Defrag?

Calm down, it's free, you can download it here

http://www.auslogics.com/ru/software/disk-defrag

the program is very simple and effective, if you wish, you can find paid analogues, for example: O&O Defrag Professional, I used it, it’s a very good program.
Numerous registry errors, as well as its fragmentation, contribute to our problem, here we use the Vit Registry Fix utility, take it here http://www.vitsoft.org.ua

It found 1162 errors in my registry, I didn’t use it for only a week, can you imagine?

There is also the opportunity to return all your errors back from a backup copy, then go to the tools tab, the very first item optimizes the system registry files and performs defragmentation.
We eliminate virus activity with our antivirus program. We periodically download from the official Dr.Web website a healing utility - Dr.Web CureIt! and scan our operating system, very useful link

http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit

Unfortunately, RAM cannot be downloaded anywhere, but it’s a matter of time, and for now I can only give advice on buying it.
With a small amount of RAM, the operating system actively uses the paging file - a file on the hard drive called pagefile.sys; has the attributes Hidden, System, Windows uses it for data files that are in operation and do not fit in RAM. The paging file should under no circumstances be located on the partition with the operating system installed. And should be 1.5 times larger than the size of your physical memory.

One of the most pressing and probably eternal problems of all PC users is why does the computer slow down? After all, when you bought your brand new computer, it didn’t even show any signs of slowing down. There are many reasons that cause your computer to freeze, and that’s what I’ll write about today. I will also write methods for dealing with the most common problems.

In fact, there are even more reasons why your computer may slow down; if such a need arises, I will write the second part of the article. Now let's look at each of these points in more detail.

Computer slows down due to viruses

– Problem This is one of the main reasons why your computer has become noticeably slower. You may not even think about the existence of viruses on your computer until you see the first reasons for their existence. such prerequisites may be:

• Computer freezes
• Files or folders are not deleted
• Error messages appeared
• Intrusive advertising appears while the browser is running
• Computer startup time has slowed down significantly
• Certain programs cannot be launched and folders cannot be opened
• Task Manager does not open (ctrl+alt+del does not work)
• CPU usage up to 100% with closed applications

At the first symptoms of a computer infection, you should take a number of steps to protect yourself from viruses:

– Solution If you suspect that your computer is infected with viruses, you should follow these steps:

check it for viruses with a scanner, for example, and don’t forget that you need to use . After checking with the scanner, it will show whether there is malware and scanners on your computer, if there is, we will treat/remove it, then install the stationary version of the antivirus. I can recommend a pretty good and free antivirus.

Enable the firewall (firewall) built into the operating system and configure it to work only with certain programs that use Internet access. A combination of antivirus and firewall will provide fairly strong protection against most threats.

Another very important tip! Most viruses and Trojans can be picked up on porn sites. So, if for some reason you visit such sites, be careful and do not click on all the windows that appear in a row. For example, an offer to update a flash player will most likely provoke the installation of a malicious program.

System disk is full

– Problem A very common situation is when the system disk of your computer (drive C:\) is full, and when you try to access the desired entry, the system waits for free memory on the hard drive.

The problem is relevant in those computers in which the system disk and the data disk are separated (on disk C and D, for example). In my experience, I often came across a situation where too little hard disk memory was allocated for the system disk and as it filled up (installing updates, installing programs, temporary files), the space on drive C tended to zero.

– Solution To solve the problem with the volume of the system disk, you should perform the following steps:

• Clear the disk of temporary files. The program copes well with this task
• Remove programs you don't use
• Clear the desktop (many people don’t even suspect that the desktop stores information on drive C)
• Empty the recycle bin (I encountered a situation where the size of the recycle bin reached 10 GB when the size of the C drive was 50 GB.)

Computer slows down due to overheating

– Problem Unfortunately, this is a very common and very dangerous problem for your computer. You need to monitor the temperature of the components! Especially if your computer is a repository of very important information. I think you will not be happy if your computer fails due to overheating and as a result of the failure you will lose all information from your PC.

How to determine if your computer is slowing down due to overheating? Very simple! If when you turn on the computer everything is fine and loads quickly, but when you start programs or games, the computer starts to slow down and reboot, then in 95% of cases the problem is with overheating

– Solution You need to pay attention to the temperature of the processor, chipset, video card and hard drive. You can monitor the temperature of components using special programs (for example Aida or Everest).

Periodically clean the system unit from dust. Yes yes, it needs to be cleaned! In my memory, there have been instances in which not only the color of the motherboard was not visible, but even the processor heatsink was not visible due to a dense “crust” of dust. Dust causes failure of coolers (fans), which disrupts heat exchange and raises the temperature.

Periodically you need to check the condition of the thermal paste between the active elements and their radiators. I advise you to do this once every 2-3 years. But, if the sensors show that the temperature of your elements (processor, chipset, video card) is normal, then everything is in order with heat transfer and, therefore, there is no need to change the thermal paste.

Computer slows down due to hard drive problems

– Problem Few people know that hard drives tend to exhaust their resources. We are not talking about the size of the disk (I wrote about this above), but rather about its life cycle, which, unfortunately, is not as long as we would like.

The speed of the operating system and programs depends 70% on the quality of the hard drive. I myself didn’t understand before how a computer with 4 GB could slow down. RAM, dual core processor 3.2 GHz, good video card? And during operation, significant slowdowns are noticeable. Only when replacing the hard drive was there a significant increase in operating speed.

The thing is that a hard drive consists of many layers of mirrored disks, all of these disks are divided into sectors. If, when accessing a certain sector, the hard disk controller does not receive a response, it marks this sector as “broken”. The more bad sectors, the closer to the end of your hard drive.

– Solution Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever! But life can be extended! Same with hard drives. If you follow the rules described below, you can significantly extend the life of your hard drive, and therefore your computer.

• Defragment your disks periodically (at least once a month)
• If you suspect the hard drive is working, take a set of measures to check and restore the hard drive (there are good tools at)
• Avoid any physical impact on the hard drive. Do not hit the system unit, do not knock on the table if there is a system unit or laptop on it
• When cleaning the system unit from dust, clean the hard drive thoroughly, as it tends to heat up

Small amount of RAM

– Problem One of the most common reasons why a computer slows down a lot is a small amount of RAM. Progress does not stand still and with new software comes new hardware that ensures comfortable operation of these programs.

You can see the RAM load in the task manager (ctrl+alt+del), in the “Performance” and “Processes” tabs.

However, not everyone can afford to upgrade hardware, and in particular RAM. After all, to find memory for an old computer (DDR), you will have to work hard. And the price for old memory sticks is much more expensive than for memory of the same volume, but of a new type (for example, DDR2 or DDR3).

And to install a new modification of memory, you need to change the motherboard and, in most cases, the processor.

– The solution is the most banal! Increase the amount of RAM. I also advise you to pay attention to running processes; perhaps most of the memory is being “eaten up” by processes that you did not start (for example, viruses).

– Problem Just like RAM, the processor directly affects the speed of the computer. The lack of processor power is most noticeable when working with a browser and when running high-quality HD video.

The processor load can be seen in the task manager (ctrl+alt+del), in the “Performance” and “Processes” tabs.

– Solution The solution is to install a new, more powerful processor.

There is a lot of unnecessary stuff in startup

– Problem As you work at the computer, you often have to install various kinds of programs; some of these programs are installed in startup so that they load when the computer is turned on.

I doubt that you often look into startup and remove unnecessary programs from there. But it would be worth it, because by cleaning startup, you can significantly increase the speed of turning on the computer and starting the operating system.

– Solution You need to open “System Configuration” and in the “Startup” tab, uncheck the programs you don’t need.

To open “System Configuration”, click “Start” - “Run”, for Windows XP, or for Windows 7, “Start” - and in the “Search programs and files” line write msconfig and press Enter.
Afterwards, go to the “Startup” tab
In my case, you can safely disable the “Intel”, “Adobe Reader”, “Java” items. You may have an office there, Winamp, various kinds of instant messengers.

Cleaning the registry from garbage

– Problem The Registry is the most mysterious and little-studied area of ​​the Windows operating system by ordinary users. The registry contains the parameters of all installed applications. And in case of incorrect removal of applications, entries remain in the registry.

Over time, due to such entries, the registry grows to obscene sizes. And when accessing it, the operating system spends more time than it would like.

– Solution: Cleaning the registry with a special utility, for example, there are no other options.

The computer slows down when using the browser

– Problem This is also a very pressing problem. It occurs mainly when opening several dozen tabs at once, or when launching an HD quality video in the browser.

Also, do not forget that each open tab is a separately running process that “eats” part of the RAM and part of the processor.

– Solution If your computer freezes when working in the browser, pay attention to the task manager to see which process is taking up the most resources. Perhaps this is some application running on a web page, or a frozen script. Do not forget that the browser may freeze due to a full cache, which is necessary.

If your computer slows down when watching videos on the Internet, the problem is insufficient processor resources; only a replacement will help.

Let's sum it up!

As you can see, there are a huge number of problems that can cause your computer to freeze and slow down. If you haven’t found the answer to your question or have tried everything but nothing helps, write your problem in the comments, we will try to help you. By the way, here are some more tips on

Now I suggest you watch a video on the topic “What to do if your computer is slow”: