Slow computer help center

SlowComp.com

To help you fix your Slow Computer

Updated August 21, 2010

Computer Starts Slow

Usually the main reason your computer starts slow is the registry is getting filled with trash or it is corrupted. Another reason is a lot of programs start that you don't even use, but they still take up CPU cycles and memory.

Popups

If you ever get a popup that tells you your computer has a virus, DO NOT click on it ! The popup IS a virus. Close down your browser, the best way is use the task manager. Right click on you task bar and choose Task Manager. Then highlight your browser and choose end task. If possible, write down the site you were at and report it to Microsoft.

Adware & Spyware

Adware is not very threatening to your computer, but it does slow your system down not to mention very annoying. Spyware on the other hand is dangerous. If you go to a site that you have a password on, it will record your password and transmit it to the person(s) that put it on your computer. It is the leading source of identity theft out there.

Virus

A virus is there to steal your personal information. It's like spyware but on the next level. A virus can wipe your harddrive clean if that is what it's programmed to do. It will also send all of your personal information to the person who wrote it. A good virus program is a must in these times. In my links section is a link to Microsoft's® free software.

I use Microsoft Security Essentials myself. This program caught 7 virus's that I did not know I had.

What is happening to my computer ?

 The best place to start is at the source:

 The windows registry. It is a complete record of all the
 software AND hardware that is installed on your computer.

 Every time you install software or a new piece of hardware,
 all the information about the software/hardware is stored
 in the registry and if it should start when your computer
 starts.

 NOTE: The more programs that are running, the slower
       your system will be. Every program takes up a 
       certain amount of memory and CPU time which will
       slow your computer down.

 When you uninstall the software or remove the hardware, 
 that information 95% of the time is not removed from the
 registry so windows has to go through the whole registry 
 and figure out what software and what physical hardware 
 is there and what is to get loaded at startup.

 This is where a good registry program comes in. It checks 
 to see exactly what software/hardware is actually 
 installed on your computer then goes through the registry 
 and updates the registry (dumps the crud) so that windows 
 knows exactly what software/hardware is there and what is 
 supposed to run.

 A corrupted registry on the other hand is where the 
 information in the registry has been scrambled by a power 
 outage, power surge or spike caused by lightning. The 
 registry has a very rigid structure, one little symbol in 
 the wrong place or not there at all, will cause all sorts 
 of weird things to happen.

 Windows is constantly reading and writing the registry. 
 If you have a power outage or a power surge while it is 
 writing the registry, you have a 50/50 chance of having a 
 corrupted registry and a computer that doesn't know if 
 coming, going or been there.

 So if you have a storm within 30 miles of your area, the 
 safe thing to do would be to shut your system down until 
 it blows over or take a chance of turning your hard drive 
 into a paperweight.(I've got 7 of them if you would like 
 them, thanks of my nephew)

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 Adware
 Don't you just hate it when you are doing something and an 
 ad pops up on your screen ? Adware in itself is nothing 
 more than a virus. It doesn't steal information, it's main 
 purpose is to be so obnoxious that you click on it just to 
 make it go away.
 A good adware remover has a list of all the latest adware 
 programs out there and searches your computer to see if 
 you have any, and if it finds them it removes them and 
 stops them from coming back.

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 Spyware = Virus
 Spyware is different than adware. Spyware DOESN'T want you 
 to know it's there because spyware is there to steal your 
 personal information. It keeps track of all your 
 keystrokes and sends them to the person(s) that gave you 
 the spyware. When you go to a website and put in your 
 password, all you see is a bunch of little stars, spyware 
 see's the actual key strokes.

 Spyware is the main source of identity theft out there. 
 If you even have the slightest doubt that you might have 
 spyware on your computer, get a good spyware remover.

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 Popups
 Most people associate popups with adware. They normally 
 are but in some cases they are also a virus. If you ever 
 go to a website and a popup comes up and tells you that 
 you have a virus, DO NOT CLICK ON IT ! The popup IS a 
 virus. Most of them that I have run across lock everything
 out so you have to click on them to close them down, and 
 when you do that they install themselves on your computer.
 (This actually did happen to me and I didn't know at the
 time how to get rid of it. I wound up going to Microsoft)

 The best way to stop that is to close your web browser 
 down WITHOUT clicking on the popup. Right click on your 
 taskbar and choose the Task Manager. In the task manager 
 you will see a tab that says Processes which has a list 
 of all the applications that are running on your computer.
 Highlight your web browser (IExplore, Firefox, Netscape, 
 etc...) and choose End Task. You will get a popup that asks
 if you really want to stop it. Choose yes and it will close
 your browser down AND the popup.

 This will also work if you go to a website and it wont let
 you out or on a program that you may be running that is not
 responding.

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 And last by no means the least is your Internet Cookies.

 If you do a web search and you see in the site you are
 going to, cached page, that page(s) are stored on you
 computer.(also known as cookies) I've had to work on
 computers that had over 1 gigabytes of internet pages on
 them. A cached page not only takes up space on your hard
 drive, but if you have any spyware on your computer, the
 spyware would know every site you went to and what you did
 there. 
 When you go on the web and go to a site, that site will 
 check YOUR hard drive to see if you have been there before.
 If you have a lot of cookies, that might take ahwile.

 If you don't have any cookies at all, the page is going to
 load a lot faster. The latest versions of IExlore, Firefox
 and Netscape all have a feature that will clean out the
 cookies when they close down.

 If you really want to be sure, go to the control panel,
 (the start button, settings, and control panel). 
 In the control panel is Internet Options. You can clean out
 ALL of the internet pages there.

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 If your computer starts making funny sounds, check to see
 if the cooling fans are working properly. Most computers
 have a access panel that you can take off to get to the 
 insides of the system. You should actually clean the inside
 of your system at least twice a year. The cooling fans 
 bring dust and dirt onto the motherboard. If the board
 gets covered with dust and dirt, it will start running hot.
 
 If a fan is not working, check to see that the power
 connections are hooked up. If they are, then with the cover
 off, turn on the computer and listen for the funny sounds.
 If the sounds are coming from a fan, have it replaced.
 
 If the sound is not coming from the fan, the only other
 part of the computer that moves is the hard drive.
 
 If your hard drive is starting to make noise, then you need
 to get a new one and transfer the data onto it, otherwise
 if it crashes and you dont have a backup of your drive
 you will lose all of your data on the drive.

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Credits

Josh:

Seems that Josh has a problem with his computer running
slow. When questioned, he had two virus programs running
at the same time.

This is a bad thing. You can NOT have two programs running
that are designed to do the same thing. The will see the
other as a virus and will both be trying to fix the problem.

There are a lot of antivirus programs out there, you will
find some on my site for sale, but the best free on is from
®Microsoft. Who do you think this hurts the most ?
If ®Microsoft does not keep on top of it, they lose
money. In my links section is a link to their free program.
I make nothing off of it but I put it there because it
works.

Mike:

Seems Mike has the same problem as Josh : )


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 I hope this has helped in some way. If you keep your hard
 drive clean, your registry straight, and take some basic 
 precautions on and off the web, you should have no problems
 with your computer.
 
 Happy computing :)	

 If anybody has anything to offer that is not covered in 
 this page, by all means send me an e-mail. I am a firm 
 believer in giving credit where credit is due. If I think 
 your comment or input will benefit the people that come to
 this site, it will be included on this page with the credit
 from who it came from.