What causes a computer to run slow is a very common question both on the internet and in the everyday world. With so many computer users today, it is normal that many are wondering or have wondered the same thing. This unfortunately is going to persist until we understand the reasons why computers run slow.

This article covers key areas like: common symptoms | Hardware Issues |Software issues | Adware / Spyware / Viruses and Trojans | Start-up | Heavy Programs | Junk Files | Registry issues | Fragmented Files

We all remember the day we got our computers, whether you buy it directly from a store or buy the parts (like I did) and build it yourself on top of your desk.

The simple fact of the matter is that computers do need to be maintained, just as you take your car for servicing, the same rule applies to our computers. The next step is to understand what can be the cause for our computer to run a little slower.

Common Computer slowdown symptoms are:

Application or program hang-ups
System freezes
Slow loading times
Slow internet

Hardware Related issues

Depending on many factors like age, temperature general use, hardware related issues a few and far between, True they can happen and if the above are important factors , for example you have the computer for 5 years and you have never turned it off.

The only good thing about hardware related failures is that we can start to experience them and depending on the severity of the issue, they will either cease to function straight away or the computer will start to provide other related symptoms which will help the user narrow down which component is actually beginning to fail. In general we are going to experience more issues before our ram or hard drives begin to fail.

Software related issues.

Now this is the category where you will need to focus more of our attention. This is indeed quite general but this article is in the general sense. The major players involved in the slowing down or degrading of pc performance are down to our use of the computer. It is based 90% of the time on our actions which have an effect on our system. So which are the biggest factors?

Adware, Spyware, Viruses and Trojans

These are the biggest players in the game of computer slowdown. Each with their own level of severity and if you use and recognize how your system works, you too will notice that you are waiting longer for programs to open, random slowdowns and other strange things appearing like icons on your desktop or your favourite homepage has changed.

Start up Programs

The next major issue with why the computer could be running slow is the start up. The startup is basically everything that the computer loads when it is turned on and loading. In this example we are going to use Windows. So everything the Windows loads is classified under the start up programs or applications.
So how does the start up contribute towards a slow system? Well, it isn’t the initial load that can be annoying, but don’t forget, unless you manually stop these programs from running, they are going to be there, in the background consuming your vital system resources which in turn, will make you computer slower.

Heavy programs or resource hogs

Heavy programs or resource hogs as I and many people like to call them are those applications that consume system resources by saving them for themselves or when needed, go and steal from other programs in order to function properly.

Obviously this was not a technical explanation, but you understand. Common complaints from computer users and I can verify this from personal experience, are some antivirus software’s. True they are getting better, and true there are still a few bad ones around, but these are the ones that generate the biggest complaints and the best examples.

Junk files,Temp Files and Cache

Junk files, temporary files and cache files are not the biggest players in computer slowdowns by any means but they do contribute towards a slower system. These are the files we “collect” whilst surfing or browsing our favorite websites, the remains of any installs or deleted files.

Now the amazing thing about these files is that Windows seems to collect these for fun. That was a little light humor but in many ways they are designed to actually try and help us in our day to day. Take for example internet files, these are collected so that the next time we are at a website, we don’t need to wait for the whole page to load, it is already in our “system” and therefore it will be presented quicker. This does help, but like everything, too much can be really too much.

Registry Issues

The registry is like the brain of the computer. Everything the computer does is solely down to the registry and its command or keys are they are known.
A computer registry with errors or invalid keys can prevent you from loading Windows at all. This is how important the registry is.

Fragmented files

Don’t be mistaken, fragmented files are still a force to reckon with and because they are last in this articles does not mean they are of less importance.  The whole purpose of defragmenting our hard drives is because we want to keep all the related files together, by doing so we can save the hard drive from spinning more and wasting more time locating all the files needed.

So we have seen most of the common causes for as to why your computer is running slower than usual or expected. The good news is that you can do all this maintenance work manually or you could invest in an inexpensive software. Computer cleaning software will take care of not only cleaning of your computer, but fixing many key areas as well as optimizing your computer for optimal use.