The computer is slow: what to do? How to speed up your computer

As a rule, each PC user experienced a slow computer. At the same time, even the most mundane and simple tasks have not been completed as fast as before. But it’s worth putting a fresh OS, and the speed of work is returning to its previous course. And after some time everything repeats again - the computer is slowly working. What to do in such a situation?

Ordinary users try to solve such problems by simply reinstalling the operating system. Usually such a measure helps for a while. But this process is long, you can restore speed much faster if the problems are related to software. If "iron" spoils, even installing a clean system will not help, other measures are needed. In both cases, the computer is slow. What to do to solve the problem, read the article.

So, to bring your electronic friend in order, you need to perform a series of actions. Remember that all measures must be applied comprehensively, only in this way the effect will be maximum.

Temporary files

If your computer is running slowly, it is advisable to clean Windows 7 from completely unnecessary files first. The operating system independently creates them in the process, but does not always delete them. To display them, you need to configure the display of hidden files and directories.

Open My Computer and press the ALT button on your keyboard to display the top menu bar. In it, select "Tools" - "Folder Options." In the properties window, find the checkbox that is responsible for showing hidden and system files and directories. After that, click on “OK”.

Go to the “Users” directory (there may also be “Users” or “Documents and Settings” options), which is located in the bark of the system drive. Here you will see several folders that are named like the usernames in the OS.

Each directory hides the desktop of each user, its settings, the "Documents" section, shortcuts located in the Start menu, and many system directories.

Over time, a great many of these directories can form, especially if the computer is on the network and each user uses his or her unique login / password pair to connect to the computer.

Over time, this trend will lead to two problems.

1. Reducing the amount of free space on the system partition.
2. Slow operation of the OS.

And this is all, even if users do not save any files. But Windows all the same during their work adds to the temporary storage new items for their needs. As conceived by the developers, directories for storing temporary files should be cleaned up immediately after turning off the computer, but this does not always happen, and “garbage” accumulates there.

Go to the directory of any user and follow the path "Appdata / Local / Temp". As a rule, here you will see a huge number of small files. But since they exist, records about them are stored in MFT (a table that helps the OS find a particular file). And with the increase in the number of files, the table grows, and this slows down the system. In addition, also look in the folders “Appdata / Local / Temporary Internet Files” and “C: / windows / temp”

If the computer started to slow down, the first thing is to boldly clean these three directories.

Garbage removal completed. Now uninstall all applications that you do not use at all. Consider this the main rule of fast computer operation - on drive C: only the system and essential programs are located. Remember that “Documents” and “Desktop” are also located on the system partition. Do not litter these directories with heavy files.

Autoload

When optimizing the system, cleaning up startup from unnecessary applications is not superfluous, because each running process reduces the speed of the computer. Click on "Start" and select "Run." Here, in the input line, type the command "msconfig".

In the configuration window, go to the "Startup" tab. All items that are checked show which applications and programs start in the background immediately after starting Windows. Like any components of the system, they occupy space in RAM and use all other computer resources. The startup list is displayed in several columns:

1. Startup item (shows the name of the file or product).
2. Command (path to the directory in which the executable file is stored).
3. Location (registry key responsible for launching the item).
4. Manufacturer.
5. Date off.

Uncheck everything you think is superfluous. Look in the tray on the taskbar. Perhaps there are too many icons that you don’t click at all, and it is precisely because of the operation of unnecessary programs that the computer began to slow down. The main thing is to leave the antivirus program and elements of the Microsoft manufacturer in startup. The fewer resources used in real time, the better will feel running and running applications.

XP-AntiSpy

If the computer is very slow, you can use not only manual methods for solving the problem, but also automated ones. The xp-AntiSpy utility is distributed free of charge and works on all modern OSs (with the exception of Windows 8). The application automatically disables unnecessary OS features. It has full Russian localization. If you don’t understand the menu item in the program, just hover over it and a tooltip will appear with an exhaustive description.

To use any parameter, just tick it. After the final setup, just click on “Accept”. When finished, restart the PC.

Defragmentation

Often users can’t understand why the computer started to work slowly, but they don’t even remember about regular maintenance. If the computer slows down, do not forget about an effective means of optimizing access to local data - defragmentation. When a disk is used for a long time, files cease to be ordered. Adapting from fragments, one file can be distributed over the entire plane of the hard drive, and not be stored on it in the form of a sequential structure. Defragmentation cancels this process, transferring parts of the files to neighboring clusters.

To start the service, right-click on any local drive and click on "Properties". After that, go to the "Service" tab. Here you can see a few points, click on "Run Defragmentation".

Everything is simple here. In the window, you can select the disk that you want to defragment and, in fact, instruct the application to get down to business. Nothing extra. You can also configure scheduled defragmentation. Before starting work, the program will test the disk, and if optimization is not required, it will tell you about it, it will also warn the user if there is too little free capacity on the partition. Sometimes with a small amount of free space it is impossible to defragment, you will have to delete something. Do not defragment if using a solid state drive, such a process can ruin it.

Defragment the swap file

There is a wonderful file on the Windows family of operating systems called pagefile.sys. This is a page file. We can assume that this is a section of RAM, which is located on the hard drive. There, Windows collects the data that it needs to work but is not critical in terms of access speed. This file is always occupied by the system, so its defragmentation by regular means can sometimes not be performed. If the swap file is fragmented, the computer is slow. "What to do in this case?" - you ask.

To defragment the paging file, you need to use third-party utilities, for example System File Defragmenter. After starting, a window will open in which it will be written how many separate fragments "pagefile.sys" is divided into. To optimize the access time to it, in the application check the “Defragment” checkbox and, as in any other program, click on “OK”. After a reboot, the swap file is automatically optimized.

At the end of the work, the application will notify the user with the message “pagefile is already 1 fragment”. Also, some registry bushes will be optimized during operation, which will also help increase download speed. No further action is required from the user, the OS will boot on its own.

Viruses

If the computer slows down a lot, perhaps a few (or many) friends have simply settled in it. Especially often this happens if the computer is often used on the Internet, if it is not uncommon to connect external flash drives or portable hard drives to it.

Most often the virus is masked, so determining if it is running is not so simple. Do not try to do this by opening the task manager. Almost always, malware spends most of its time in the active phase, looking for ways to spread or discovering security holes, which slows down the PC. If the computer is already infected with a virus scan using the tools installed in the OS will not help. One advice - download a distribution kit that can create a bootable USB flash drive or CD, for example, Cureit.

Use only products with the latest virus databases. Malicious programs are constantly being improved by their creators to ensure the maximum level of disguise.

Antivirus

They got rid of viruses, do they really have to get rid of antivirus, completely left without protection? Such drastic measures, of course, are not required, but I must say that antiviruses often consume a lot of system resources for their work, as a result, the PC is very slow. The computer would be happy to devote more time to applications, but it cannot, antispyware programs have higher priority. And it’s not necessary at all, the software fights against malicious programs, often the antivirus simply conducts full monitoring, checking everything and everything. Powerful computers rarely suffer from such problems, but if your workstation is considered a strong average, there is a reason to analyze it.

First go to the website of the software manufacturer and check if there are new versions that have resolved the performance problem. Also, if you use the latest development of programmers, it will not be superfluous to study the information on the release of the program, it is quite possible that the latest developments have the status of a beta or test version.

If updates are not required, and there are no complaints about performance from other users, disable real-time protection in the antivirus. Work for a while without her. If the computer starts to slow down much less, the cause can be considered identified. Discard the familiar application in favor of another manufacturer.

Be careful not to disable or uninstall anti-virus software while surfing the Internet. Before deactivating an antivirus to work outside the global network, a full virus scan of all system partitions must be performed.

Remember - usually Windows starts to work slowly when several of the described software factors come into play at once, the hardware is much less likely to sin.

Overheat

If the computer runs very slowly, it will not be superfluous to check the temperature of its main components (HDD, CPU, RAM, video card). Due to high temperatures, computer components not only begin to work slowly, but also wear out faster, sometimes a week or even one day of such work can “burn” the device, which will require replacement.

To test the temperature and overall stability of the system, stress tests are used. One of these offers the program AIDA64. You just need to click on the chart icon in the top menu of the application, select the temperature of which devices to display on the graph, then click on the "Start" button. Be careful, in this test all components of the computer are loaded with work "in full", and the program will not stop, even if the temperature readings go beyond normal limits.

You can check the computer in a more gentle mode, without running the test, but simply leaving a window with the schedule for the duration of its work. Just regularly switch to it to study indicators, especially pay close attention to diagrams during operations that require a large percentage of hardware resources. To find out what work at what temperatures may be optimal for a particular component, look in the device passports or go to the manufacturers' websites. Usually these sources provide the most complete information.

If the computer starts up slowly and works due to overheating, try blowing out all the radiators located in the system unit, replacing all dust filters, and changing the thermal paste on the central and video processors. It should be noted that after some time the cooling fans may begin to fulfill their duties not as efficiently as immediately after purchase, due to wear of the mechanical parts.

Hardware issues

If the computer starts up slowly and works, the problem may be related to the breakdown of the main and secondary components of the PC. Most often, the culprits are RAM or HDD. You can check these two components without any difficulties, but if their verification did not reveal any problems, you will have to contact a service center.

To test RAM, go to the “Control Panel” through the “Start” menu and select “Administrative Tools”. In the list that opens, double-click the icon labeled "Memory Checker". Choose between immediate and delayed reboots. Once enabled, the testing process will begin even before the operating system boots. If errors occur while reading and writing to RAM, this information will immediately appear at the bottom of the screen.

To check the HDD for the presence of “bad” sectors, open the command line by expanding the Start menu and typing “command line” in the search column. In it, enter the command "chkdsk c: / f / r / x". A reboot is required to complete the test. Instead of C: the letter of any other section can be used, and it is advisable to check them all. Bad sectors can be marked as unused, and the data from them is copied to the working part of the disk, but if the HDD began to crumble, it is better to replace it as soon as possible. Recovering data from a drive that has failed is much more difficult than recovering from a drive that only shows the first signs of wear.

For experienced users who assembled their own computer, it is advisable to try to change each device separately and check whether the software component continues to work with failures. This method is quite effective, but requires a second computer, so it may not always be applicable.

Narrow places

It happens that we work on a technique that is already an order of magnitude outdated. I don’t feel like throwing out such equipment, and it is mainly used for everyday tasks that are not too resource-demanding, but if the computer is still running slowly (do you have Windows XP installed, which is undemanding to resources, or any other OS), remember its configuration.

If a decent processor has taken its place in the system unit, but only 512 megabytes of RAM help it to fulfill all the user's instructions, most likely, you need to add several RAM slots. There is a reverse situation: 2 gigabytes of RAM are installed, but the old man Celeron Northwood is working hard on the socket.

The equipment is out of date

Of course, this reason is often obvious, but it needs to be said about it. If the computer began to work very slowly, and it was bought a long time ago (3-5 years ago), then it could easily become outdated. Of course, if you do not update the software at all, do not run modern games on your machine, or still work in an operating system that is outdated with the computer, this problem will not affect you. But if you installed something new on old equipment, check whether the hardware meets the system requirements for the software part.

Check computer speed

If your computer is already running fast, but you want to optimize the system even further, you won’t be able to determine whether it started working faster or slower after changing the settings. Special programs that are used by overclockers will come to the rescue to see even the slightest changes in the speed of a computer. And these programs are called benchmarks.

To check the speed of your computer, you can use the AIDA64 application. It has several benchmarks, they are mainly aimed at testing the speed of RAM and the central processor, in addition to their results, you can look at the results of other users and those that are considered reference software manufacturers.

If your machine slows down, you have performed all conceivable and inconceivable software optimizations and are absolutely sure that slow operation is associated with a hardware bottleneck, there are also special applications for this case. They are called stress tests. During such an event, a lot of graphs and diagrams are displayed on the screen, for example, the temperature of each module, data exchange rate, processor load, voltage. By comparing the results of a similar test performed on your machine, and comparing them with the reference, you can calculate what equipment needs repair, replacement or maintenance. Always follow the indicators during such events, it is better to stop the test if the processor temperature jumps sharply during an increase in load or the voltage value "drops".

To check the speed of the computer and understand which component began to work inefficiently, you can use the built-in OS tools. Press the key combination "Windows + Beak \ Pause" on the keyboard. Here you will see a figure denoting the general PC performance index; speed check was performed earlier. Usually without it you can’t use the Aero theme.

Click the link next to the number. A more detailed report will open. It will reflect the assessments of all the main components:

1. Memory (RAM).
2. CPU.
3. HDD.
4. Graphics (Video Adapter).

Remember or write down all the values, since it is impossible to know the speed of the computer at the current time without overwriting the ratings. Find the link on the right side of the window with the inscription “Repeat assessment”. The benchmark will begin work. At this time, it is recommended not to touch anything or use any other programs. If any of the updated numbers is much less than the value from the early test, it means that the device began to perform its duties inefficiently. As a result, the computer is slow. What to do in this case? The answer is simple - change the item to a new one.