A computer is a rather capricious thing. In any case, users are not so rarely perplexed by the fact that the PC on the latest Intel Core i7 is terribly slow, sometimes opening browser tabs for two to three minutes, not to mention games that can start even longer.
So what to do if the computer slows down? Let's try to figure it out.
Hardware
First, let's determine the āironā component of your PC. Of course, we wrote at the very beginning of the article that almost all machines are subject to strange slowdowns, but much more often this happens with those computers whose components are far from the first freshness.
CPU
Most often, the processor comes under suspicion. If you have something like āCeleron Cā with a clock frequency of 900 MHz, then you should not blame him for refusing to function normally under Windows 7, as if it were installed on such a rare computer.
If the processor is old, and even belongs to the Celeron family, we strongly recommend using Windows XP. He will not pull more, and you will save a lot of precious nerve cells. But what if the computer slows down on modern games, even if the processor of one of the last generations serves as its āheartā?
Video card
Games are exactly the best test site at which you can unleash the full potential of your hardware. Synthetic tests are also good, but they are often available only to professionals, but even a schoolboy can launch some modern shooter.
He will launch it, but then problems often begin. The picture is more like a slide show, which a sadist launched at the slowest speed. When computer games slow down, most often the video card is to blame for the problems of novice gamers.
And not without reason! Indeed, in those places where his parents most often buy a computer for their beloved offspring, their assembly is very peculiar. So, one can often encounter the fact that something like the GeForce 430 is put in a system with good other characteristics. No doubt, such a video card is not bad for multimedia systems, but it makes no sense to put it in gaming PCs.
That is why users so often ask about why a new computer bought in a large hardware store is slowing down.
RAM
Almost everyone heard about ātwo cores, three gigsā, and therefore, among people who are very far from computer affairs, an opinion has formed that only its volume is important for RAM. This is not entirely true.
For example, games on a computer that has 4 GB of memory installed in the system unit are often slowed down. That's just the memory - DDR1. Given that modern games sometimes lack even DDR3 bandwidth, there is nothing to be surprised about.
conclusions
So, we examined the main causes of "iron" computer braking. There are three of them: processor, video card and RAM. Some believe that performance can greatly increase from replacing a standard HDD with an SSD, but this is not the case.
Yes, after installing a solid-state drive, starting programs and the system itself can greatly accelerate, but no more. The OS will not work faster, since everything will again rest against the "ceiling" of the same processor.
So if you have an old computer, then you have exactly two options: either get around the old XP with a set of the most lightweight programs, or buy a new system unit. If the machine is newer, you can change its most critical components. All this is best done in advance, without waiting for questions about why the game slows down on the computer.
Cleanliness is the key to health!
Continuing the āironā theme, one cannot bypass the dust problem. And this is really a big trouble! Beginners (and not only by the term of use) users often have no idea what is happening inside their system unit. If you donāt clean your computer in an ordinary city apartment for at least a couple of years, then so much garbage, hair and dust accumulate inside that all this mass can even lead to a complete stop of the cooler on the processor.
So what if the computer slows down because of this? There is only one option: use a vacuum cleaner. Remove the walls of the system side, gently brush off centuries-old dust deposits with a brush or brush, and then remove it with a vacuum cleaner. Important! Do not set its power to maximum; during operation, do not move the bell too close.
Option for advanced
But if you understand the matter a little better, you need to perform a thorough cleaning. To do this, the motherboard itself, the RAM board and the video card are removed. Remove the cooler, remove the central processor. Be sure to replace the thermal grease.
Pay special attention to the inside of the power supply: sometimes so much dust is accumulated in it that the slightest spark could very well cause a fire!
But what if the computer slows down even after such a radical cleaning? Have to check the software component.
Operating system and other software
Now every schoolchild knows that problems with computer performance are often associated precisely with problems of a software nature. What is the reason for this?
Firstly, the operating system itself accumulates errors over time, junk files multiply on the hard drive, and the registry grows to completely indecent sizes, increasing due to old and unnecessary entries from remote programs.
Secondly, viruses and other malware apply their āhandsā to this process, which can not only delete any necessary files, but also play replicas of their own kind. As you understand, this does not end with anything good in terms of performance.
Thirdly, the computer slows down very much when users install hundreds of huge programs on it that they do not need at all. For example, why the average user "Photoshop", which he does not know how to use? But all this digital āgarbageā not only takes up space on the hard drive, but also slows down the system.
A separate point of our "brake program" are various kinds of pests: Mail.ru Guard, Yandex elements, Webalta and others. Officially, they do not belong to the category of viruses or trojans, but they do no less harm. Often you have to see how the video slows down on a computer that even loads for ten to fifteen minutes! And all this is due to the fact that almost a hundred of ānecessaryā programs hang in startup.
And now we will deal with all these negative factors in order.
operating system
If you found the time of Windows 98, then remember very well the fact that these systems were extremely unstable, they used to fall out on a blue screen at the slightest āshockā. If you compare them with the same "Windows 7/8", the differences will be clearly visible.
But even so, do not forget about basic measures that will help keep your computer in order. Let's start with defragmentation. Parsing the reasons why the computer slows down , many completely forget about it, but in vain.
Since the vast majority of computers have traditional HDDs, itās good for you to know how data is written to them. Contrary to popular belief, this is not as orderly as in the case of CDs. One file can be divided into thousands of parts that are āspread outā on the hard drive. Because of this, it often slows down the video on the computer, since the PC has to access a huge number of files to decode it, which does not contribute to high performance.
The defragmentation process contributes to their assembly into a single whole, due to which the load on the hard disk is reduced, and its service life is increased. To execute it, you can use both the standard Windows utility and third-party programs.
Registry
As for the registry, Windows has no regular means of cleaning it. To do this, you have to apply third-party solutions. The most popular is CCleaner. It is completely free and quite effective.
What to do if the computer slows down due to clogged registry? Open the main program window, find the āRegistryā item, click on the āSearch for problemsā button. When the utility finds them (this will take some time), click on the āFixā button.
In fairness, it should be noted that cleaning the registry gives the most pronounced effect only on XP and earlier systems. Windows Vista, 7/8 / 8.1 is much less prone to this āailmentā.
Hard Disk Cleanup
We have already said that many programs leave a huge amount of junk files on it. To eliminate them, the standard Windows utility is a good fit. You can start it by going to the address: "Programs - Accessories - Utilities - Disk Cleanup."
A more effective option is the same CCleaner, with which sometimes you can clear a bunch of disk space. To perform cleaning, you need to select the item with the same name in the main window of the program. Click on the āanalysisā button, after which the utility will scan the hard drive and report how much free space can be freed. After this message has been displayed, you can click on the "Clear" button.
Some features of Windows 8
Some observers, in anticipation of the release of this OS, slandered about the "miracle button." Say, Microsoft itself hints to users about the reliability of its own product. Time has shown that the new system is hardly more reliable than the Seven, but we will talk about the existence of a software method for resetting the system.
So, for this you need to click on the key combination "Windows + I". A side panel will open , at the bottom of which there is an item āChange computer settingsā. Click on it. A dialog box pops up in the Metro-style, in which you need to click on the option "Update and recovery".
Another window will open. Here you need to activate the "Recovery" function. Again, a list of options opens, in which we are interested in the item "Restore your computer without deleting files."
If you do not understand what we just talked about, we explain: in this way you can "roll back" the operating system to the factory state, and all your photos, films and music will remain in perfect order. This is actually an ideal solution to problems when the computer is severely slow, and all the methods have already been used. Unfortunately, applications after this will have to be reinstalled.
About the "software set"
By the way, about the programs. We have already mentioned that an inadequate number of them can be the cause of the slowdown of the operating system. The irony here is that the computers of those people who really work for them have exactly the same set of applications that they really need.
In the case of beginners, the situation is diametrically opposite: they put all the programs that they can only find on trackers. Why does a person who does not even have a clue about the basic principles of 3D modeling need 3D Studio MAX, which costs many times the price of their computer?
Why put Photoshop on your machine if you donāt even know about image layers? Not to mention that the use of stolen versions of such programs is somewhat contrary to the law. In addition, they lay dead weight on the hard drive. As a result, the computer slows down when you turn it on, and you have absolutely no benefit from all installed utilities.
And this is without taking into account the fact that the ābrokenā versions are often so messy with the registry that it becomes simply unrealistic to clean out all of their traces!
Viruses and other "malware"
And only now we have come to the leader of the list of āTOP-100 reasons that can slow down your computer,ā judging by the recommendations of all kinds of ācomputer helpā organizations. After reading the article first, you probably could see that malware is far from always the root of all misfortunes.
Be that as it may, but when the computer slows down, Windows 7 was reanimated by all available means, but there is no visible result, it makes sense to look for "malware". How to do it? Install an antivirus, of course!
Yes, many users in our country still firmly believe that viruses are such a āhorror storyā invented by antivirus software manufacturers. This confidence is held until the first case of the loss of all documents and the entire OS in addition. Even if you do not take into account such tragic consequences, the constant brakes of a computer of health will not add to your nerve cells.
Especially clearly indicates the presence of malware that computer slows down when connected to the Internet. This is due to the fact that your machine can be included in some botnet that sends spam all over the world. It sounds somewhat fantastic, but there is nothing incredible about it.
If the computer is already infected, then it makes no sense to rely on the already existing (if any) antivirus. Viruses first turn off its name, often displaying a fake icon in the tray, when you click on it, the āantivirusā window simply opens. Naturally, this is just a fake, from which there is no sense.
For cleaning, we recommend using āone-timeā utilities, which include the Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool, Dr.Web CureIt, or AVZ programs. All of them do not need to be installed, they can work from removable media or from under the BIOS.
"Legalized pests"
Very often, on computers of inexperienced users, one can observe how an unfortunate machine loads dozens of ābootloaders, defenders, elementsā and other junk at startup, the only function of which is to collect information about the user for later use in generating advertising mailings.
Antiviruses (with rare exceptions) do not respond to them, so you have to deal with their removal yourself. We will not describe the removal of each of the moderators in more detail, as this will take too much time. Weāll better consider how you can deal with all such troubles using the wonderful Revo-Uninstaller program.
How to use it? Very simple! Having launched the utility, pay attention to its main window: a list of all programs that are only installed on your computer will be presented there. You find the utility that you would like to lime in the list, select it with the left mouse button, and then click on the "delete" button located at the top of the dialog box. First, a standard uninstall program will be launched. After its completion, it is necessary to activate the āadvanced scanningā option.
The program will check the hard drive and registry for the presence of the remains of the application, and then give you a list of them. Mark all the items, and then click on the "Delete" button.
We hope that after reading the article you learned about which programs slow down the computer. If you do not forget about regular defragmentation and cleaning the hard drive, do not install applications from unverified sources and update your antivirus in time, they will never annoy you.
In addition, you need to regularly clean your computer from dust, change the thermal grease on the central processor in time. This will not only ensure the durability of the hardware, but also contribute to the fast operation of the operating system.