The most common causes of slowing down are:
                (i) a cluttered hard drive
                (ii) spies:

To solve these problems:-
(1) Delete unwanted documents and spreadsheets
(2) Delete old emails (look in each mail box, i.e, the Inbox, Deleted items, and Sent items.
When deleting emails use Shift and Delete, otherwise you are simply moving emails into the Deleted items folder.
(3) Delete any unwanted or poor quality clip art (most of the clip art supplied in MS Office or Works is unusable anyway).
(4) Especially delete unwanted photographs, video and music files as these take up vast amounts of space.
(5) Next, run Disk clean up.
To access Disk clean up: Click Start-->Programs--> Accessories--> System Tools--> Disk clean up. Then Delete all the Temporary files and the temporary internet files.
(6) Scan for spies with your anti spy programs. Spyware is a major cause of computers slowing down. Anti-spy programs are absolutely essential for killing scam diallers, data miners and many other pests. Some spies can hijack your Internet Explorer and cause it to run so slowly that it becomes useless.
Install the free anti-spy programs  SpyBot S&D, and Ad-Aware. These were the best programs in 2004 but they have not kept up to well with the flood of spies.
If you would like a more powerful anti-spy program, down load PC Tools Spyware Doctor from www.pctools.com, this costs £15 per annum($30). Beware of programs with similar names (such as SpyDoctor) they can be dangerous.

Scan your computer once a week without fail with each of your anti-spy programs. Go online and update each program once a month to ensure you can kill the very latest pests.

Warning: Immediately delete any emails offering free programs which say they will either remove spies and viruses, or speed up searches, or speed up the internet, these are spies; they will do the exact opposite of what they claim. Follow this golden rule, if you receive an email from an unknown sender, or an email about a virus, delete it (Shift+Delete). Make absolutely sure you have disabled the Preview pane in Outlook Express otherwise you are wide open to the latest type of virus. Click Here for instructions on removing the Preview pane.

Some programs create huge files which can clog your hard disk.
The Zone Alarm firewall stores log files and they grow like topsy. You will find them in the Internet logs folder. To delete them you will need to turn Zone Alarm off first.
Windows creates a huge file called hyberfil.sys  Disable Hibernation to prevent this file from growing.

Service Pack 2 for Windows XP:
In August 2004, Service Pack 2 was released with a great deal of publicity. Strangely some people missed it or ignored it. To protect your computer this pack was essential. If you see a blue caterpillar at start up you have SP2 installed. .If you have a green caterpillar you can be sure of a load of trouble from viruses, worms and trojans which will slow down your computer.

If a computer is slow and you do not have spies, the computer is either outdated, or the hard disk is clogged with rubbish, or the hard disk needs defragmenting, or you need more RAM. In most cases it is a combination of all those things. RAM memory is cheap to buy and easy to fit and the benefit is usually very noticeable.

How much room is left on your hard disk?
To find out, double click My Computer.
Right click the hard drive (Local drive) icon, then click Properties. This will show you the space remaining on your hard disk. If you have used up 90% or more, it is time you had a clear out. Even if the drive is only 20% full, you will speed up your computer by clearing out the rubbish. The Windows XP virtual memory file alone needs 1.5 Gbyte of free hard disk space.

Slow start up: Your computer at start up may be loading a whole bunch of unnecessary programs.
Find out what is being loaded:
Click Start-->Run--> and in the little field which appears type msconfig and click OK. On the next window click the tab labelled Startup. You will see a list of start up programs with ticked boxes.
Write down the names of all the start up programs except for the obvious ones which contain you recognisable letters like avgcc, mc, hp. e_s because they  refer to a program you have on the computer. Look up the others on the internet by typing their names into a search engine. When you see the search results, beware of adverts claiming to remove the start up programs, they cost money and are usually dodgy. If the search results indicate that the program need run at start up, go back to the msconfig start-up tab and un-tick their boxes. Then close the window and restart the computer. When the computer has re-started, a grey panel will pop up, tick the box in the bottom left hand corner so that it will not show that panel again.

Is AVG anti virus automatically scanning when you switch on? This daily activity is unnecessary and slows down the start-up process. I only scan my computer for viruses (manually) once a month. To stop automatic scanning, double click the AVG icon on the Desktop. Then click the Control Center button. Click Scheduler. (you may have to use the arrow keys to move down to Scheduler). Click the Scheduled Tasks button. Click Test Plan in basic mode. Click the Edit Schedule button. Un-tick the box next to Periodically start scheduled antivirus test. Click OK. Close the Scheduled tasks window and close down AVG.

Slow shut down: the same start up programs may also be causing slow shut down. Spies are a common cause.

Go to top of page

Adrian West  © 2007 computer help, computer problems solved
A West web design