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PC owners are plagued with the slow computer problem on a regular basis; it is not a new or unheard of dilemma. Whether you are suffering from slow startup, unresponsive programs, slow shutdown, or a combination of all of the above, we will show you a few things that you can do that may just help you to improve your computer’s speed exponentially.

Why we suffer from slow PCs

Quite honestly, there are generally three common causes of the slow PC syndrome:

• Spyware, viruses or other malware
• You’re running low on hard drive space
• You do not have enough memory (RAM) on your computer for your needs

We will break down each one of these potential problems and let you know how to remedy your situation.

Does your computer have a bug?

As one of the most prevalent causes of a slow computer, identifying and removing malicious programs or other malware is one of the easiest ways for you to speed up your slow PC. Catching a “bug” on your computer is not at all difficult; the average computer user probably has several instances of trojan horses, spyware, adware or viruses running on their computers in the background without them knowing it.

The best way to protect yourself from these resource-robbing programs is to have an anti-virus utility installed on your computer. We recommend AVGs free anti-virus program because, for one, it is free, and because it works to remove existing problems as well as guards your computer in real-time against future problems.

How much hard drive space do you have left?

If your computer is running low on hard drive space, this will affect the speed of your PC immensely. To check the amount of free hard drive space that you have:

• Double click on My Computer
• Right click on Local Disk (generally c:)
• Choose Properties

While the amount of free space you need is relative to the overall size of your computer’s hard drive, if you only have a few hundred megabytes (displayed as MB), you will need to either free up some of your hard drive space or replace your hard drive with a bigger one.

You do not necessarily have to replace your hard drive if you are low on space, you can try to free up some space by removing programs that you do not need, or you can invest in an external hard drive and move larger files off from your computer’s primary hard drive. If you have movies or a large number of music files stored on your computer, these take up a lot of space and can generally be stored on an external drive or a secondary drive without causing any inconvenience.

Is your memory (RAM) sufficient for your computer’s needs?

A cheap fix for the slow PC problem is upgrading your computer’s memory, or RAM. Now, this is not a sure-fire cure in all cases, but certain programs tend to eat-away at your available memory and can cause your computer to slow down quite a bit.

Additionally, if you happen to be running Windows Vista, you really need 1.5GB of memory in order for that particular operating system to operate sufficiently. If you’re a Windows Vista owner and you have 1GB of memory or less on your computer, your computer will run slow – there is no way of getting around that.
Even nowadays, if you are using Windows XP and only use your computer for surfing the net and checking email, 512KB of memory should suffice, though if you plan to watch DVDs, copy CDs or run other resource-intensive applications, you should consider upgrading your memory to 1GB or more.

If you are not sure of how much memory your computer has installed, you can do the following to check:

• Click on Start
• Right click on My Computer
• Choose Properties

A new window will pop up, and somewhere near the bottom, you will see “XXX of RAM” where XXX represents some number. If you are seeing 512KB, 256KB or something even lower, chances are you should consider a RAM upgrade. Just so you know – 1GB is larger than 768KB, so keep that in mind when you are checking this out.

Fixing the “very slow” PC problem

Slow PCs happen for a variety of reasons, but the three areas that we have outlined above are the biggest instigators in these situations. By investing a little bit of time, and potentially a little bit of money, you may be able to speed up your PC considerably, and not have to worry about the slow PC problem with your current computer ever again.