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As a working PC tech, this is one of the most common issues that I face day in and day out. To one degree or another, everyone, at some time, suddenly realizes that their computer is not running, on the same level, as it used to. Until someone else uses their computer and complains about the slow speed, many people don't even realize that their computers are actually slowing down. With other computers and situations, it's just the opposite. It is a sudden slow-down and poor performance that immediately draws the user's attention. Regardless of your own situation, the following guidelines may help you to diagnose the reasons for the slowdown. My initial thoughts, when a person informs me that their computer is starting to run slow, is that it may be harboring a nasty adware or spyware program. It's not uncommon for a computer that's been infected with malware of this type to exhibit various other symptoms too. Some things that may be seen are sudden pop-up ads, changing of your home page, your browser closing suddenly or possibly even a complete crash of the system. These are all symptoms of a spyware or adware infesting. A good antivirus or antispyware program should be used to scan your system, even if you have not seen any exhibitions of malware. It doesn't matter which program you use, just be sure that your program is highly reputable. Another common source of system slowdowns is a highly fragmented hard disk. Disk fragmentation happens over a period of time and may happen so gradually that you don’t even realize how poorly your computer is performing. The thing about disk fragmentation is that it does not usually cause other symptoms. So, if your computer does not have any other symptom except slow down, it may be another problem altogether. There is a built-in defrag program in all Windows programs but it will not be able to defrag especially large files or some of the system files. Diskeeper is a good program if you want a third party defrag program to keep your PC in top performance. The really nice thing about the third-party utilities is that they do allow the user to acquire advanced features that can actually defragment the entire hard drive. Lastly, another reason many PC’s begin to lose performance over time is that too many software programs are operating in the background. This happens over time because software designers take for granted that you wish to run their function every time you’re at your computer. As a result for your “convenience” they helpfully add their app to the startup cluster. That’s very well except by the time you’ve added 30 or 40 new computer programs to your PC, you’ve got 30 or 40 programs starting up automatically every time you turn on your computer. With all these programs hogging precious resources from your system, there isn’t a great deal left to accomplish the things that you need to do. Here’s the fix for that: Click on Start’ > Run’. In the dialog box type “msconfig” (less the quotes). Push enter. This will launch the Windows Configuration Utility. At the far right is a tab labeled Startup’. Click this tab. Each program that is automatically started will be listed here and it will have a checkmark to its side. Most people are surprised by the number of auto-starting programs that are listed. Every one of these applications can safely be disabled. All one must do is uncheck the box next to the app. Do not fret! By doing this, you are not disabling or removing the program. You are merely preventing the program from opening at the start up, when you turn on your computer. The whole of the programs are still quickly accessible from the start menu or from your desktop shortcuts. A word of warning, though. Some of these programs, such as your antivirus/antispyware applications, you definitely do want to start automatically on start-up. Just leave the check in the box for any of these programs. When you’re finished, click 'Apply’ and 'OK’. You will see a message telling you that your PC needs to be restarted for the corrections to take effect. Once your Computer has been restarted, you should be presented with a dialog informing you that you have utilized the System Configuration Utility. Just plant a check in the box that says “Do not display this message on startup” and click OK. You will not see that dialog another time (until next time you use the msconfig utility).
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slow computer speed, poor computer performance, adware, spyware, fragmented hard disk, startup group,
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