Help! My PC is slow

I frequently hear the complaint, "My computer is so slow."  It is a big general problem.  You even see TV comercials for products that make your computer faster. Beware, what these programs do is fairly limited and you can do more yourself  - for free!

Many problems with Window computers can be resolved with some simple steps.

First, do you tend to leave your computer on for days or weeks at a time? If you do, temporary files will build up on your hard drive, and your computer’s memory can get cluttered with remnants of everything you have done. By rebooting, or restarting your computer, you can clear out these temporary files and refresh your memory, thus improving your computer’s performance.

Second, some (most) programs do not do well at cleaning up after themselves, especially if they crash or hang.  Even rebooting your computer may not be able to clean up the temporary files left behind.  Microsoft provides a simple utility built into Windows to clean up your hard drive: cleanmgr.exe.  (Open "My Computer" and right click on your C: drive, click on "Properties", next to the pie chart you will find a button labeled, "Disk Cleanup.")   When you launch this program, it will run for a bit and present you some options as to which types of files you want to remove.  Select "Downloaded Program files", "Temporary Internet files", "Recycle Bin" and "Temporary Files"  then click "OK."  If prompted for confirmation, click "Delete Files."

Third, at times some of the files on your hard drive can get corrupted or confused due to programs crashing or hanging.  Another Windows built in utility, Check Disk, will check for, and repair these issues: chksdk.exe.

 (Open "My Computer" and right click on your C: drive, click on "Properties", click on the Tools tab.)  At the top of the Tools tab, is the Error checking option, click the "Check Now" button.  You will now see a small window with the Check Disk options; both options should be checked, then click the "Start" button.  Now since this program needs full control of the disk, it will tell you that it cannot run at this time and Select that option.  Now reboot your computer.  During the startup process the Check Disk will run automatically. It may take quite a while, depending upon the size of your hard disk.

The fourth item for today is to defragment your hard disk, which re-organizes the locations of the files to make access quicker (it's a it more complicated than that, but that is the net result.  (Again, open "My Computer" and right click on your C: drive, click on "Properties", click on the Tools tab.) in the middle of the Tools tab, click on "Defragment Now..."  Now select your C: drive and click "Defragment Disk."  Again, depending upon the size of your drive and how full it is, this can take quite some time.

If after performing the above steps, your computer is still running slow, you will need some additional tools to fix your problem(s).  Check back soon, I will be writing about my favorite tools over the course of the next few weeks.

Bill
MrJantzen.com