Since the turn of the 20th century technology has continued to progress at exponential rates.  In the first quarter of the 21st Century, our expectations have been hoisted high. The invention of the computer brought amazing processing power and the progression of telephone lines to wireless communication has utilized that power to give us amazing comforts not even dreamed of in past generations. Rather than waiting for weeks or months for communication to get from one side of the world to another, we wait a mere seconds. From managing daily tasks and communication for business to carrying out your miscellaneous personal activities like shopping and entertainment, we are garnering a wide range of comforts due to technology.

However, what happens when such comforts slow to a crawl or complete stop? We’re not going to be waiting for days or months like our ancestors, but a little slow down in this day in age can be costly or just plain annoying! Slow computers may cost business precious time & money and for our personal use, our patience will be tested. Today, we don’t need to climb a mountain to pass a message to someone, but dealing with a computer that is unresponsive or excruciatingly slow, becomes a mountain to tread over. The symptoms discussed below are the little things that grow into this mountain. If you do let them grow into mountains, you can always look us up for mobile computer repair in Edmonton. We’ll shrink the mountain for you.

Apps & Processes

Firstly, your computer is the storehouse of many app and processes running constantly to perform any given job. But such applications and processes require enough space and can continue to consume more and more resources.  This is a very likely cause for your slow running computer. To see what you’re dealing with, type “msconfig” in the start menu.  This will give you visibility into the apps and processes that are running.  You can decide if they should be running or not, or you can call our professionals to help you clean it up.

Resource Consuming Programs

Secondly, resource consuming programs also need to be closed.  This will let your processor focus on the programs that you really want. All that is needed here is to press control+alt+delete to bring up the task manager.  Then simply select processes to sort CPU and Memory to see what is clogging your resources. Here, you will see which programs are hogging all your resources. Close the ones you don’t need or that are taking up more than their fair share.

Fragmented Data

Moreover, the data on your system becomes fragmented over time. This means that as data is stored, moved, deleted, and re-written on the hardrive, data is physically spread throughout the disk.  I picture this similar to a house with many rooms.  If you keep putting your things in various rooms, it is difficult for you to find what you’re looking for.  But if you place everything in the correct room, you will know just where to look next time you need it. When your system is fragmented, it takes a long time to find the data you need. Regular de-fragmentation of your data will put everything back in its place so it’s easier to find your data, thereby improving performance.

Temporary Internet Files

Another issue is temporary internet files. Every time you visit a web page, temporary files are being stored in your computer.  These can stay there for hours, days, weeks, months, even years.  They take up space on your hard drive and may send data out to the websites that put them there. Having more data to sift through is another thing that slows things down and when they are sending information, your computer slows even further. Cleaning these temporary files on a regular basis will unclog your process and make your system perform faster.

RAM Upgrade

Sometimes your components are just getting old. RAM(Random Access Memory) is an essential factor in the speed of your computer. For a new computer, 4G RAM is a minimum and for older systems, 1G RAM would be an appropriate amount.  Performance computers (like gaming systems or design systems) will utilize 16G-32G RAM or higher.  To have a clear-cut idea of what you have, visit system properties to see how much RAM is reported there.  It may be time to add more.

Disk Drive Capacity

Lastly, proper utilization of disk drive space should be given priority. When the space in your disk drive of the computer runs low, it starts to affect the usability of other programs. Clean your data regularly or begin upgrading to higher capacity drives. You should try to keep your data utilization to under 80% at worst. For optimal performance, utilize less than 50% of your hard drive.

To sum up, we all know how slow running computers and long wait times are extremely annoying. And as this situation persists, it impacts how well your computer functions. Review the troubleshooting tips above.  This will turn your mountains into mole hills. However, if the mountain does end up growing too tall, you can search for cheap computer repair in Edmonton or you can just give us a call. We’ll help you climb that mountain.