One of the most common things that we deal with here is helping customers speed up their slow computers. Nothing is more frustrating than needing to use your computer, just to be stuck waiting for ages for the simplest task. Here are a few of the many reasons why a computer can start to run slower than it used to.

The Computer Has A Virus

This is the most obvious and common reason for a computer to run slowly. A virus is essentially a program that runs in the background that takes up your system resources. It can also cause your computer to act strangely and give you annoying popups and advertisements. We are virus removal experts so if you think you have a virus, you have come to the right place!

There Are Too Many Programs Installed

It is fine to have a lot of programs installed on a computer, however if they are all running in the background your computer can quickly grind to a halt. Take a look to see how many icons you have down near the clock in the lower right hand corner of your screen (known as the system tray). If you have a lot of programs there, it is possible you might need to give your computer a bit of a clean-up.

The Computer Is Getting Too Hot

Many computers come with a built in mechanism that will slow down the speed of your computer if it starts to overheat. If you have noticed that your computer has a lot of dust coming out of the fans, this very well may be the cause. We are able to clean up your computer to remove anything that may be clogging up your cooling systems.

The Hard Drive May Be Failing

If a hard drive is on the way out, it can take a long time to access the data that it is trying to read. This is often what occurs just before a computer’s hard drive completely dies. It is important to quickly diagnose this sort of issue so you can back up any data on the drive before it is too late.

The Computer Has No Free Space

A computer needs a certain amount of free hard drive space for day to day operations. A good target to aim for is at least 10% free at any point in time (e.g if you have a 1GB hard drive, you would ideally want around 100GB free at any point in time). Your computer can operate with less space, however it may start to slow down if you are doing a lot of web browsing and other activities that write files to the hard drive.

If your computer no longer runs how it used to, it is important to get an accurate diagnosis of what is causing the problem. Many people are tempted just to add in additional memory hoping that will resolve the issue, however it is usually just a patch for an underlying issue. To get your computer looked at by a trained professional, give Canberra Computer Doctors a call on 6223 2333.