If lack of RAM isn't the reason the PC is slow

In my last post I discussed how to check to see if your computer is running low on memory (RAM), causing it to use the harddrive (Virtual Memory) and slow down. If you have established that your computer has plenty of RAM, but the computer is still slow, then the next step is to find out what is taking up your processing power.

I've come across a few things that can make computers slow down. Here are some examples and a hint to figure out what is going on with your own computer.


Firstly, Anti-Virus and Anti-spam. I run AVG for anti-virus and Windows Defender for anti-spam on my computer. On start up, one or both performs some kind of test that slows everything down. This is only temporary. Sometimes, the anti-virus or anti-spam is set to do a test of the files on your harddrive. This will slow down the computer while it proceeds as the computer is busy reading files from the harddrive and checking them for malicious code. Depending on the settings of the anti-virus or anti-spyware and the power of your computer, this can be more of a problem on some systems than others. Everything returns to normal once the test is complete. If you intend to play a 3D game on your computer, it is sometimes a good idea to make sure no automatic test of this kind is likely to begin. Playing a game on some computers when the anti-virus kicks in can cause a sudden drop in frame rates while the two battle for system resources.

Harddrive defragmentation program and other house keeping software is another possible cause of slow down. I did some work on an Acer once, that was preinstalled to do a defrag of the harddrive on every startup. This made the computer pretty sluggish for the first five minutes. The option was to turn the defrag program off, or simply to leave the computer for the first five minutes after startup to do the housekeeping. As the computer was just for home use, the owner opted to leave it as it was.

If your not sure what is causing your computer to go slow, here is a suggestion for getting a hint. Start the task manager program by clicking the "start" button (on Windows XP) and click on "Run...". Type "taskmgr.exe" in the box that opens and click "okay". In the task manager window that opens click on the "Processes" tab. Click on the letters "CPU" at the top of the third column. This will order the processes (programs) that are running by the amount of processing time they are taking up (as a percentage). Clicking on "CPU" again will order them in the opposite direction.




















If you're not doing much, "System Idle Process" should happily be taking up most of the CPUs time. If something else is at the top of the list, it might be worth having a google to see what that process belongs to. Unfortunately, a certain amount of experience can be needed to diagnose a problem from this result, but at least it gives you a place to start.

Common cause of a slow PC

One of the most common problems I encounter with computers that are a couple of years old, running windows XP, is that they start to get really slow in everyday tasks like booting up, starting up programs or opening new windows. The reason is simply that the amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) that was installed in the system when it was new is not enough anymore as programs like Anti-Virus and constant updates take up more and more space. As the computer starts to run out of memory, it starts to use the harddrive for extra space, but harddrives are alot slower than RAM and moving data on and off the harddrive as it is needed takes a lot of time, hence the system gets slower.

Here is a method to check if you have less memory installed than you need.

Start up your computer and give it a few minutes after getting to the desktop to settle down.

Click on the Windows Start button (on the task bar) and click on the control panel (arrowed).




















In the control panel, double click on the "system" icon (a picture of a computer).

The window that opens should default to the General Tab, where it is possible to read the amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) in your system (arrowed in the image below).




















Next, go back to the Start button and click on "Run" (a few items below the control panel icon). In the box that opens type "taskmgr.exe" (without the quite marks) and click on "okay" to open a "Task Manager" Window.

In the window that opens, click on the "performance" tab. The box titled "PF usage" shows the amount of memory your system is using (arrowed in the image below). If your PF usage is greater than the amount of memory in the system you don't have enough RAM and you need to install some more. If it's quite close, try leaving the taskmanager window open while you start a few programs and see if the PF Usages remains below the amount of RAM in the system.