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.