Several Solutions to Laptop SlowdownsBySteve HortonSeptember 16,
2013. slow,browser,control panel,laptop,slowdownNo Comments
The Situation: A SlowdownPerhaps you measure your laptops speed
with a stopwatch before drawing a conclusion. More likely, you
notice that photos or websites which used to open instantly and
flawlessly now take too much time.If youre telling yourself, This
didnt take so long before, your laptop may, in fact, be slowing
down.Whats Your Next Move As a User?What to do when this happens?
Throwing away your old PC laptop and buying a new one doesnt have
to be your only choice. And if youre like many users, no matter how
inexpensive computers become, immediate replacement is not on your
list of choices at all.Fortunately, a slow computer is often not a
death sentence for it: there are many reasons for the possible
slowdown. Using easy-to-follow methods and software tools easily
available, these problems are also easy to fix.The Accidental, The
Suspicious, The IncidentalTheres an equal chance that slow response
is the result of something youve done, or it may be the result of
something Windows has done. You should account for the possibility
that something innocuous, something circumstantial, or something
malicious happened to make your laptop slow down.The following
guide might help you distill a few of the most common causes, and
their most common remedies.Among accidental causes:Hardware
slowdown or breakdown: No, you dont have to open up your laptop,
but its important to get possible hardware maladies out of the way
first. This is especially true if your laptop, being a portable
unit, has recently suffered a drop or a knock of nearly any kind.
Give the laptops fan a listen and judge if its buzzing or not
flowing air overheating can slow down a system. Listen for the hard
drive making any clicking noises (many contemporary drives,
especially laptop solid-state drives, are essentially silent).
Ensure that all your memory is running. Right-click on your taskbar
and clickTask Manager. Click thePerformancetab. Look in the lower
left hand corner atPhysical Memory.If the amount of memory 4,007 is
equivalent to 4GB, for example doesnt match what you remember as
your laptops specification, you may have had a replaceable memory
module stop working.
Check the Performance tab in Control Panel to see if your memory
has stopped working.Among suspicious causes:Malware or Spyware:
While the news is filled with them, yours doesnt necessarily have
to be the horror story. However, this is another possibility to get
out of the way first. Look back in your email and see if there are
documents you have downloaded that may have been suspicious. Rely
on your existing antivirus software, or consider upgrading to
another product. Applications from Norton and ESET include firewall
protection in addition to that offered by Windows, and will scan
your files individually.Among the incidental causes:Malfunctioning
updates, including Windows Updates: Think back to the first moment
you noticed your laptop running slowly. Was it after a particular
update, either from third-party software that asked your
permission, or from a series of recent Windows Updates? Uninstall
third-party software and reinstall: alternatively, especially if
the software is a couple of years old, see if there is an updated
version thats designed for Windows 7 or 8. Undo recent
installations of Java, Flash or Adobe: these applications, because
they are almost always running in the background, and are sometimes
interrupted by shutdowns, can cause problems. They will flexibly
reinstall later, often without further incident. Have Windows
diagnose it for you: From your Start Menu or Start Screen, enter
the Control Panel, and clickTroubleshooting. This will lead you to
a window with various options to find and fix issues with
software.
The Windows Control Panel offers a variety of troubleshooting
solutions. Too little memory for the cache: If your computer has
2GB or less of memory and runs Windows XP or above, its going to
heavily rely on a hard drive cache to stretch performance. A cache
means that Windows uses extra hard drive space as memory. Eliminate
unnecessary add-ons: These are applications that run in the
background of your browser, and can significantly impede
performance. Within Internet Explorer, click Tools (gear),
clickInternet Options, and go to theProgramstab. Clear any add-ons
that you dont actively use, or all of them at once your browser
will still work. Clearing your browsing history is sometimes the
simplest fix to a slow laptop. Within Internet Explorers menu bar,
clickTools (gear)andDelete Browsing History.
Delete your browsers Internet history for a speed
boost.Conclusion: Dont Panic, But Take ActionIn the end, there is
something to be said for the latest and greatest. But theres also
nothing inevitable about obsolescence generally, if your computer
is less than five years old, you should be able to run most any
current software.If you make sure that you are methodical and
organized about your fixes if one method doesnt work, moving on to
the next then youre sure to eventually hit upon a solution. Good
luck and happy
hunting!Rehttp://www.reviversoft.com/blog/2013/09/several-solutions-to-laptop-slowdowns/
How to Fix a Slow Laptopby Erin McManaway, Demand Media
You can speed up your slow laptop to improve
productivity.Related Articles How to Fix a Slow Toshiba Laptop How
to Defragment an HP Laptop How to Reset the Acer Aspire One to
Factory Settings How to Fix an Overheating Laptop Battery AVG Free
is Slow to Start Up How to Fix Slow PDF Files
Over time, you laptop begins to accumulate more files and
programs as a result of regular use. Eventually, this can slow down
your laptops response time, making daily processes take longer to
execute and lowering your productivity. You can fix a slow laptop
by conducting normal maintenance on your machine, such as freeing
up hard drive space and running the Windows hard drive utilities.
You can also prevent unneeded programs from launching when your
laptop starts and add more RAM memory to increase
performance.Step1Update and run your laptops virus scanner to
remove viruses and spyware. Malware can use up your laptops CPU
resources and slow down your laptops performance.Step2Click the
Start button, type msconfig and press the Enter key to launch the
System Configuration screen. Navigate to the Start Up tab and
remove the check in the box next to every item you dont need
running on your laptop. When you reboot your laptop, only the
selected programs will start up, freeing up resources on your
machine.Related Reading:AVG Free is Slow to Start UpStep3Click the
Start button, type add or remove programs and press the Enter key
to launch the Add or Remove Programs screen. Click unneeded
programs and then click Uninstall to free up space on your laptops
hard drive.Step4Click the Start button, type disk cleanup and press
the Enter key to launch the Disk Cleanup utility. Place a checkmark
in the box next to items you want to delete, and then click OK to
clean up your laptops hard drive.Step5Click the Start button, type
disk defragmenter and press the Enter key to launch the Windows
defragmenter utility. Select your laptops hard drive and click
Defragment disk to consolidate files, which helps speed up the hard
drive response time.Step6Add more RAM memory to your laptop. This
will provide more overall memory that allows your laptop to run
multiple programs at once with more speed.Tip Back up important
files and folders to prevent data loss, especially if your laptop
is older or experiences crashes and Windows
errors.References(1)About the AuthorErin McManaway holds a B.A. in
professional writing from Francis Marion University, where she
earned the Richard B. Larsen Memorial Award for Business and
Technical Writing. She has worked in materials development, media
and information technology in the nonprofit sector since 2006.
McManaway has also been a writer and editor since 2008.Photo
Credits Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
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Retail POS Review7 Ways to Speed Up Your PCBy Alex JenkinsFOLLOW
USSHAREThere are many items that can slow down your computer
orlaptopsuch as spyware, malware and viruses, which your computer
will pick up. You should also consider the fact that if your
computer is getting old and software is getting outdated, this too
will inhibit your PC from doing what it is supposed to. Even new,
out-of-the-box computers come with a load of programs on them.
Manufacturers think you need them all, and you almost always do
not. Some of these will continually run in the background and, in
turn, slow down your system.While keeping your computer hardware up
to date and your anti-virus software current can help mitigate some
of the problems your computer will encounter, what else can you do
to speed up your system? We break down a few tips to help boost the
performance of your PC.Remove SpywareWe can't stress enough how
important it is to rid yourself of these nasty bugs that can slip
into the cracks of your virtual life. Spyware can cause pop-ups as
well as collect personal information without letting you know or
asking for permission. This puts your computer and your information
at risk. Spyware also can also instruct your home computer to send
harmful emails to your friends and family. These are just a few of
spyware's tricks. Make sure you use a reputable spyware remover to
take care of the problem.Free Up Disk SpaceThe Disk Cleanup tool is
a great way to help free up space on your hard disk and improve
performance. A few things Dick Cleanup can do are: Remove temporary
internet files (which generally take up the most space). Empty the
Recycle Bin. Delete programs you never use. Remove Windows
Temporary files, such as error reports. Backup files you never
access.DefragDisk fragmentation slows the overall efficiency of
your computer. As you install and uninstall programs and save and
delete files over the years, these actions create small empty gaps
among the other data on your hard drive. After a while, new
information is no longer stored in blocks, but in the nooks and
corners of your hard drive. As a result, your computer must work
harder to piece certain parts of the data together by scouring the
hard drive. Disk Defragmenter consolidates these files and folders
so that they occupy one single space on the disk. Run this when:
You add a large number of files Your free space totals 15 percent
or less. You install new, large programs or a new OS.Use
ReadyBoostReadyBoost was introduced with Windows XP, and there are
multiple videos on Microsoft's website that instruct you on how to
use ReadyBoost. This tool basically uses a USB flash drive or
memory card to introduce a level of memory that functions somewhere
between RAM and your hard drive disk for storing non-volatile
memory. ReadyBoost works better on systems that struggle to open
and maintain the speed of certain programs. It will enhance your
computer, but only if you have a hard drive that is at capacity or
a system that is several years old. Otherwise, you are not going to
notice much of a difference.Repair Disk ErrorsIn addition to
Defragmentation and Disk Cleanup, repairing disk errors can
optimize the performance of your hard drive and your system. As you
use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors, making it hard or
impossible to save files and write data to your hard drive. By
running the Error Checking utility, you can scan and repair bad
sectors. To run this utility, follow these steps:1. Close all open
files and programs.2. ClickStart, and then clickComputer.3. In the
Computer window (My Computer), right-click the hard disk you want
to search for bad sectors, and then clickProperties.4. In
thePropertiesdialog box, click the Tools tab.5. Click theCheck
Nowbutton.6. In theCheck Diskdialog box (calledError-checkingin
Windows 7), select theScan for and attempt recovery of bad
sectorscheck box, and then clickStart.7. If you find bad sectors,
choose to fix them.Remove Start-up FluffUsing MSCONFIG allows you
to shut down all programs that automatically start when your
computer boots up. Many of these programs, like anti-virus
applications, legitimately need to run in the background. Others,
such as MSN Messenger, only think they do but they just make start
up time longer. To shut down the programs you don't need to run,
take the following steps:1. Click start and go toRun.2. Type
inMSCONFIGin the box.3. Click theStartuptab.4. You will then be
shown a list of all the startup items that run when the computer
boots up. Select the programs you want to shut down.Always double
check to see if you need a program before stopping it. In most
cases, if you don't recognize it, it doesn't need to be there.Add
RAMMore RAM means a faster feel to opening files and easier
multitasking. For every program you open, your computer uses RAM;
if you have multiple programs open at once and lack sufficient
memory, everything will slow down. Upgrading RAM is fairly
inexpensive these days, and it can drastically help your computer.
There are help videos on the web to show you how install additional
memory, or you can take it into the shop and have them do it there.
Be warned: It's much more expensive that way.Regular maintenance,
like running the Defrag and Disk Cleanup utilities, as well as
running spyware removers, should ideally be done once or twice a
month, depending on how often you use your computer. All these tips
can come together to help your computer be more efficient and give
you an optimized computer experience without severe lag times.At
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