Slow System ?

By: Chris Curtis

If your system is running slowly, there are a few things you can try before calling for help.

Many people come to a realization that their system is just not running as fast as it used to. There are many, many things that may cause such a slow down, but here's a few things you can try yourself.

Check for Viruses and Spyware

One of the most common reasons for slowdowns is due to some kind of infection by malware. If you don't have current anti-virus and anti-spyware software already, you need to get something straight away. Some great software that is free for non-commecial use is AVG Anti-virus and Anti-Spyware from Grisoft, available here.
In order to encourage you to buy, Grisoft have kept their free versions of anti-spyware and anti-virus as separate products requiring you to download and install them separately. (The paid version has them integrated)

Many virus checkers have an on-demand scanner - that is, when you open a file, the virus scanner makes sure its ok first. This makes it a little slower to open a file than if no virus scanner is present but it's usually worth the small delay.

Make sure you only have one vendor's anti-virus software running though! Sometimes people end up with multiple virus scanners running on their systems. If you had some software bundled with your system and it has expired, make sure you completely uninstall it if you choose to use other software - otherwise its still there. If multiple scanners are checking your file when its opened it WILL take longer and your system will appear slow.

Check Firewall setup

A firewall's job is to control communication to and from your computer, with the aim of keeping the bad guys out. There are many commercial firewalls - several of which are bundled with anti-malware software, so you may not realise you have one. There is also a firewall bundled with Windows XP and Vista.

Firewalls work by checking incoming and outgoing network traffic against a set of rules to determine whether to allow the traffic to continue or block it.

Once again, its possible that you can accidently have 2 firewalls running simultaneously which will definitely slow your system down.

You can check the Windows firewall status by going to the Windows Control Panel and selecting Windows Firewall.

Check your network speed

Slow networks can make your system appear slow! There are also many reasons for a slow network, but here a few:

• Wireless networks can slow you down particulary if more than one person is wireless, as you share the available bandwidth. Its ALWAYS preferable to use a network cable if you can.
• Bandwith shaping is a mechanism used by ISPs who offer fixed monthly plans. When your data usage allocation is used up for the month - they slow your internet speed down to dial-up speed. This will definitely make things appear slow.

Your can get an idea of your internet network speed by going to a site like Speedtest.net . Make sure you choose a server nearby to get a more accurate result.

Check your CPU utilisation

The are many programs running silently in the background of your computer - some are windows related and some are helpers for application software you have loaded. Normally they sit quietly  not doing much. Sometimes though, one of these can go a little haywire and consume all of the available CPU time, making things appear very slow.

If you right-click on the status bar and choose Task Manager from the popup menu, then select the Performance Tab, you can see how busy your system is. If the CPU utilisation is very high for prolonged periods, you need to find out why.

Check memory utilisation

One very common reason for slow systems is that you are asking it to do more than it is configured for. Every application that is running consumes memory and when the system runs out of memory it makes room by moving some data temporarily to the disk. If the program that data belongs to needs it, the system has to make some room (by moving other data to the disk) and then get the required data back. This is very time consuming and makes your system run very slow. A tell-tale sign of this is that your disk light is constantly on when things are running slowly.

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