Help me Chip! My Computer is Running Super Slow!! Part 1

I get this call a lot. One of the first things I always ask is have you made any changes to your system ? It is pretty 50/50 on the answer. If your answer is yes (this includes downloads, updates, new software, and new hardware) we will cover the fix in an upcoming post. I will link the post here. If your answer is no, we are going to cover some basic places to start in this post.

Three of the very first things I always check on any computer are: the OS (what is it running: XP, Vista, 7, etc), what type of CPU does it have (how big is its brain), and how much RAM or memory does it have ( how big are its muscles). The reason I check these things is to make sure specifications for operating are up to par. In other words is the computer up to the job?


Here is how you can find out: (You can click on the pictures if you need to make them bigger.)

Left click on the Start button

A box will open that should look similar to this:

We want to right click on the word Computer. This will make a box open up that will look like this:

Left click on the word Properties and we will be rewarded with the information we seek in the form of a window like this:

In this example we can see the Processor/CPU  is running 2.00 GHz.  The RAM is 4.0 GB, and we are running Windows Vista Home Premium.

So what do we do with this info and why is it important? Well to begin with every piece of software (program) has a minimum requirement it needs from your computer to work in the way of CPU (brain) and RAM (muscle). What we are looking for here is to make sure your computer can run its operating system (XP, Vista, etc) with ease. You can find system requirements for operating systems here: insert link. Vista requires 1 GHz CPU, 1 GB of RAM, and a 40 GB hard drive with 15 GB of it free. WHOA CHIP!! I know we haven't gotten to the hard drive yet but we will in two paragraphs. What I want you to take from this part is in the example we have at least twice what we need and that is a very good thing. Our Computer is not struggling to "think" and is not straining to "lift" anything.

Let's say you find your computer is lacking in one of these areas. RAM is cheap by and large. I always recommend to my clients to consider upgrading to at least 2 GB of RAM if their systems are able to handle it. If their computers can handle 4 or 6 even better. A CPU can be a little pricier... a little trickier to install. We will post a video in the upcoming weeks on how to install RAM and CPU. A brain that can think faster and muscles that can lift more are always a good thing!

Now to the hard drive. I want you to go back to step one: Click on Start.  When the box opens up this time, left click on the word Computer. A window will open similar to this:

We are concerned with the Local Disk (C:) drive. All we needed was 40 GB with 15 GB free. I'd say we are plenty fine here. If you think of your computer's hard drive like the memory part of your brain, you might be able to understand why having plenty of space is important here. If you ran out of space to remember things, it might become very hard to get very basic things done. Tying your shoes for example may take 30 minutes instead of a few seconds. Worse you're entire body may shut down if it could not remember how to make you breath or make your heart beat. The same thing happens when a hard drive is full. Basic functions for your computer become very difficult. In the next part we will look at cleaning up hard drives to help speed up your system.

CB