Why is my PC so slow?

Many things can cause a once speedy PC to become slow and inefficient.  Age and the quality of the PC definitely have an effect on speed.  However, there are other more serious issues that could be the cause of your PC’s sluggish movement.

1. Viruses and Malware: 

Viruses and Malware are programs that are used to purposely harm your computer.  Some of these programs simply take up space on your PC while others can corrupt or change your files.  Removing these malicious programs from your PC is vital in order to secure your personal information and speed up your PC.

2. Out-of-date programs or drivers: 

When you first install a program, it is new and runs smoothly.  However, after some time, it becomes old and easily corruptible.  Corrupted files cause your computer to run inefficiently.  It is a good idea to scan your PC every now and then and deal with these types of programs. 

3.  Cookies and Temp files: 

Cookies (not the delicious kind) store information about the websites you visit.  Cookies help the websites to load up faster.  While convenient, cookies and temp files can take up too much space on your computer.  Deleting them every now and then can help speed up your PC. 

 

4. Disk fragmentation:

This happens when your computer stores different pieces of information in different places on your hard drive.  This occurs frequently on older computers that use Windows XP or Vista.  By finding the source of the fragmentation and fixing it, your computer should show increasing speed and performance. 

5. Other Issues: 

If your PC is only slow when you are on the Internet, there may be nothing seriously wrong with your PC.   Sometimes your Internet service or old wireless router is to blame for your PC’s slow speed.  So if you use an older router or have dial-up (or something similar), maybe it is time for an upgrade.  You will be able to see a difference in your PC’s speed after you take the time to upgrade your systems. 

How can I fix these problems?  I’m not exactly familiar with computers… 

If you are not computer savvy, I recommend investing in some computer maintenance software.  Most of the programs on the web are pretty straightforward on what their program actually does.  Some even have easy to follow steps on how to use the programs effectively.  Read the program information and customer reviews before making any serious purchases.  But after you install one of these programs, it will find the errors in your PC and fix them so you don’t have to.

Dealing With Windows XP Driver Errors

If your Windows XP drivers are corrupt or out of date you could experience a wide variety of errors. You could get a black screen when playing games or weird textures in games; you could experience no sound; your printer could start printing gibberish; or your USB devices could stop being recognized. The fix for corrupt or out of date drivers is to update the drivers. In this piece I will take you through the steps needed to update your Windows XP drivers.

How to Manually Update Your Windows XP Drivers

The first thing you need to do is figure out what drivers you need: sound? video? USB? Then you need to go into Device Manager and write down the make and model so you can get the right drivers.

 

To get to Device Manager follow these steps:

1. Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click on Control Panel
4. Now double click Systems
5. Now click on the Hardware tab
6. Now click on the Device Manager button

Now that you are in Device Manager, go to the device you are having issue with and get the make and model info. The next step is to go to the manufacturer's web page and find the drivers matching your device. Download the drivers, making a note of where you saved them, and then if the file isn't an exe file then you can update the driver through Device Manager. If it is an exe file, just double click to begin the update. 

Follow these steps to update the device through Device Manager: 

1. Open the drop down to get to the device you are updating the drivers for
2. Right click on the device and click Properties
3. Select the Driver tab
4. Click Update Driver
5. A window will pop up asking “Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for software?” choose “No, not this time” then click Next
6. Next you'll get a “What do you want Wizard to do?” question. You want to choose “Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)” then click Next
7. Now you should have a “Please choose your search and installation options” window. Choose “Don't search. I will choose the driver to install,” then click Next
8. Click Have Disk
9. Click Browse
10. Navigate to where you saved the drivers and select the file the drivers are in
11. Click OK
12. You should be back at the “Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware” window. Click Next.

Congratulations you have just updated your Windows XP drivers. 

Updating Your Windows XP Drivers Automatically

 

There is software, called driver update software, which will determine if any of your drivers are out of date or corrupt, then go to the manufacturer's web page, download the drivers, and install the drivers for you. All with only a few clicks of the mouse. It only takes a couple minutes to complete the process and it greatly decreases the hassle of updating your Windows XP drivers. Update your Windows XP drivers today.