It is possible for a computer to slow down over time simply because it gets older but the amount aging slows a computer is generally speaking, negligible. Still, computers becoming slow make up a large part of my computer repair workload.

There are ways to keep a computer from losing speed and get its speed back if it has become slow. This article will talk about getting and keeping your PC’s speed up to its potential.

What Makes Up Our Computer’s Resources?

When we talk about a computer’s resources, we are talking about the types and the ratings of the parts that comprise the computer. Those things that most influence the speed of the computer would be the motherboard, the CPU and the RAM. Still, even though we may install more RAM in our computer to give it a speed boast, most times this is done to accommodate new software or hardware we installed on the computer. However, if a computer has suddenly become inordinately slow, increasing the amount of RAM will not cure the problem.

What Steals a Computer’s Resources?

When a computer is suffering from poor performance and slow speed, you can bet there is something that has entered into our computer and is working inside without our approval and is taking our computer’s speed away.

Spyware, adware, Trojans, keyloggers and other types of viruses which we refer to as malware, or malicious software most often is involved in the operation that hijacks a computer’s power and performance.

It is very important we keep all of our computers free of viruses and spyware because if we don’t, we risk our computer’s health and our financial health, should one of the spyware invaders steal our identities. Knowing whether it is spyware or viruses that have infected our computers is not important. We can install a software program on our computer that cleans all spyware and viruses and we will be all set even if we don’t know exactly what was sapping our computer’s strength.

About the Computer Registry

Also, don’t forget the importance of keeping your PC’s registry clean! The computer’s registry starts to build up corruption from the first day it is run. Normal use will cause meaningless and unhelpful entries to become logged in an operating system’s registry. These types of entries are what are known as registry corruption and they need to be removed on a regular basis with a good registry cleaner. If they are not, they will cause your computer to lose some or all of its speed.

It is also important to take note computer programs can be running in the background without your knowledge. This can happen because when software is installed one of the default options will usually be to allow the program to start automatically when you boot up the computer. Of course, running programs you are not using is a waste of resources. You can find the icon for these types of programs in the lower right hand corner of your screen. Right click any you find and choose the option to close the program. If you ever change your mind and want to run the program, you can do so the same as you would start any other program.

Still, it is most important to make sure you are free from spyware, viruses and registry corruption. If you do, your computer will likely continue to race down the information highway like it did the first day you used it.