Speeding up your slow Windows computer

Why is my computer so slow

Hardware problems, RAM and the Event log

In our experience Windows XP needs at least 512MB just to get off the ground, to run MS Office 2003 or newer you will need at least another 512MB

For Vista and Windows 7, you need at least 1GB to start up, more for additional apps such as Office

For Graphics intensive apps such as Gimp (Photshop etc), you need to have a good amount of graphics RAM

Check the Windows Event Log - look out for errors reported therein. If you see errors about "bad blocks" from "harddisk" - then it is likely your hard disk is starting to go and this will slow things down while the computer repeatedly tries to read from unreadble sectors on the hard drive. Backup your data as soon as you can and arrange to have it replaced. For this you need some expertise - or be willing to spend some serious hours of googling. Look at about 1-4 days for the average user computer-user. If you have neither, see "I cant handle this!" below.

Temporary Files Buildup

For some reason, Windows insists on storing all the cookies and temp files it ever uses, for an indefinite period. Get rid of them! The problem is finding them because Windows also thinks that you do not want to see them, so the easiest way to do this is to install and run CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com/)

Virus or Malware infection

Note that most malware is not classed as virus, so you will need to use an Anti-Malware product as well as the AV

Check that your Antivirus software is up to date and is not too resource hungry. Software such as Macaffee and Symantec tend to be very resource hungry, so if you have less than 2GB RAM then remove them and install a leaner one such as AVG or AVAST.

Make sure the "Safe Browsing" options are unchecked - since these submit all your search results to the AV provider for checking before giving them back to you. Apart from the privacy issues, if their server is having a low day you too will be impacted.

Install an anti-malware software (we recommend MBAM from malwarebytes.org), update the signatures file and scan your drive, remove all it finds.

This has not helped..

Windows maintains all its information about hardware and programs in the "registry". After some years of Installing/Uninstalling the registry can become too large and even corrupted. There are some specialist tools to tweak and clean the registry but in our experience they seldom work very well.

At the end of the day the best way to improve performance is to wipe Windows and re-install. This means you will have to back up all your documents, emails etc, wipe your drive and re-install Windows. Be sure to have the original disks and serial number for all the software you have installed because otherwise you will lose all of this.

I can't handle this!

Yes, we can do it for you! It costs about 100 pounds - this is what we will do:

Back up your data (as much as possible)

Upgrade your RAM (if required)

Re-install Windows (you will need the serial number - usually printed on the case somewhere)

Find and install all the motherboard software drivers

Re-install your programs (you will need to have the serial numbers, and in some cases the disks)

Restore your data to the new installation

Provide you with a free complimentary support call with our techies if you need help getting back online

For some parts of London - we can also arrange to collect and return your machine.