Feeling a Little Slow?

If you are wondering why your computer is slow doing whatever it is you are doing on the net, there are a number of things that can cause sluggishness.

Defragmentation is a normal result of using your computer. Files are written all over your hard disk and your computer becomes defragmented. Running disk defragmenter puts them all close together on the disk.

Run scans on your computer to make sure that you are not infected. Always click on update before you run a scan.  Many times attacks are new ones and if you don’t get the newest definitions, they you are not protected against the new infections. Don’t install anything free from the web before fully checking it out. Free is sometimes costly!

If you think that your connection is slow, you can do an internet speed test.  There are many websites that provide free internet speed tests; toast.net is an example of a free speed test site. Keep in mind that speed test results are not in megabytes; they are in megabits. 1 megabit =1024 bytes.  So a megabit is about .125 megabytes.  If you get a speed test result of 1 mbps, and you multiply .125 by 60 (because there are 60 seconds in a minute), the result is 7.5 megabytes per minute. That’s not too shabby of a network speed.  If you get anywhere around 1mbps consider that  well and look for other things.

Wireless theft can slow you down. Zamzom wireless tool will tell you if anyone is stealing your wireless.  I have my SSID (the name of my network) hidden  (in technical terms, SSID broadcasting disabled) and still I check Zamzom periodically to see if anyone is using my network. You can download Zamzom from cnet.com for free.

Website congestion can fool you into thinking your computer is slow. I recall a time when I was downloading from a site and thought my internet provider was ripping me off. After a speed test I found that it was the website I was downloading from was heavily congested. 

The most common cause of slowness is overstuffing a computer. Every month you add new files and new programs without taking the old ones off.  Luckily, this one is the easiest to rectify. Get rid of the programs and files you don’t use.  Burn files and photos you may need to CD or store them on flash or online storage.

I hope this helps!