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Getting under the bonnet when computers slow down [Mercury, The (South Africa)]
[July 30, 2014]

Getting under the bonnet when computers slow down [Mercury, The (South Africa)]


(Mercury, The (South Africa) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) I'VE been around Windows PCs for more than 20 years. Although they have doubtless improved in that time, too many users still have to contend with unimpressive performance, random lock-ups and the morning coffee break afforded by a lengthy Windows start-up.



For those with the money to splurge on top-of-the-range systems, it is possible to have a near-instantaneous start-up and "extreme" performance, but even these deluxe systems eventually succumb to some sort of age-related deterioration that sees them getting steadily slower. It's time to get under the bonnet.

Many factors can influence a Windows computer's performance. Essentially, any computer has a finite "resource pool" - which I often describe as the amount of "oomph" or "engine power" it can provide. This is mostly determined by its CPU (the "brain"), RAM ("thinking memory") and hard drive ("long-term memory"). On some systems, the graphics processor is important too.


Each of these components plays a part in the end-user's perception of the computer being "slow" or "fast". If a computer has an incredibly fast CPU but skimps on another component such as RAM or the graphics processor, overall performance will suffer.

While high-end and low-end components will work together, performance is limited to whatever the low-end hardware can cope with. A bit like a Ferrari fitted with a Fiat Uno engineā€¦ better fuel economy, but not much else! When buying a PC, it's important to know what components are being used and what the performance requirement will be for certain tasks. Most new PCs will handle almost any typical computing task - it's more a question of how long they will take to complete it.

Accumulated updates and the installation of new programs will increase demand on available resources. When a program installs, it usually writes information to a central database called the "registry" to enable Windows to interact with the program. Each time it does this, the size of the registry increases, as does the time it takes for Windows to load the registry into memory.

Filling up the hard drive with any type of data can affect performance but the impact is most severe only when there is hardly any space left - by which time Windows will be popping up warning messages.

On today's larger hard drives, having 5 to 10 percent free space is plenty to keep Windows happy.

Defragmenting a hard drive is important but not as vital as it used to be. Defragmenting is like getting a friendly PA into your home office for a tidy-up: it organises related data into cohesive sections rather than leaving bits of files scattered all over the disk. It can improve performance, but much of the time the difference is negligible unless the drive was extremely fragmented. You can check your drive and run a "defrag" in Windows 7 by following the guide at www.tinyurl.com/ win7defrag2014. For Windows 8 systems see the "Optimise Drives" tool described at www.tinyurl.com/ win8defrag2014 .

Problematic drivers can cause performance or reliability issues too. Drivers are a type of software used to send commands from your computer to its internal hardware and external devices such as printers and scanners.

As you can see, all sorts of things may be contributing to your sluggish PC. Never fear, as long as it works (eventually). Over the next few weeks I'll help you troubleshoot it effectively using the same tools I'd employ on a site visit.

Even if you can't fix the issues yourself, at least you will know what's required and whether it's worth the expense. You can also|e-mail questions to [email protected].

The Mercury (c) 2014 Independent Newspapers (Pty) Limited. All rights strictly reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).

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