Why is my Computer so Slow?

What makes a computer go really fast? Simple. The processor. Computer processors are called CPUs, which stands for Central Processing Unit. The CPU is the "chip" that must essentially perform logical and mathematical calculations in order for the computer to do its work. The second most important part is RAM.

The CPU controls just about everything in a computer, with the possible exception of some very specialized graphics functions used by game engines. It is up to the CPU to refresh the computer's display, make sure all of the data in memory stays organized, and to respond to user input either through the keyboard or mouse.

The newest computers have processors which can perform billions of mathematical calculations each second. Built in to each CPU "chip" are circuits which have very specific logical or mathematical functions. There are a lot of these circuits on the average CPU, and this allows each chip to do a very large amount of work in a very short time. Even CPUs in less expensive systems are capable of amazingly fast data processing.

There are two problems with this system, however. One is that despite the immense speed of the CPU, the rest of the computer is often far slower at moving data from one place to the next. It is very much like having a really fast race car with a one pint gas tank. Sure, it can go five zillion miles an hour, but only for about 50 yards before it runs out of gas. Well, the rest of the computer is the gas truck that has to catch up to the CPU race car to give it more gas, or data, so it can run.

The second problem is that software in computers now requires the CPU to do a lot of work that really has nothing at all to do with processing any actual user data. In a given second, hundreds of millions of CPU cycles are spent redrawing the display, responding to mouse clicks, playing music, drawing menus, animating banner ads on web pages, and so forth. This is a tremendous weight on a CPU, and it makes the computer slower than it would normally be. Given only data to process, say a list of a billion calculus problems, even an inexpensive slower CPU could complete them all in seconds.

It is possible for users to speed their systems up, however, and it is often not all that complicated. One, it is absolutely vital that a system have adequate RAM. On a cost-to-benefit basis, there is no less expensive way to speed up any computer. For current desktop systems, 512MB is probably the minimum for simple things like word processing and e-mail. For anything more complicated, like digital photography, for example, or games, 1GB of RAM is a good starting point. The basic concept is it is never possible to have too much RAM. For maximum performance, maximize the RAM in the system.

Another area to consider is making sure the system isn't bogged down with viruses or spyware. Keeping anti-virus and anti-spyware up to date and keeping the system clear of these two things can often have a dramatic effect on system efficiency. This is an especially important thing to look for if a system seems to be slowing down gradually. All Internet-connected systems should be equipped with a firewall too.

Also, be sure there aren't too many things going on at once, especially stuff that gets loaded when a system is booted. If a system has a browser open with ten tabs of blinking banner ads, a game, a music player, Photoshop, a word processor and an e-mail client open it's probably going to be a little slower than normal. Check the little tray next to the clock for icons. If there is a crowd of icons, each one of them is using CPU and RAM, which is slowing the system down for other programs. To speed things up, close any programs that aren't necessary, or aren't being used at the moment (but leave the anti-virus and anti-spyware running!). This will help improve the performance of the system a great deal.