I’ve been troubleshooting my very slow PC today. I could not really bear the slow response of my computer. I just have a very slow computer and I do not really know what’s causing it: fragmented files, installed antivirus, full hard disk may have caused this slowdown.


photo credit: erwinbacik (SXC)

I had to start with the basics first and I’ve mentioned these simple steps in this blog. But it seemed that my own simple advice was not working. Reformatting the whole machine may be the next step that I may do. Adding new hardware may have solved my woes. But I find it better to do the simpler steps that I can still do. Not all of the things that I did are for the faint hearted.

  • Defragment. The built-in Windows defragmenter does a fair job of defragmenting files on the hard disk. But I prefer using Diskeeper 2008 to analyze and defrag my old hard disk. Diskeeper does a great job of showing a map of my hard drive: I could see where my page file, folders, system files and other non-system files in place. I could even choose to have autodefragmentation on and forget about it. I could even do a boot defragmentation to defrag my MFT and page files.
  • Change Antivirus (with Firewall). Bitdefender and Kaspersky are two leading antivirus programs that eats a lot of resources. I prefer the ones with the firewall versions because I like the seamless connection between the antivirus and its firewall. I switched to ESET Smart Security, another leading antivirus program, and I kept it since because it does not slow down my PC.
  • Uninstall Unnecessary applications. A full hard disk results a fragmented paging file. A fragmented paging file results to a slower response when the RAM tries to read data from the hard disk.I decided to remove all the applications that I do not need anymore to free up much space and make it easier for the paging file and other applications that temporarily use the hard disk as scratch, such as Photoshop. The huge free space also makes it possible to perform hard disk defragmentation.
  • Deleting unnecessary and temporary files. The built-in disk cleanup in the accessories section does a good job of removing unnecessary files. But there are other utilities that even clears up all the unnecessary files in place. TuneUp Utilities provides all-in-one computer utilities and can be easily used by basic computer users. This software not only delete unnecessary files but also lets me cleanup the registry and repair errors. It even lets me optimize the use of windows and customize it so that I use my own customized icons for “My Computer” and “Recycle Bin”.
  • Reinstall hard disk IDE driver. I’m still using my old IDE hard disk, but I should be shifting to a SATA one soon. The IDE channel transfer mode was down to PIO mode. It should be in DMA so that I get to have a faster access. The easiest way for me to shift back to DMA mode is to reinstall its driver. The change may have been caused by read errors that may be creeping into my old hard disk. I would be needing a new hard disk soon.

I got my PC faster with the steps that I did above. It seemed that my computer seems to be as fast as a newly reformatted one and I’m happy with it.

What are your own tips?

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