5 Common Reasons for Business Computer Slowdowns, and Their Remedies

Experiencing some amount of slow-down is inevitable at some point in the life of your computer. The more data space that’s taken up with things like downloaded programs, installed extensions, and a hard drive filled with files, movies, and photos, the slower computers perform. The good news is, keeping your business computer running up to factory-setting speed (or something near it) is relatively easy, with some basic computer housekeeping habits that you can learn to get into.

Below are the top five reasons computers slow down and how you can fix them:

1. Your hard drive is failing.

Hard drives do eventually fail, so you’ll want to make sure your files are backed-up on a regular basis. Some business computer users claim that solid state drives (SSDs) are more reliable than hard drives because they don’t incorporate moving parts. However, that’s just a myth: the data stored on them can still be corrupted.

The remedy: Check your hard drive regularly, and try a program that diagnoses and fixes hard drive issues, such as HDTune or CG Security.

2. Too many programs in operation at the same time.

These days, we expect computers to be able to do many tasks at once. But, if you task them too much, computers will falter. Essentially, if the demands of all the programs you have open outstrip your computer’s processing and memory capacity, your device will slow down.

The remedy: Make sure you shut down or even remove any programs you’re not using, or no longer use.

3. Your antivirus program is working overtime.

To protect your data, you need to have a proactive antivirus program. However, if your antivirus program is running scans at inopportune times, they can and will suck up all your processing power.

The remedy: Your antivirus settings need to be adjusted so that the scheduled scans run late at night (between midnight and 5 a.m., optimally), or at a time when you’re not using your computer for other tasks.

4. There are too many programs launching at startup.

If you have too many programs set to launch on startup, they will compete for resources as they attempt to be the first up and running when your computer boots up, which will significantly hinder your computer’s running speed.

The remedy: Disable automatic start-up for programs that you don’t use.

5. Your computer has insufficient memory.

If you’ve taken all the actions outlined above and your computer is still running very slow, it may be that you simply don’t have enough memory.

The remedy: Make sure your computer has a minimum of 4GB of RAM. If you perform complex or data-heavy tasks on your computer, you’ll need at least 8GB (16GB preferably).

Remember, you’ll need a computer running 64 bit Windows to take advantage of the extra memory.

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