by Dave Moore, CISSP
11/19/2023
“My computer is so slow,” may be the most common computer complaint ever.
Computers slow down as they try to do more and more things at the same time. A computer can literally try to do too many things at once, making it slow down so much that it finally stops working. We call this a “crash.” Most computer users have experienced this sad event.
A computer that looks like it’s not doing anything, and nothing seems to be moving on the screen, is still very active behind the scenes, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers at an astonishing rate and performing numerous chores just to stay on. It might not look like it, but if your computer is turned on, it is very, very busy.
Speeding computers “up” is one of my favorite things to do. I’ve spent years learning how to “tweak” computers for maximum performance, and, as computers are constantly evolving, I am constantly learning new ways to make them as fast as possible.
Over the years, though, the basic principal of computer tweaking has remained the same. If you want a computer to go faster, you have to give it less to do; you have to “lighten its load.” It’s like pulling a trailer behind your car. The less stuff you have in the trailer, the faster the car can go.
Other problems can slow down a computer. Sometimes the computer’s operating system (Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS) can develop problems, and needs to be updated, repaired or reinstalled. Physical problems like defective hard drives and RAM (Random Access Memory) can slow things down, too, but most computers I see suffer from the same problem: too much junk running in the background that just doesn’t need to be there.
Sometimes, it’s not the computer that’s slow, it’s your Internet access that’s slow, or the website you’re trying to visit is slow. There can literally be traffic jams on the Internet.
I witnessed this very vividly during the Olympic Games. I wanted to watch some of the events that weren’t normally broadcast, like fencing. NBC was covering the Olympics that season, so to see the fencing competition, you had to visit the NBC website and connect to their video streaming service.
NBC’s streaming service was really flaky, though. It would stop and start, and every few minutes it would simply crash, showing a little “sorry, we’re having network problems” message on the screen. After a bit of investigation, I learned that thousands of people around the world were enduring the same problem. Thousands, perhaps millions of people were trying to visit the NBC website at the same time, and it couldn’t handle the traffic. I discovered, however, that 2:00 AM was a pretty good time to watch the fencing matches, as fewer people were jockeying for NBC’s limited streaming services. Inconvenient, but it worked.
To check your Internet speed, visit fast.com, and a speed test will automatically start. Anything under 30 or 40 could mean something is wrong with your service, unless you are purposefully paying for a slow plan.
To see what your Windows computer is doing behind the scenes, press three keys on the keyboard at the same time: Ctrl, Alt and Del (Control, Alternate and Delete). Select Task Manager from the menu of choices. Select Processes to see a list of some of the things that are running. Select the Startup section to see a list of things that are set to automatically run when the computer turns on. My Startup list has 26 items in it, but I have disabled all but two of them, one being my antivirus program. Do you see things there you could do without? Turn them off, and you will lighten your computer’s load.
On an Apple Mac, go to System Preferences, Users & Groups (or “General”), and select Login Items. Turn off anything you don’t need running all the time.
Dave Moore, CISSP, has been fixing computers in Oklahoma since 1984. Founder of the non-profit Internet Safety Group Ltd., he also teaches Internet safety community training workshops. He can be reached at 405-919-9901 or www.internetsafetygroup.org