Top 10 tips for troubleshooting PC system slowdowns

Our complaints are minimal when new PCs are rolled out. They start up quick, and programs seem to open in a snap. But over time, systems can slow down or hang up often. While the possibilities for system slowdowns are endless, I have identified 10 common troubleshooting areas you may examine.

1. Processor overheating
Modern processors generate a lot of heat. That’s why all processors require some sort of cooling element, typically a fan of some type. When the processor temperature goes over spec, the system can slow down or run erratically. The processor fan may fail for several reasons:

Often you can tell if there is a fan problem by listening and/or touching the computer. A fan that has loose bearings starts jiggling and vibrates the case, making a characteristic noise.

You don’t always need to replace the fan. If it is covered with dust, you can often spray away the dust with compressed air.

2. Bad RAM
Several situations can lead to a bad RAM relationship with a particular machine:

Today, there are many different speeds of RAM, and the better motherboards may be tolerant of using RAM that does not match the motherboard’s maximum specs. For example, your motherboard may support PC133 RAM but will still work with PC100 RAM. But be aware that you may see performance decreases if you install RAM that is slower than the maximum spec.

Minor flaws in RAM chips can lead to system slowdowns and instability. The least expensive chips often have minor flaws that will cause your system to slow down or Blue Screen intermittently. Although built-in mechanisms may allow the system to keep working, there is a performance hit when it has to deal with flawed RAM chips.

Another RAM-related problem may occur if you add more than 256 MB of RAM to a system that doesn’t support caching of more than 256 MB of system memory. The system’s performance will degrade when it accesses the uncached memory.

3. Failing hard disk
There are many signs of imminent failure before a hard disk finally gives up. Some of these signs include:

When you notice the system slowdown, run scandisk or chkdsk, depending on your operating system. If you notice a bad sector where a good sector existed earlier, that’s a clue that the disk is going bad. Back up the data on the disk and prepare for it to fail soon. Make sure you have a spare disk ready so you can replace it when it fails, or replace the disk as soon as you notice the early signs of failure.

Disk noise and scandisk/chkdsk are your best indicators for identifying a failing drive that’s leading to a system slowdown.

4. BIOS settings
One often-ignored culprit of system slowdown is the machine’s BIOS settings. Most people accept the BIOS settings as they were configured in the factory and leave them as is. However, slowdowns may occur if the BIOS settings do not match the optimal machine configuration. Often you can improve machine performance by researching your motherboard’s optimal BIOS settings—which may not be the same as the factory defaults.

5. Virus

Some Viruses, Worms and Torsion Horses automatically generate data and seriously affect the performance of PC. You should always keep your antivirus software up-to-date and regularly scan your PC for viruses, Worms and Torsion Horses. 

6. Windows services
Many Windows services are enabled by default. Many of these services, however, are not required for your machine to run properly. You should review the services running on your Windows 2000/Windows XP computer and disable those that you don’t need.

7. Runaway processes
Runaway processes take up all of the processors' cycles. The usual suspects are badly written device drivers, and legacy software installed on a newer operating system. You can identify a runaway process by looking at the process list in the Windows Task Manager. Any process that takes almost 100 percent of the processing time is likely a runaway process.

You may need to stop some processes, such as runaway system services, from the Services console. If you can’t stop the service using the console, you may need to reboot the system. Sometimes a hard reboot is required.

8. Disk fragmentation
As files are added, deleted, and changed on a disk, the contents of the file can become spread across sectors located in disparate regions of the disk. This is file fragmentation.

You may use Disk Defragmenter Tool available at System Tools of you PC.
Disk fragmentation can significantly slow down your machine. The disk heads must move back and forth while seeking all the fragments of a file. A common cause of disk fragmentation is a disk that is too full. You should keep 20 percent to 25 percent of your hard disk space free to minimize file fragmentation and to improve the defragmenter’s ability to defrag the disk. Thus, if a disk is too full, move some files off the drive and restart the defragmenter.

9. Background applications
Some time users run applications by playing with CDs or visiting Internet knowingly or unknowingly. These applications start up automatically in the background. Look for such programs in the Startup folder in the Start menu. Review each of the entries in the Startup folder and delete any that are unnecessary.
 
10. File system issues
Some file systems work better than others for large disk partitions. If the machine runs Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP, you should use the NTFS file system for best performance.