Recently a client of mine asked me:

"Why does every computer I get slow down more and more after every software install and even worse after a Microsoft update, specifically the Service Packs?"

I can't TELL YOU how many times I have heard of some variation of this question over the past 20 years of PC consulting. It seems with every new PC that is released the speed gets faster and fast....until the day that you have to do the latest Service Pack for your Windows based PC.

The Why
There are many reasons your computer slows down, I will simply give you the top 4 reasons why your PC is slower as time goes on.

1. Your using it! Huh? you say. Well the simple fact is the more you use your computer, adding content such as new Word, Excel files, MP3's and Movie files the more space it takes up on the hard drive. "So, I have a 500gig hard drive, I have plenty of room.", you say. Well yes you do, however as you install programs in addition to what you are doing with creating files and down loading music and browsing the Internet, the PC simply stores the information where it can on the hard drive. After a period of time it runs out of space to place the next piece of music (MP3) or Word file in a complete block of hard drive space.

   It then does a fascinating thing, it splits the file in to small chucks of data. "Why does it do that?", it does this to squeeze in all of the file in any open hole. Have you ever seen that game Jenga? Notice how all the blocks are perfect at the beginning and there is no space? That is because all of the blocks are laid out in a contiguous perfect spacing. Now as you remove each piece (delete a file or remove a program) there is a hole. Now you take that Jenga piece and place it on top (write a new file or add a new program), now look at the tower, it has a hole in it and there seems to be some space next to the piece you just placed on top. This is a simple illustration of fragmenting. Your hard drive is essentially lazy and will look for the most contiguous space to place the next piece of data, which could be a new file, a new song, a new movie or a new program. So in essence it places it at the end of the hard drive where there is the most space.

   As time goes on it runs out of this contiguous space and starts breaking up all the new data and fitting it in to the perverbal Jenga holes. I am pretty sure you would have angry Jenga players if you sat there cutting each piece in to 1/3^rds to play with, but that is what the hard drive does.

   Now let me ask you a question. If all the Jenga pieces were color coded so you can see them easier as blocks of information, wouldn't you quickly see all your pieces if you were to play only your color? Kinda of like Tetris...the more of one color that you have in a line the more points you get, right? Well if you hard drive has all the pieces in a single row, contiguously placed it only needs to read the information from that row. Isn't that faster than looking all over the hard drive for each piece of a file you want to access? This is a BIG reason why your computer gets slower, your hard drive is "fragmented".

2. The Registry is fragemented or not correctly updated. Now that you have an idea of what "fragmented" is, the same thing can happen to your registry. "What the hell is a registry?" The simple answer is, it is a place where programs instal pieces of information to allow them to interact with your computer or other programs. If you want a longer explanation see this Wiki Article. Now this registry grows pretty big over time. Not every company that makes their programs do their part to responsibly clean up after their program if you remove it from your computer. As a matter of fact many companies that are not Microsoft Partnered do clean up after themselves. So the registry is basically a file that is kept on your hard drive and it too can be split up on the hard drive, for example the files on your hard drive called NTUSER.DAT and USRCLASS.DAT can become fragmented on the hard drive and can slow the computer way down as these files contain each users settings about how Windows and its applications are configured.
3. Newer Drivers are available. All the parts or guts in your computer need to know how to talk to the Windows Operating system and they do it through files called drivers. As time goes on, some of the hard core geeks on the Internet and Beta Testers report problems that they experience with drivers. The company then issues a new driver, which may include enhancements, new features or fix bugs. Sometimes newer drivers also make your computer seem faster. For example a video driver that controls your NVidia based video card could have an issue and the new driver makes information display faster to the screen, thereby giving your computer the illusion it is faster and sometimes the reality too.
4. Viruses and Spyware or just plain 'Malware'. Malware can really screw up a perfectly running system, you get malware by downloading software from the Internet, as is the case most of the time these days. Malware is probably the FIRST reason your computer is either misbehaving or slow. "Great! Now you tell me, why didn't you list it as number 1?" Well for the simple fact that you need to know the other 3 things when a Malware protector doesn't find anything on your computer and it is running slow. I have a good article on how to deal with Malware HERE.

Okay I get it I am the computers worst problem, but what can I do to prevent it? Short of not using my computer?
First do yourself a favor and do a bit more reading...I know I know, you just want your problem to go away. But the simple fact is if you become educated about why your computer is slowing down you will have the knowledge and tools to deal with it your self. "But I have bad luck with computers, I don't want to make it any worse than it is already." Well the simple fact is most PC stores will charge you anywhere between $90 and $200 to "repair your PC" to get it running "right" again. If you are going to spend that money anyway, why not try to fix it yourself, the worst thing that can happen is you will pay that amount anyway to restore your system. I suggest trying a Malware scanner first and you can read about what Malware is and how to scan and remove it HERE.

After that your computer is running slow it is time to get serious by Defragmenting your hard drive and registry. We recommend these great tools by Uniblue.com.

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