Troubleshooting

There are many things that can cause this. Here are some of the most common:

• Too many startup programs running. Many programs you install on your computer will run in the background, all the time. This is un-necessary and having many programs running in the background slows everything down. Are there a lot of icons down in the bottom right corner of your screen by the clock? Are there icons there that you no longer need, or that you don’t know what they are for? Try right clicking on them, you may get a menu that gives you some options. Look for an options or settings selection. You will want to turn off any options for loading at startup if they give you that choice. Another place to look for startup programs is in the startup folder of your start menu. Click your start button and go to your “all programs” list. Go to the startup folder and see what’s in there. You can usually delete anything in this folder, unless you want it to be running all the time. Removing a program from startup only prevents it from running all the time in the background, you can still open the program when you want to use it. Some programs can’t be easily be removed from startup or are not always visible (they may not have an icon, they might be running but completely hidden). We can easily remove un-needed programs from startup for you, including the ones that may be hidden. Stop in or give us a call for more information about how we can speed up your system
• Bloated antivirus software. Many of the most popular antivirus programs out there slow down your computer far more than many people realize. This is especially true if it is a security suite that includes extras such as a firewall, pop-up blocker, and other add-ons. There are antivirus programs out there that will not slow your computer to a crawl. We recommend Kaspersky Antivirus to keep your computer protected while still running at full speed. A lean, mean virus and spyware detecting machine, Kaspersky has one of the highest detection rates in the industry and will not bog your computer down with extra junk you don’t need. Removing the bloated antivirus software you are using and switching to Kaspersky will usually make a noticeable difference in how fast your compute runs.
• Not enough RAM. RAM is temporary memory, and everything you do on your computer is affected by it. If you are running Windows XP, you should have AT LEAST 512 MB of RAM. Anything under this, and your computer is simply not going to run at a reasonable speed. Depending on what you are doing with your computer, you may want  1 GB, 2 GB, or more RAM. Memory (another name for RAM) is an inexpensive way to breathe new life into an older computer, or even a newer computer if it was sold without enough RAM from the factory. For well under $100 (often under $50) we can upgrade the RAM in your computer and speed things up. Stop in or call us today so we can help you decide how much RAM you need and get things running at full speed.
• Spyware and/or viruses. Even though you may think you have a good antivirus program, you may have spyware and/or viruses on your computer. Spyware is much more common these days than viruses. It is software that changes quickly and is often hard to detect, so many antivirus programs will not detect it. It can get on your computer by being bundled with software you install, such as “free” programs from the internet, or by sneaking in to your computer through security holes. If you haven’t kept up to date on installing updates and patches (WindowsUpdates) on your computer, spyware can often “hack” into your computer on its own. If you have icons showing up on your desktop and you don’t know how they got there, if your internet home page is getting changed on its own, or if you have toolbars showing up in your browser, those are all signs of spyware. If you have seen any of these signs, or just would like your computer cleaned out and tuned up then you should try our $99 cleanup.