Introduction:

Everyone gets frustrated with their computer at some point in time and the biggest complaint is that the computer is too slow. Most of these people are not alpha geeks; they just want to understand why it takes so long to get something done when computers are meant to speed things up. Why are they waiting in front of their monitor like a dog waiting for a treat? I would like to address these issues here and in the days to follow. This is meant to be a living series of articles. I reserve the right to come back and make changes as needed.

Your Computer Speed vs. Your Internet Speed

One thing many laypeople do not understand, or at least fail to communicate, is whether it is their computer or their internet that is performing slowly. Is your computer trying to launch a program or execute a command, or are you waiting for an online service or page to load? I will attempt to address both of these situations but the difference is major and must be understood. While there is a lot you can do to affect the speed of your personal machine, there is often nothing you can do to speed up online interactions.

Mac vs. PC

In my years I have dealt almost exclusively with PC’s. Many of the things I will explain here will apply to both, but this series is designed mostly for PC users and definitely for the layperson. Alpha geeks already know this stuff.

Your Computer’s Speed

There are basically 6 areas where you can investigate to determine why your computer is performing slowly. I put them here in the order of which I would check things out.

1. Running Processes - resources being used, number of programs running, add-ons, etc.

2. Viruses, Spyware, and Adware

3. Ram Memory – amount and speed of ram memory in your computer

4. ROM Memory – hard drive speed, SSD drive speed, cd-rom drive speed etc.

5. Operating System

6. Core Hardware – processor and motherboard

Your Internet Speed

There are basically 3 areas where you can improve your interaction with the servers and services on the internet. Much of this you cannot change but there are some areas for improvement.

1. Browser – type, version, and add-ons

2. Internet Connection – your connection speed

3. Web Sites – site design, embedded programs and services, etc

In the coming blog posts I will attempt to address all of these. I will also try to keep this as low tech as possible.