Having Trouble With Your Computer Speed

Writen by Romi Dicosta

When we purchase a computer it works at a fantastic speed but after a couple of months, we feel something is wrong with our computer. It has started working slow each time. It is acting just like the old one. Everything that we do is real slow and the things get stuck or our computer hangs and stops working. Then again we have to restart our computer and again the old story.

Whenever a computer is operating too slowly, just look out how many programs do you have running in start-up on your taskbar. Most of the time people are unaware that they have multiple programs running on their computer at any given time.

There are some programs that are working on the task bar when called upon and some are actually working behind the scenes, unknown to us. Especially anti-viral software programs which are constantly traversing through the system to find any malicious activity.

Whenever these programs are activated, each one is using some portion of your random access memory in your computer. If you have 96 Megs of RAM for example, then this is the amount of memory that operates these existing open programs and their uses.

If you want to know how much RAM is there in your computer, click on Start and then locate 'My Computer'. Left click on your mouse and you will see a small list on your screen. Now, move to the "properties" and click on properties. It will provide you with all the information through small window. It will give you the description of what is in your computer. The RAM or Random Access Memory is usually the last thing on the front page that you will be viewing. At any given time each running program is using up this memory.

When an individual program is running behind the scenes of your system it uses a small percentage of the extra memory that is used to operate that program. A small software program such as ICQ could use as much as 3% of the total RAM available. An anti-viral operation also uses some portion of RAM. The usage depends upon the company of which the software is being used by you.

If there are multiple programs running in your computer at the same time, then it will occupy small segments of your memory and these multiple programs would require so much memory that it will cause your entire system to bog down and literally crash. Now, computers with more RAM are generally preferred. But earlier your computer would be considered smokin' if you had 96MG of RAM!

Today when computers having all the accessories like SPAM control, Virus watch, Hacker alerts etc. It's normal for a single computer to consume 256 Megs of RAM and the operator would not realize the delays, because they felt since they bought a incredibly fast processor and even some use High Speed Internet, they feel that they got robbed at the store where they purchased their model.

Last year one of my friends bought a super fast speed computer and he almost threw the darn thing out the window because it moved at a snails pace. He even called Computer experts to fix the problem and paid over $300.00. c

Don't let anyone fool you. You just have to check your RAM speed and locate all the programs on your task bar that function openly and behind the scenes. If there are 5 -10 or more running programs active at any given time and the computer is bogging down. Then chances are that there is a RAM problem.

You can fix the RAM problem very easily. If you do not know what your particular computer can handle, simply locate your brand name on the Internet and research Extended Memory for that model. And look out that whether that model can support added memory or not. If it does not it is most likely due to an older model that has been maxed out.

If this is your problem deleting or removing active programs would not be able to help you. May be you could delete an important program instead. Many of these programs are protecting you from outside invaders and removing them could allow a fatal blow from a devious hacker.