How to Troubleshoot My Slow PC

Clean up and defrag your hard drive to get faster PC speed.

Personal computers help users perform important tasks every day. The speed of the PC used greatly influences how fast these tasks come to completion. Due to the large amounts of data and processes performed by the PC, the PC slows down over time -- as data builds up and the hard drive files become fragmented. Running a few system maintenance programs installed on Windows PCs help to troubleshoot and to speed up slow computers. Specifically, the "Disc Cleanup" and "Disk Defrag" programs should be executed.

Instructions

1. Click on the Windows icon located at the bottom left of the desktop. Click the "Programs" option. Open the "Accessories" --then the "System Tools" folder.

2. Run the "Disk Cleanup" program in the "System Tools" folder. Choose the "C" drive when prompted to choose a drive and click "OK." Provide admin rights, if prompted, to begin the cleanup analysis. A window appears after the analysis, showing how much data is not needed by the system, so it can be removed. Mark the check boxes next to "Recycle Bin" and "Temporary Files" and click "OK." The unneeded files are removed and more hard drive space becomes available.

3. Run the "Disk Defrag" program in the "System Tools" folder. Select the "C" drive from the drop-down menu and click "OK" to begin defragging the hard drive. Over time, many files break up into small pieces and are stored at different locations in the hard drive. Computer speed slows when accessing fragmented files due to this. Defragging puts fragmented files back together, increasing the PC's speed when accessing files. Allow the computer to finish defragging, then click "OK."

Tips & Warnings

• Defragment your hard drive when you have spare time -- to avoid unnecessary strain to the system. Defragmenting takes a few hours and slows down any tasks performed while the computer defragments.

References

• Microsoft: Disk Cleanup
• Microsoft: Disk Defragmentor