Why is my computer slow? As college students, a large majority of us own a personal computer, whether it be a laptop or a desktop.
Due to the amount of importance placed on technology today it is important to keep said computers running at top efficiency.
However, as many may have noticed at some point in their lives, computers tend to slow down over time. There are a variety of afflictions that can lead to this, some more easily solved than others.
Most commonly, there is potentially not having enough Random Access Memory (RAM), which serves as a computer’s available processing resources.
To be brief on what RAM does for the computer, imagine RAM as the number of workers the computer is able to utilize whereas the computer’s Central Processing Unit (CPU) is how well those workers perform.
This gives light as to why the lack of RAM would cause a slowdown, because the computer simply does not have enough resources on hand to perform efficiently.
Similarly, running low on hard drive storage space can lead to a severe slowdown. Continuing with the metaphors, imagine the storage space on the computer as the desk on which the computer does its work.
Whenever a computer performs just about any task, it needs to use a portion of its “desk” of comparable size to work on its task. So, experiencing a slowdown due to lack of storage is comparable to working on an extremely cluttered desk.
Additionally, it is important to consider the number of start-up programs on the device. A computer has enough to deal with booting up as is, but stacking Skype, Steam, Spotify and however many other common start-up programs you have installed only increases the time needed to boot the device.
A few other possibilities are not as easily solved as what has been previously discussed. For one, it is possible that a virus or some form of malware may be present on the device in question; because malware has been discussed already in previous articles, this point will not be delved into.
Alternatively, there could be some form of hardware failure that occurred simply due to natural operation and the passage of time. These possibilities include static buildup from clothes or other surfaces, the wear and tear on the device, what most users have in their computers and hard disk drives (HDD).
HDD’s operate via a spinning disk inside the component which wears out from the friction over time.
However, there is an alternative known as a solid state drive (SSD). SSD do not use a spinning disk arm like the HDD mentioned above but instead use something called “flash memory.”
In the end, slowdown is inevitable with our usage of computers; the wear and tear of time get the better of even technology.
