One of the best feelings in the world of technology is to buy a new piece of hardware, start it up, adjust the environment of the device of your choice, and then enjoy lightning-fast speeds. Every program works like a dream.
There are no tasks that require more than a few seconds, and anything you want to run works at the drop of a hat exactly the way it should.
Fast forward a few years and suddenly every task is a headache. Your computer freezes easily, and programs are stuck in the middle of a process.
To help our customers and readers get a better idea of the symptoms of slow hardware performance, and the possible reasons it might be happening, we decided to spend some time going over the topic.
There are a few big reasons why electronic hardware may start performing more slowly than usual, and it is always a good idea to consider these possibilities when forming a plan.
Too Many Programs or Browser Tabs are Open
Yes, in today’s digital world, it’s possible to do a million things at the same time. However, at some point, a smooth transition from one open program to another will not be possible because of your computer’s memory and processing speed.
If you want to keep opening tabs in your browser for future reference – if one of them is updated automatically (think of news sites and live streaming) or if you continue to download and play ads, you will see a big difference.
Also, popular music applications related to the Internet, such as Spotify, can store large data caches, which also slow you down.
The best way to fix this problem is to disable or close all programs that you do not actively use and, if possible, use only one browser window. Do you want to save some parts or links to read later? Take advantage of bookmark options in Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Safari or Chrome.
Your Hard Drive Could be Overloaded
The biggest surprise is that your hard drive or memory performance will be greatly affected before it is 100% full. IT experts estimate that even with 85% of your computer’s capacity, efficiency and productivity can be reduced to a crawl.
Programs, application updates, internet downloads, and temporary files are the main causes of disk space and storage usage, as well as large industry-specific files for graphic design, architecture and engineering companies.
In short, you cannot run the latest version of Photoshop on a home computer or an old computer without the right resources available.
Having Insufficient RAM
When a program is actively running on your computer, it continues to write information to your RAM for easy and fast access. However, some programs might overflow your device memory, especially if the program is newer and the computer is older.
If there is not enough space in the computer’s RAM, the program directly accesses the hard drive and tries to store information there. As a result, hard drives are used too often, which causes faster wear and new functions for quick access, which is not optimized.
If you take your device to a computer repair service to check it before accepting that your hard drive has a problem, you can ask for a computer repair service if you run out of memory.
Too Many Applications are Starting Up at Once
Similar to how some applications have been set to install updates without warning, many are programmed to boot automatically at startup. This can be a major obstacle to your computer’s processing speed, both when you first start it in the morning and at noon when you don’t know that the program is running.