Microsoft Word, make sure you save any unsaved work first.)įix 2: Reduce the number of programs running in the background If it refuses to shut down normally, select it from the list in Task Manager and click End task to force a close. (If it’s a program you’re using, e.g. by clicking the X at the top right of the program). To do this, switch to the program, and close it as you normally would (e.g. There are multiple instances of it in the list because Task Manager recognizes each of your browser tabs and browser extensions as a separate process.ģ) When you discover which program(s) is hogging your computer resources, consider shutting it down to speed up your PC. As you can see, Google Chrome is using the most RAM here. We sorted the list by Memory for the below screenshot. Similarly, to see which programs are using the most RAM, or reading and writing to your hard disk the most often, click Memory or Disk respectively. This will re-sort the list, displaying the worst offenders at the top. To find out what programs are running and how many system resources they’re consuming:ġ) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and X at the same time, then click Task Manager.Ģ) To see which programs are using your computer’s processor the most, click the CPU column header. Especially if they’re big, resource-hungry programs (e.g. If you have too many programs running at once, your computer will definitely slow down. Reduce the number of programs running in the backgroundġ2. Treat numbers 14 to 16 as a last resort – do them if nothing else works.Ģ. We recommend you try all of the first 13, even if you start seeing performance improvements immediately after finishing number 1. They’re ordered by difficulty – easiest first, hardest or most time-consuming last. Here’s a list of fixes for the most common causes of a slow Windows computer.

Windows has a tendency to slow down over time, so if your computer was running OK before, but has now slowed to a crawl, it’s probably a Windows issue, and you should be able to fix it yourself. If that sounds like you, then we have some good news: you’re probably right. But before spending a fortune on computer technicians or an entirely new computer, you’d like to see if you can fix it yourself. Sure, you could just grit your teeth and put up with it. But here you are, waiting minutes just to open Microsoft Word…

After all, it was completely fine, not that long ago, and nothing much has changed in the meantime. There are few things more frustrating than a slow computer.

Pc running slow on vista