Biden PC's Small Business IT Blog

Though it may seem obvious, or it may not, the more programs and services you have running at one time, the slower your computer will be. This is much like you having to get to work. If all you have to do is drive there, you might get to work in 5-20 minutes, 2 hours if you live in Los Angeles. Now let’s add on to that amount of time all the other things you may have to do on your way to work.

1. Low speed limit - 2 Minutes
2. Too many cars on the road, causing traffic - 10 Minutes
3. Drop the kids off at school - 15 Minutes out of your way
4. Traffic lanes merge together - 3 Minutes

Now your commute has increased by 30 minutes. But why?!?! Because you had other things to do and factors you couldn't control. A computer is no different. But you can have more control if you read on

A computer has a few factors that dictate its speed.

1. Processing Speed - How many GHz it runs at. (I am not going to get into the difference between different chip manufacturers and their different processes, this is general information.)
2. Bus Speed - This is how fast one component can send data to another component. (It is often the largest bottleneck in the computer.)
3. Amount of RAM - This is how much general info can be placed in a "To Do" folder for the computer. Remember, too much RAM is not possible, more than what can be used is possible.
4. Speed of RAM - This is how fast a component can send data to the RAM and later receive it back. (It is the other large bottleneck in the computer.)

So you're wondering, "What does this have to do with my computer being slow?" I'm glad you asked.

Just like you, your computer can only do a limited number of things at one time. Fortunately, if they're running right, they can do many more things at one time.

Did you notice that each list has 4 issues that slow us down? Each number correlates to the same number in the opposite list. This means the processing speed is like the speed limit.

1. Your car can only (legally) drive the speed limit. The same is true with computers. The CPU can only (supposedly) process information at (whatever your processing speed is) GHz. This speed is not easily (or safely) changed. I’m not going to tell you how to change this.
2. Though you can’t tell everyone else to get off the road when you want to drive, you can do this with computers. Close all unused software programs and startup programs. Also spyware and hard drive fragmentation problems can add to this issue and slow a PC down. I’ll tell you how to fix and repair these in my next post; How to speed up your computer for free.
3. If you can’t decrease the number of things that you have to do, increase how many things you can do at one time. This is like increasing the amount of RAM in your computer. It will allow you to do more and do it faster. (Some computers may already have the maximum amount of RAM available to the computer so this is not an option. But it can’t hurt to check it out.)
4. Find a shortcut or a route that has a higher speed limit to your kids’ school. If you can also increase the speed at which you do things, you can get them done faster. This is like increasing the processing speed of your RAM. (Some computers may already be at the fastest speed available to them so this is not an option. But it is worth a look.)

So to speed up your computer, the way we mentioned here is either adding more RAM or replacing it with a higher speed of RAM. For an easy way to see what you have and could use, go to crucial.com.

Be sure to check my next blog post: how to speed up your computer for free. I’ll tell you how to reduce the number of programs that run without your knowledge.

Happy Computing,
Tim

Labels: General PC Advice, How To, My Thoughts