(Reuters/Kacper Pempel) One of the biggest computer annoyances is when your machine gets slow over time.
This can start to happen years after you get a PC, but sometimes it happens in just a few short months.
Since we all use our computers for different tasks and activities, t here isn't one single reason that pinpoints why this happens.
The thing is, when you first get a new computer and boot it up it works lightning fast. That's because it doesn't have anything on it.
Regardless of whether you have a PC or Mac, over time as you download files, install software, and surf the Internet, your computer gets bloated with files that hog system resources.
In addition, there are many other things that contribute to a slowdown. We explored some of the major causes.
We started by speaking with Rachel, a tech expert who works at New York City authorized Apple repair shop Tekserve. Rachel told us that software and hard drive corruption are two reasons why your computer may slow down over time.
Corruption can be caused by a host of things but it's mostly bugs in the operating system, corrupted RAM data, static electricity (from carpet or other fabrics), power surges, failing hardware, and for Windows users, normal operating system decomposition with age.
Two other huge culprits are not having enough RAM (memory to run programs) and simply running out of hard disk space.
Not having enough RAM causes your hard drive to try to compensate for a lack of memory. The computer will constantly seek more RAM taking away resources from other tasks.
Another thing users fall victim to is installing unnecessary software. This will fill up your hard drive, causing you to run out of space at the price of speed.
There are useful free programs that help you easily identify what is taking up space on your hard drive:
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For Mac users try: OmniDiskSweeper, a free program that breaks down exactly which files take up the most space.
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For PC users try WinDirStat, a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool.
But what if you don't have a lot of apps or programs on your computer and it's still going slow?
If you're updating your software regularly, that can contribute to a slowdown because the updates themselves take up more space and require more system resources. Whitson Gordon of Lifehacker points out that, "i n theory, if you did a clean install and never updated any of your software, everything would run as fast in year four as it did on day one. But that's not exactly a feasible—or secure—way to use your computer."
(Flickr / markusram) If you have a spinning hard drive, once they get older they simply start to slow down as they reach the end of life.