The main culprit in slowing down Windows is software. It can affect the integrity and performance of the operating system in many different ways. But let’s get an overview of all potential speed killers.
Disk Fragmentation
On the perfect hard disk, each file is written in one contiguous piece, with no free space in front or behind it. In practice, however, files are not static. There is a continuous flow of new, growing, and shrinking files. When a file is deleted, that space in the middle of all the other files, becomes available.
Fragmentation is what happens when a file is written to small bits of free space throughout the hard disk. The NTFS file system partly solved this issue by giving priority to storing data contiguously for as long as sufficient space is available.
So what happens when a file is edited and subsequently needs more space? The information that exceeds the available space is simply written to another bit of free space, for example in place of a recently deleted file. Hence, as the hard disk fills up and when files are deleted and changed, fragmentation cannot be avoided, regardless of the file system.
Fragmentation slows Windows down because now many files consist of multiple fragments. Imagine you had to collect chapters of a single book from many different locations in the library. The hard disk’s index file knows where each fragment of a file is stored, but fetching all the fragments to open a single file consumes extra time.
The extra time required might be small, however: reading and writing data from the hard drive already is the speed-limiting step. Hard drives have not become considerably faster over the past few decades when compared to, for example, CPU performance.
Running Software and RAM
Random Access Memory (RAM) is a form of temporary data storage for the operating system and its running programs. The problem is that the amount of RAM is limited. When more space is required, the Virtual Memory Manager (VMM) scans the RAM for sections that are not in use and writes them to a swap file on the hard disk.
This outsourcing or swapping out of memory to the hard disk can slow down your system. As mentioned above, hard drives are slow compared to other data storage media and thus swapping programs in and out can cause a considerable delay.
The fault, however, often lies with the amount of software running on your computer. Each program you install can add itself to the Windows Auto Start and will subsequently eat up RAM. These programs also increase the time until Windows has fully loaded.
Space on System Drive
This issue correlates directly with the previously mentioned VMM. Windows needs space for storing temporary data on the hard drive. When the remaining space on the system drive becomes scarce, software and the entire operating system can become unresponsive as Windows frantically tries to juggle temporary data between the RAM and the limited hard disk space.
Windows Registry
Almost every component of the operating system stores settings and configuration information in the Windows Registry. This includes device drivers, user profiles, and third party applications, i.e. programs. The Windows Registry is a complex hierarchical database and is continually referenced for information about the computer.
The problem with a database is that entries become outdated. Software that is removed, for example, may leave behind registry keys that no longer have any function. On the other hand, a bad program installation or a computer crash can cause conflicts or corrupt essential registry files. Any problem with the registry will cause the computer to become slow as it struggles to find the information it is looking for.
Hardware Issues
Hardware issues can be manifold. A piece of hardware could be damaged or there could be a driver conflict that causes the computer to slow down. These issues are unpredictable and often difficult to troubleshoot. Let’s look at two specific items.
Graphics Card
A graphics card with ‘shared memory’ does not come with its own memory, but shares the memory of your RAM. So every time you run graphic-intensive software your graphics card will reserve its full share. If you want to avoid this a graphics card with ‘dedicated memory’ is highly recommended.
Source:
http://www.makeuseof.com
