When it comes to our computers, speed is of the utmost importance. After all, no one wants a sluggish PC that takes 10-15 minutes to start up and then an additional 5-10 minutes to load selected applications. Admittedly, these small setbacks aren't much, but they do add up after awhile, resulting in quite a bit of wasted time. That fact leads us to this very important question -- what are the causes of a sluggish PC?

There are many reasons why a computer may become slow & virtually unresponsive. Some of those reasons can be easily found and fixed, while others will remain hidden and virtually impossible to find and/or fix. Your job is to start with the easiest and most common reasons of PC slowness and then work your way up to the more uncommon causes. Below are just a few of the common causes of a sluggish PC; Read through them and see if they might be affecting you.

Faulty Windows Registry: The registry is basically the governing body of your computer. It knows about everything that goes on and it takes record of anything & everything that happens. The only problem, though, is that the registry is not very picky about what it records, or what it lets in for that matter. Because of this fact, the registry is known to accumulate numerous errors, as well as become victim to a wide array of virus and spyware attacks. These errors & "attacks" can cause severe performance issues for a computer, which tends to get worse when nothing is done.

Too Many Processes: The more processes you have running, the slower the PC responds to commands. This includes both on-screen windows and background applications. Many people think that they have only a few processes running on their computer when, in fact, they actually have dozens -- this typically leads to sluggish PC behavior.

Temporary Internet Files: When left unchecked, the temporary internet folder can wreck havoc on a computer system's resources. This folder is full of files that are not needed for the long term and may be disposed of at the earliest convenience; pictures, videos, audio files, etc. The term "temporary" implies that the files will only be needed for a short time and then deleted. Unfortunately though, this process is not automatic -- the user must find this file and delete the contents manually.

Viruses: If a PC becomes slow both suddenly and unexpectedly, a virus is the likely culprit. These malicious programs attack from all angles in order to slow up and potentially damage your PC. They do all that they can to initiate harmful processes that will have adverse effects on your computer's behavior as well as it's security. The best way to get rid of these troublesome annoyances is to fend them off with reliable anti-virus software.

There you have it -- a few simple reasons why you might have a sluggish PC. It?s now up to you to do something about it!

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